Chapter 1: Disaster Strikes

15th February 1941

It was just dusk as the small group of Hunt Class destroyers entered harbour on this February evening in 1941. The leader HMS Melksham commanded by the flotilla captain Capt the Lord Radcliffe led the weary battle stained half flotilla into Portsmouth harbour. The leader was closely followed by HMS Corsham and three other destroyers of the group when suddenly and without warning out of the low rain cloud came a small formation of ME 109's. machine guns and cannon blazing as they strafed the sitting targets below them.

The shore AA batteries opened up quickly and two ME 109s bit the dust, crashing on a nearby beach but the damage had been done. The bridge of three of the destroyers had been severely strafed, and although the material damage to the ships was minimal, they left behind a large number of dead and wounded men, both on the bridge and on the focsle where seaman were busily getting the ships ready for berthing...

It was early in the war and the Royal Navy still had much to learn about defending ships entering and leaving harbour. In particular the ever present dangers of entering harbour when they were in close formation, in a narrow channel.

The ships gunners quite naturally were also thinking more about the next run ashore or being home with their families and being able to relax for a few days, rather than the possibility of imminent attack from the air...

They all knew that the ships were earmarked for a short refit, and an increase to their anti aircraft armament, and so obviously the possibility of a few days leave was foremost in their minds. The war in the Atlantic and on the East Coast against E Boats was hotting up, and the destroyers and their ships companies were being worked to the limit of their capabilities. The shortage of suitable convoy escorts put more pressure on these small destroyers, and they were being asked to do a job which was largely beyond their design capability.

Chaos rained on HMS Melksham as Lord Radcliffe the Captain, and his First Lieutenant were killed outright together with both the lookouts. In addition the Yeoman of Signals Tony Nash was badly wounded and was the only member of the bridge complement still barely alive as the ship yawed off course.

Tony Nash seeing the ship veering towards the harbour wall, just seconds away from disaster quickly realised that if the ship sank here, it would block the entrance to this vital harbour. Despite being badly wounded, and losing a lot of blood, he managed to get to the voice pipe to tell the Coxswain to reduce speed and alter course, at the same time he told the Coxswain that all the bridge officers were dead or badly wounded before he too collapsed in a pool of blood.

It was about two days later that Tony gradually woke, to the cloying smell of disinfectant and rubber bed sheets and became aware of his surroundings in the naval Hospital at Haslar. He was in a lot of pain and he struggled to get to grips mentally with what had happened to him. In the following days he had a number of mates from the ship visit him, who told him that the ship itself was not too badly damaged but the attack had killed over 20 sailors from both the Melksham and the Corsham. He was however being credited with saving the ship, and the new captain had recommended him for an award ; his prompt action having saved the ship from going aground or sinking and closing the harbour entrance.

It was two days later that he was eventually told that his best friend Alan Stokes who was the Yeoman of Signals on the Corsham had died from his wounds. Tony was heartbroken, Alan and Tony were like brothers both having been brought up in the same orphanage, and they had come through their naval training together. Alan had recently married, Tonys ex girlfriend, and his wife Joan was living in Portsmouth. Tony had quite naturally been his best man at the wedding. Alan and Joan had only had two nights of married life before they had sailed on another east coast convoy.

Tony like Alan had no home or known relatives. He had been found abandoned on a doorstep in Central London on the day he was born on September 10th 1918 he was only a few hours old when he was found ... He had been told as he grew up in a London orphanage that he had probably been born a proper cockney, as he had been born within the sound of the Bow Bells. Nothing had been left indicating his identity, the only thing that he now had was the knitted shawl that he had been wrapped in. Now the only valued possession he had from his childhood days.

His name had been given to him by the orphanage, and despite extensive searches, no trace of his parents was ever found, and as the years passed Tony gave up his half hearted search for his parents and concentrated on his naval career...

It was there in the orphanage that he had first met his best friend Alan Stokes. Alan was an orphan and had come to the Dr Barnardos orphanage when his parents had been killed in a house fire. Both boys got on well, and being roughly the same age they became almost inseparable as they grew up. In their early teens they had been sent to the SS Arethusa which was a boys naval training ship which specialized in taking young boys who were orphans, and who had an interest in joining the Royal Navy or the Merchant Marine. It was run by a sea -faring charity, and they gave the boys a good basic education and grounding in seamanship. When he was sixteen they had both qualified for entrance to HMS Ganges the Royal Navy boys training barracks at Shotley nr Ipswich.

HMS Ganges was a hell hole; the discipline was dire, and in many ways was more akin to a prison than a training ship. Instructors carried rope ends or sticks and boys were frequently beaten for minor offences. The officers turned a blind eye to the instructors disciplinary misdemeanors no doubt feeling that they knew what they were doing. However, the technical training was good, and Tony was also able to improve his basic educational skills while he was there, and he survived to join his first ship together with Alan as a boy signalman in 1935.

The pre-war years saw them gain a lot of useful experience on a number of ships and qualify for their leading rate. With the outbreak of war and the rapid expansion of the Royal Navy, and after qualifying at the Signal School. Tony and Alan both got quick promotion to Yeoman of Signals and they were both well on his way to becoming a Chief Yeoman.

It was Tony that had introduced Alan to his wife Joan. She had been Tonys girlfriend for At the time but after meeting Joan and Alan had clicked and although at the time Tony had been sad at losing Joan to Alan, he was happy that Alan had married a girl who would make him a good wife. Her family liked Alan and the future looked bright for them both. They had both wanted a family, but alas time had been against them.

Tony was devastated that he could not go to the funeral. He was bed bound and the doctors told him that it would be weeks before he could walk, if he ever walked again. The doctors told him that there was a lot of work to be done in reconstructing his knee.

A few days after Alans funeral a disconsolate Joan came to visit him. She was heartbroken and she told Tony that she had hoped that she would be pregnant after their honeymoon, but it did not happen. Her family had been very supportive and wanted her to go home to live with them. Tonys heart went out to Joan. She had been a bright lively girl before Alans death, but she had changed; now she was much quieter, she was still a very pretty girl, but she had lost that vital spark which had first attracted Alan.

Then one day she said "Alan gave me this ring to give to you before he sailed. The lady that he bought it from said the ring had very special and very powerful qualities, to the right owner. Apparently she said the owner must use those qualities to do good and must use the unique powers of the ring with care and discretion. She said the special qualities would give him protection against evil. Apparently Joan said the old lady would not elaborate on what those qualities were. Alan had worn the ring for about three months, but he did not find any of the qualities that the lady enumerated, so he then decided to give the ring to you in the hope that it would bring you some luck and happiness."

Alan thanked her and put the ring on straight away. He was pleased to have something personal of Alans to remember him by. As soon as he put the ring on his finger he felt a tingling sensation through his body, the nagging pain in his knee also seemed to diminish, and for the first time in a while, he felt mentally very relaxed. As soon as Joan had left Tony examined the ring with great care. It seemed to be made of silver or a metal that looked like silver and had small emblems engraved around the outside that could probably have been Arabic.

Then just as he replaced the ring on his finger he had a vision of an elderly bearded man in a robe who said to Tony. "Welcome my son to the power of the ring. This ring will only help you if you use it for good. It will warn you against danger to yourself, and others close to you, and as time goes on you will find that the ring has many beneficial qualities. If you abuse the rings powers then those powers will disappear. By using the ring for good you will find that the powers will gradually increase. The ring has a terrific potential to the right owner. The ring will warn you only once if you attempt to misuse its powers. You will not get a second warning."

As Tony came back to reality he heard a nurse say "Tony what happened, you were in some form of trance?" Tony grinned at her and said. "No nurse I was only daydreaming."

Soon Joan was visiting Tony every day and bringing him little gifts of fruit and books, and gradually she took over doing his personal chores like doing his washing, and then she progressed to giving him a very possessive kiss on the cheek and a hug when she arrived and before she left. The doctors were astounded at the pace at which his knee was healing, and now they were more confident that his recovery would be quicker than they had anticipated. They told him that he probably would always have a limp, and may have to use a stick but they were confident that sometime in the near future he would walk again.

Then one day when Joan was visiting him Tony suddenly found he could read her mind. What he saw was an image of Joan and Alan having an affair behind his back while he was still going out with her and Alan was saying to her.

"You must tell Tony about us or I am going to finish with you. He is my best friend, and I will not continue to betray him like this."