Who knows? It is always possible that young Tommy Brown might have watched as a brand new warship, fresh off the slipway at Vickers Armstrong, slipped quietly out of the Tyne on its maiden voyage.
HMS Petard - Photograph: Royal Navy Archives
The year was 1941 and the 15-year-old from North Shields was anxious, like a lot others, to do his bit for his country; so anxious that he lied about his age and managed to talk his way into a job with the NAAFI.
HMS Petard, a 1,540 ton destroyer, must have been a stirring sight as it made its way down river, ready for its commissioning exercises and a visit to South Africa before steaming to the Mediterranean for active service…and a place in history.
Within a year Tommy would also be on active service as a canteen assistant aboard the same vessel, HMS Petard, and destined to become part of a remarkable story that would change the course of the Second World War.
Continue reading HMS Petard – The Real Enigma Heroes
