Now i have been missing for a few months so lets add a bit here. In 1942 during operation Torch in North Africa the American planners came up with a great idea of taking the Port of Oran. In their wisdom the decided to send in two Royal Navy ships loaded with American soldiers a couple of hours after the main beach assaults had taken place. When the two royal Navy ships steamed into Oran harbour to try and take it every French gun was loaded and ready to fire the two ships were both lost and nearly every American soldier on board, along with my two uncles on HMS Hartland. The skipper of the second Royal Navy ship lived to tell the tale and was awarded the VC, but fate had not finished as on the way home to collect the award his plane that he was on was shot down and every one on board was killed.
The picture below is of HMS Hartland just before she blew up and sank.
