The Britannic, Brian Abraham
I think that I told the story of being in the Atlantic on board the Britannic, in one of my first threads. I had seen it depart from Liverpool on it's maiden voyage when I was a very little boy. We were 500 cadets forming the very first part of the "Arnold Scheme" which was to become vital to the supply of well trained pilots for the RAF. we were surprised to find that we had the "Rodney" and four Destroyers as our escort and dismayed when they left us very soon after sailing, to seek and sink the "Bismarck". We were never told of this beforehand but the Grapevine kept us informed all through the battle with the dreadful news of the loss of the "Hood" giving us much to think about before we heard that the "Bismarck" had been given the "coup de grace " by the "Rodney ". Stirring Days! There is a photo ,on an earlier page (13 or thereabouts) taken on board the "Britannic" of us all of 42A enjoying a ship's concert. Brings to mind the quotation "Regardless of their doom, the little innocents played," I don't know who wrote it. I still have a copy of the Toronto Newspaper with the headlines "British Cadets Chased by the Bismarck" . We set sail May 22nd. 1941 and landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 30th.1941 so it all happened just a couple of weeks after my 19th. Birthday. it is a long, long time ago.