The Ship’s logs for H.M.S. Adventure for its early wartime service are all available in the Public Record Office, Kew. A summary of these logs is shown below. All dates are in 1939. The entries in brackets are not from Adventure’s log – they are other wartime events happening at the same time.
31 July |
HMS Adventure was brought out of reserve at Devonport [the date on which Charles joined the ship]. 7 Officers and 184 ratings joined on this day, 25 were discharged and 38 ratings joined on the following day. |
| 2 Aug | Sailed to Portsmouth, arriving on 3 Aug and embarking mines |
|
5 Aug | Sailed to Portland |
| 9 Aug | Fleet inspected by H.M. King |
| 10 Aug | Sailed to Portsmouth |
| 18 Aug | Exercises |
| 24 Aug | Minelaying Exercises |
| 29 Aug | Exercises, including firing 4.7 inch guns |
| 30 Aug | Exercises, fired 4.7 inch, Pom-poms and machine guns |
|
31 Aug | Exercises, fired 4.7 inch guns |
| [1 Sep] | [Germany invades Poland] |
| [3 Sep] | [War declared] |
| [4 Sep] | [Advanced units of B.E.F. carried by destroyers from Portsmouth to Cherbourg] |
| 7 Sep | Minelaying Exercise with Hampton & Shepperton. Sailed with Cairo, Hampton & Shepperton to Dover, docking at 18:00 on 8th |
| 11 Sep | Sailed at 06:14 & spent morning minelaying. Docked at 11:49 |
| 13 Sep | Sailed at 07:24 & spent morning minelaying. Docked at 10:57 |
| 14 Sep | Sailed at 09:19 & spent morning minelaying. |
| 15 Sep | Morning minelaying. 1 Rating injured embarking mines |
|
17 Sep | Sailed to Portsmouth |
| [17 Sep] | [H.M.S Courageous torpedoed and sunk by German submarine south west of Ireland] |
| 2 Oct | Action Stations |
| [5 Oct] | [Polish Army surrenders] |
| [8 Oct] | [U-12 sunk by mine in Dover Strait] |
| 10 Oct | Sailed, fired 4.7 inch guns, anchored at Spithead |
| 11-16 Oct | Docked in Portsmouth, embarking mines, oiling & provisioning |
| [13 Oct] | [U-40 sunk by mine in Dover Strait] |
| [14 Oct] | [H.M.S Royal Oak torpedoed in Scapa Flow by U-47] |
| 20 Oct | Sailed. Anchored in Thames Estuary in morning of 21st |
|
22 Oct | Anchored off Immingham Dock at 16:02 |
| 24 Oct | Sailed and layed mines in North Sea starting at 00:30 on 25th. Docked at Immingham at 12:55 on 25th |
| [24 Oct] | [U-16 sunk by mine in Dover Strait. U boats stop using English Channel and sail to the Atlantic round the north of Scotland] |
|
26 Oct | Landed football team |
| 27 Oct | 10:08 Air Raid warning – red. 22:11 laying mines in North Sea |
| 30 Oct | 22:30-03:42 laying mines in North Sea |
| 31 Oct | 11:52 anchored off Rosyth |
| 2 Nov | Rugby team landed |
| 4 Nov | Football team landed, Ratings landed to attend concert party. |
|
6 Nov | Provisioning. Weighed at 16:56 |
| 7 Nov | Zigzagged during passage. 18:50 docked at Immingham |
| 8,9 Nov | Cleaning and painting ship |
| 10 Nov | Fuelling |
| 11 Nov | Slipped mooring & anchored off Grimsby |
| 12 Nov | “Basilisk” and “Blanche” arrived. Sailed in company with “Basilisk” & “Blanche”. Anchored in Barrow Deep at 20:57 |
| 13 Nov | Weighed at 03:05. 05:06 Streaming Paravanes. 05:17 observed explosion. 05:27 ship struck probable mine “Basilisk” alongside to embark injured 07:40 proceeding at slow speed following “Basilisk” 11:28 anchored off Nore Lt Vessel 12:48 weighed 7 proceeded with Tugs to Sheerness 14:25 secured to No 6 buoy, Sheerness |