This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this siteplease consider making a donation.
Site Home
WW2 Home
Add Stories
WW2 Search
Library
Help & FAQs
WW2 Features
Airfields
Allied Army
Allied Air Forces
Allied Navy
Axis Forces
Home Front
Battles
Prisoners of War
Allied Ships
Women at War
Those Who Served
Day-by-Day
Library
The Great War
Submissions
Add Stories
Time Capsule
TWMP on Facebook
Childrens Bookshop
FAQ's
Help & FAQs
Glossary
Volunteering
Contact us
News
Bookshop
About
209287L.Sea. Donald James "Phil" Philpott
Royal Navy HMS Warspite
from:Woolsington
My father, Donald James Philpott, was a boy entrant in the mid 1930's and joined the training establishment HMS Ganges. He served on HMS Warspite for the duration of the Second World War. His primary duties involved manning the Pom Pom guns. Like many veterans my father said little about his wartime service other than his affection and regard for the Old Lady, as he called Warspite.However, in his latter years, when it was clear that I was forming an increasing interest in Naval history, a few nuggets emerged. He often mentioned the damage incurred by Warspite at Jutland which, he felt, was never effectively repaired, and thus resulted in the ship "never steering in a straight line". In fact, and I quote, "She could be a bugger to steer". Also, after holidaying in Crete, I gave him a book of an account of the Battle of Crete. It mentioned HMS Warspite receiving a direct hit on one of the pom pom's from a Stuka. Dad said that immediately prior to the hit he had to deliver a message to the bridge, and on returning to his station found the guns, and some of the crew had been "blown to bits".
My father firmly believed that his beloved ship had a soul and that she ran herself aground rather than suffer the indignity of the "Knackers Yard". He went to Cornwall to see her aground and, on establishing with the workmen that he was a Warspite veteran, was taken over to the wreck for a final look and to pay his respects. We had an ashtray made from the teak of HMS Warspite and it remains in the family to this day.
Related Content:
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area?
If so please let us know.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items.
The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.
If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.
Hosted by:
Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved
We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.