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North sailor tells of his exploits on WW2 ship

Sep 6 2009 by Sam Wood, Sunday Sun

A NORTH sailor who was one of the first to be involved in action during the Second World War has told of his experiences 70 years on.

Raymond Gray joined the Navy in 1935, when he was 17, after growing up in Percy Main, North Shields.

The Royal Navy veteran was on board one of the first ships to be involved in fighting during the conflict, sinking a ship just hours after war was declared.

Raymond was an engineer on the light cruiser HMS Ajax for the entire length of the conflict. The ship operated around the Americas and the Mediterranean and was involved in major sea battles, including the Battle of River Plate.

The 92-year-old, who now lives in Cheltenham, said: “I signed up to the Navy because I was sick of the ship yards. I was at Swan Hunter for about a year. I wanted to travel but I didn’t expect the war to start. I had a good cruise round Bermuda and the Caribbean before the war began.

“When war first started we thought it was great, none of us had been to war before. I soon changed my mind though.

“We thought it would be over in a couple of months but obviously it didn’t turn out like that.”

Raymond helped to fire torpedos during the war as well as work as an engineer. More than 550 sailors were onboard the Ajax, which was tracking the German merchant ship Olinda, in the days before the war started.

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