HMS Penelope in Bermuda 1942
It is a winter’s day in February and I am driving along North Shore between Flatts and Hamilton when I catch a glimpse of Dockyard in the distance. The winds are from the north and high waves are pounding the area
As I glance towards Dockyard, my mind drifts back in time painting a vivid scene from over 80 years ago – an event etched into history.
It is 1942 – the world is at war and its shadow stretches even to these distant shores.
A British warship, HMS Penelope, is slowly making her way along North Shore to Dockyard. The ship is full of holes, half sunk, with many of her crew already dead and with little fuel and ammunition left.
One of the crew members is my father, Able Seaman Andrew Tully.
They had just completed a perilous journey from Gibraltar to Bermuda after being pursued relentlessly by German Luftwaffe fighter planes between the Island of Malta and Gibraltar.
HMS Penelope was part of “Force K” – a small but fierce group of warships based in Malta whose mission was to intercept Italian/German supply convoys destined for Rommel’s forces in North Africa.
The ship had just sailed through hell, after intercepting a convoy off Sicily. Using Intelligence from Bletchley Park, with the convoy and its German escorting warships silhouetted again the moonlight, Force K destroyed every ship in sight – convoy and German escorts alike.
Enraged Italian leader Benito Mussolini ordered Force K to be hunted down. HMS Penelope was battered relentlessly from dry dock in Malta through the Mediterranean “for fourteen days and fourteen nights” to Gibraltar.
As I write, I reflect on the words of a “dockyard matie” I met almost 25 years after the end of World War Two, while I was training with the Royal Naval Reserve. It was just after we have docked in Gibraltar, and he casually remarked “I remember that ship. When we saw her we called her ‘HMS Pepperpot’ – she was so full of holes!!”
Back in Bermuda, the crew were well received with extra rations, food, medical supplies and a chance to rest and recover. The men were taken to Admiralty House to meet with the Senior Officers there. The crew enjoyed the beauty of Bermuda after the hell they had gone through. Later the ship would proceed to the Brookly Navy Yard in New York for much needed repairs.
As Commanding Officer of TS Admiral Somers, St. George Sea Cadets, our Ships’ Company always prepared well in advance for the Annual Remembrance Day Service on 11th November, joining the Parade of Bermuda Ex-Servicemen in St. George as well as Front Street in Hamilton. Bermuda has a rich World War Two legacy, with its Dockyard along with the US Base and runway constructed in 1942 for its aircraft to to hunt down U-Boats in the Atlantic.
I can never forget walking through the Dockyard gates in Bermuda. I felt as if I were back in Gibraltar! The gates were exactly the same height, same width, same constructions – and even the same distance between the pillars – gates built by the Royal Engineers in all the British Dockyards around the world!
Walking round our Bermuda Dockyard brought me vivid reflections on Bermuda’s importance during World War 2 – and vivid reflections about HMS Penelope!