Baptism by Depth Charges

Heroes Remember

Baptism by Depth Charges

Transcript

The day I joined the Thunder was the 14th of July, 1942. And we were going out of Halifax I think we were going out to do some minesweeping, but there was a convoy going out at the same time, and all of a sudden there was a submarine scare so the captain ordered the minesweepers, He picked up a, the Asdic operator who was on, I don't know who it was, picked up a signal and we did an attack. The trouble is we weren't going very fast and our depth charges went off. But before I get to that, this happened within hours after I joined the ship. I didn't even know where my action station was. The alarm bells went off. I said, "Where the hell am I supposed to go?" "Down there." , this chap said to me. My action station was in the 3 inch magazine which is full of explosives, of course, and right down at the bottom of the ship. So, I got down there and all of a sudden "boom!" All hell broke loose. The ship bounced. The depth charges went off too soon. Well, we weren't going fast enough. Blew the ass end of the ship All the lights went out. This is my first day at sea. I didn't know what was happening, but I was sitting back in a cor I jumped out of there and ended up right below the hatch. Well, the leading seaman in charge, he had been standing there. He wasn't there when I got there. He had jumped right up through the hatch. However, we survived. That was a scary, scary day.

Description

Mr. Keith describes his eventful first day on the Thunder - hunting for a submarine outside Halifax Harbour, and the ship nearly being damaged by it's own depth charges.

David MacLeod Keith

Mr. David Keith was born on January 2, 1923, in Macklin, Saskatchewan. At age 3 his family moved to Outlook, where his father - a Veteran of the First World War, having served with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry - after the war he worked as a school inspector.

In 1940, at age 17, Mr. Keith began to attend university but after struggling through the first year, the dean of the university suggested he take a year off. After receiving permission from his father Mr. Keith decided to enlist in the navy, he accidentally signed up for 7 years with the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve.Following 3 months training in Regina and an anti-sub course in Toronto, Mr. Keith was posted to the Thunder out of Halifax on July 14, 1942.

During the next three years he sailed on the Thunder, Dunvegan, and Mahone patrolling and escorting convoys.Returning home on August 18, 1945, he returned to university, later graduating with his BA in Education. After returning to the navy in 1949 for 2 years with UNTD as a staff officer, he became a teacher in 1951 and retired in 1983.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:08
Person Interviewed:: David MacLeod Keith
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Canada
Branch:: Navy
Units/Ship:: Royal Canadian Navy Reserve / Thunder
Rank:: Able Seaman

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Baptism by Depth Charges

Heroes Remember