U-boat Slayer | 'Johnnie' Walker's HMS Stork Years 1941-42

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Captain Frederick John 'Johnnie' Walker (DSO & 3 bars) is Britain's most famous U-boat hunter of World War II. 'On the shelf' in the interwar years (meaning he was repeatedly passed over for promotion), the trained anti-submarine warfare specialist won the attention of the Admiralty for his conduct assisting in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.
As a lieutenant-commander, he was rewarded with the command of the long-range escort sloop HMS Stork in 1941. There he immediately applied his knowledge, forging his rag-tag squadron of old destroyers and Flower-class corvettes - the 36th Escort Group - into a well disciplined fighting unit.
Walker won fame in the defence of Convoy HG-76 (18023 December, 1941) which is credited as representing the 'turn of the tide' against Hitler's U-boat wolfpacks. Five U-boats were sunk, three of them by Walker's 36th Escort Group.
He was promoted to Captain shortly thereafter.

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3 май 2024

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Комментарии : 59

@mariejoyce5150 Месяц назад

My Great Uncle Frank Joyce was “manning the guns” on HMS Stork when Capt. Walker gave the order to “Ram” U 574. He served under Walker on the Stork and the Woodcock. During Franks first leave after the sinking of U574 he gave a first hand account to the newspapers , we still have the articles which are considered one of our family treasures

@shawnc5188 3 месяца назад

@drachinifel is half way through a series of videos on Walker’s exploits, so it’s amazing to hear the voices of the men who served with him.

@geordiedog1749 3 месяца назад

I think this is a collab of sorts. A ‘synchronisation’. They both make shout outs for the others channel.

@ArmouredCarriers Месяц назад

@@geordiedog1749 More a matter of being inspired. I'd been meaning to do something like this for some time, had half-heartedly been gathering material ... then Drach produces his great summary and I suddenly felt inadequate ...

@shawnc5188 Месяц назад

@@ArmouredCarriers each his own. Drach rarely uses voices to enhance his videos.. imagine if he had a voice recording of Zinovy Rozhestvensky, created an AI deepfake and used it to illustrate the Dogger Bank incident. “Nyet, Kamchatka, zat is fishing boat, don’t shoot! &@$@**%%#££¥!”

@boyfromblackstuff7859 Месяц назад

This channel,,its content and how the stories are woven together and presented is absolutely excellent! Many thanks.

@ArmouredCarriers Месяц назад

Mostly, thanks to the skilled museum interviewers and the stortelling ability of those interviewed, that "weave" largely dictates itself! I just need more time to produce more, sigh.

@TrickiVicBB71 3 месяца назад

With Drach doing his own special on Johnnie Walker. This is fantastic

@ArmouredCarriers 3 месяца назад

I had been tinkering on this one for awhile: Seeing Drach's excellent pieces pushed me to slide it up the priority scale!

@johnstott1431 Месяц назад

This is one of the best!

@kidmohair8151 3 месяца назад

06:40 watching that corvette bobbing along in what was a fairly calm sea… “it would roll on wet grass”

@richardbell282 2 месяца назад

My dad told me 62 degrees roll one nite. The ole man never blinked

@willarth9186 3 месяца назад

I'm so spoiled! New episode after episode to enjoy with my morning coffee!

@nickellingham1764 10 дней назад

'The Convoy' is an excellent book i'm about half way through detailing this guy. Another good book I read recently was 'One of Our Submarines' by Edward Young

@johnhanson5943 2 месяца назад

A ship like that should have been put in a museum after decommissioning. Remarkable - doesn’t do it justice. Perhaps the best weapon under Captn Walker the allies had.

@paulwoodman5131 3 месяца назад

That must have been quite these scene with jars of pickled U-Boat sailors being passed around for the convoy merchantmen to be assured that the U-Boats are being sunk. The ramming the Stork put on the sub also likely had great propaganda value. Good to hear that the Stork sailed on after the war. 😊

@user-ce1ol8bj7o 3 месяца назад

thanks, that was really good...

@ericfern8869 3 месяца назад

there is footage from the Cruel Sea, with Jack Hawkins, at 4:32

@EllieMaes-Grandad 3 месяца назад

A good movie, despite the fictional elements.

@RussellMiller-gh7fb 3 месяца назад

If Johnny Walkers executive officer was named Jack Daniels they would have been one hell of a team

@53jed 2 месяца назад

Sorry - Albert Suntori.

@nightjarflying 3 месяца назад

26:24 ASDIC on the Russian convoys: The speaker's explanation is incorrect - the sound travel under water is not effected [in volume or speed] very much by salinity. He says an echo [or submarine noise] couldn't be picked up in "fresh water" - I think he's referring to the thermocline where between 30 and 100 meters depth there is often a sudden change in water temperature. The thermocline is the divider between warmer saltier surface water & the cold, still less saline waters. This can frustrate ASDIC [sonar], because a sound originating on one side of the thermocline tends to be bent, or refracted. Thus a sub below the thermocline is masked because it's in colder, less saline deep waters. That's my guess - the effect of thermoclines was not well understood in the 1940s.

@anthonyeaton5153 3 месяца назад

Thank you for the very clear and interesting explanation of that phenomenon. Neither had I heard of the term thermocline etc not being former navy.

@paulmanson253 2 месяца назад

Right. That explains why searching for U boats in the St.Lawrence was so difficult. The mix of fresh and salt,and possibly difference in temperature as well.

@gitfoad8032 3 месяца назад

'The Fighting Captain: The Story of Frederic Walker RN CB DSO & The Battle of the Atlantic' is a good read on 'Johnny' Walker. Do a vid on the Terror of Tobermory: my Uncle did 2 courses run by him, & said the moniker was apt.

@californiadreamin8423 3 месяца назад

Just bought a copy. Thanks.

@Mtlmshr 2 месяца назад

A good and informative video well done

@Caratacus1 3 месяца назад

Legendary man who worked himself to an early death to help save Western Civilisation.

@paulwoodman5131 3 месяца назад

Was he passed over for promotion by much lesser officers? Politics of the day , after the war, probably had several officers that had laid themselves paths of promotion.

@geordiedog1749 3 месяца назад

@@paulwoodman5131yeah, this is true. I think the ‘big gun’ commanders got away with a lot. The sub hunters and carrier boys had the last laugh.

@nightjarflying 3 месяца назад

@@paulwoodman5131 He missed the boat so to speak - he was 43 years old at the start of WWII & thus too old for a promotion to captain of a fighting ship which is extremely physical work. Walker’s uninspiring assignments between the wars produced some less-than-glowing reports by his seniors & he was in an underappreciated branch of the service. Someone realised he had the skills to break the submarine blockade & hence he got his chance.

@jacksprat9172 2 месяца назад

@@nightjarflying Intelligent men with integrity tend not to do too well in peacetime but social climbers and morons can thrive. Thankfully someone realised his value and gave him the necessary authority to make a difference!

@davidelliott5843 2 месяца назад

@@nightjarflyingHe might have been given the convoy duty because lesser men had grabbed the nicer jons.

@EllieMaes-Grandad 3 месяца назад

Drachinfel is doing a three-part series on this . . .

@ArmouredCarriers 3 месяца назад

Yes, seeing that prompted me to get this out quicker than I was planning. Have chatted with him over identifying some of the footage.

@ragnor56 3 месяца назад

A legend in his own right 👑

@hisdadjames4876 3 месяца назад

Must have been damned good, to have a top whisky named after him😉

@nightjarflying 3 месяца назад

The three Johnnie Walker labels were created in 1909 [just in case you're serious].

@user-ex1db5dz5t 3 месяца назад

Since when has Jonnie Walker been considered a top whisky ?

@hisdadjames4876 3 месяца назад

@@user-ex1db5dz5t Since my daughter started working for Diageo!😂

@bob1505 2 месяца назад

@@user-ex1db5dz5t Good enough for me mate. Good enough for my Dad before me.

@LeonardGarcia-yn2ej Месяц назад

Sword Fish Pilots Were Fearless!❤RIP.💐💐💐

@L-1472 2 месяца назад

This is great, Thank you

@davidelliott5843 2 месяца назад

Thames barges, Dutch barges and other shallow draft cargo boats had side keels that could be raised and lowered. Something like that would have made these warships much easier to live with.

@timmeinschein1061 Месяц назад

Just a WAG, but perhaps the U-Boat Skipper was hopping that surface conditions, due to the wind, would help him escape....

@exsubmariner 3 месяца назад

His grandson PJ walker was my commanding officer on H M submarine otter 79/81 there's a picture of me and his wife cutting the cake at the rededication ceremony . I had to present her with a bouquet of flowers she smiled , being a sprog I didn't know what to do so I kissed her on the lips like a muppet. The captain gave an embarrassing smile , the coxswain give me the evil eye and the junior rates gave a cheer The captain was a natural leader and a gentleman he was well liked by the crew we only found out what pedigree he was from by overhearing officers small talk Submarine captain's are the cream of the cream And he put it to good use. further on in his career as a principal anti submarine warfare officer To catch a Thief you've got to think like a thief

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 3 месяца назад

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

@tequila_tibbs7938 2 месяца назад

Excellent

@paulhenry5060 3 месяца назад

Extraordinary stories from trained crew. 2 SS-captives fr a U killed by starboard side bow strike by escorted ship. 2 others.. non-SS survived. Odd stuff.