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226861Able Sea. William Patrick "Asho" Ashton
Royal Navy HMS Nigeria
from:33 Harbord St, Edge Hill, Liverpool 7
My dad, William Ashton, (according to his Certificate of Service) joined the Royal Navy on 18th October 1941, when he was 19 years old. The name of the ships he served on were: Raleigh, Pembroke and Nigeria. I believe Raleigh was a training vessel. He served on Pembroke from 16th December 1941 to 10th January 1942, and on Nigeria from 11th January 1942 to 18th July 1944 and then from 19th July 1944 to 10th December 1945. Under the name of ship it states `u/Russia', but I am not sure what that means. It finishes with his being on the Pembroke again from 11th December 1945 to 13th April 1946. He was released, Class A, 30747.The stories he related were about escorting the Merchant Navy ships on the Malta Convoys and the Russian Convoys in the Atlantic. I am sure he said he was torpedoed, but not on what ship or where. He said the Malta Convoys where scary, but escorting the Russian Convoys was a nightmare, not with just the attacks by submarines, but the planes and the sub-zero conditions with ice and frost on the ships. They had to knock the ice off with picks, hammers and any other available tool they had. The water coming over the ships was sub zero. I have some photos of a ship being fired on and then sunk by enemy fire. It seems like the photos were taken of the ship my dad was on, then two photos of my dad's ship being fired on. Also a photo of the high waves coming over his ship, which look like Atlantic waves. I have a photo of someone, who must be an officer, being saluted and whistled aboard. Another photo is of a crowd of sailors and (in the background) the flags of Britain, Russia and America, so I presume it could be in Russia. I believe he spent some time in Ceylon because I have a photo of him and two friends standing by some lush vegetation, but there is no information about where they are.
My dad had a twin named Ernie, who was also in the Royal Navy, but I don't know which ships he served on.
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