The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

seaman had taken over from him so he had returned to his position on the
guns.
The ship’s gunner had been quite active in the preceding days as various
reconnaissance aircraft had come over. Clearly, the Luftwaffe had taken
note, because a couple of evenings earlier Ron had been on the Mess Deck
and had heard Lord Haw Haw come over on the radio from Berlin and warn
the Admiralty to remove the anti-aircraft ship in Portland harbour or else
the Luftwaffe would do it for them. ‘We laughed,’ says Ron.
Lord Haw Haw’s promise was no idle threat, however. Shortly after 1
p.m., Ron was on the Mess Deck when he suddenly heard shouting and
running about from the deck above. Deciding he should head to his station
immediately, he had just stepped over the combing of the door when there
was an enormous crash and he found himself flying across the canteen.
When he looked up again, he saw the hammock nettings were burning, the
double ladders were all twisted, and tables had been grotesquely bent and
turned over. He and a friend began making their way along the port side
when another bomb went straight down the funnel and blew out the side of
the ship. Frantically, he and his mate turned back and saw a number of men
try and scramble up stairs to the deck only to be machine-gunned and
tumble backwards. Clambering over the bodies, the two of them managed
to make their way to the aft end of the ship, where the sick bay was, and
where all the non-combatants were. There was also a ladder there that led
up to X Turret. Ron began clambering up it with his friend following when
there was another huge crash. A further bomb had gone through the upper
deck and into the sick bay, killing all the men sheltering there as well as
Ron’s friend, who had been only just behind him.
Dust and smoke was getting in his eyes and up his nose, but Ron
eventually managed to climb through a hatch out on to the deck and bright
sunshine. The summer sun could not hide the carnage, however. ‘The guns
were all bent to hell,’ he says, ‘and none of the crew to be seen.’ Above, he
could see the bombs falling from a Ju 88. Someone shouted, and he turned
and saw ‘Badger’ Otley, the captain of X Gun, miraculously still firing,
even though the coconut matting around the gun was on fire. Despite this,
Otley was screaming for more ammunition. Two sailors were yelling back
at him, so Ron stumbled on, until he reached the front gun deck. Looking
over, all he could see was bomb holes, bodies and twisted metal. A voice
shouted up to him, ‘Anyone there?’ It was the First Lieutenant.