Letters from HMS Zambesi

HMS Zambesi entered Bergen, Norway, on 8th May 1945, the day WWII formally ended. The following is from a letter by Midshipman Derek Hirst to his mother started on 14th May and completed shortly after leaving Bergen on the 21st May.

May 14th 1945

18.00. It’s a calm night with just a slight breeze blowing. Everyone is fallen in for leaving harbour & on the bridge the Captain is standing on the compass platform waiting to give the order to slip. A few minutes later the order came – the slip rope was hauled in board & once again the ship was under way, but through the boom we went, as we had done so many times before, closely followed by HMS Obedient. Outside the flow (Scapa Flow) the cruiser HMS Norfolk joined us & together we sailed out into the night. The middle watch passed very pleasantly & by 04.00 we were 40 miles N E of the Shetlands. We then turned East & set course for Bergen.

11.30. Land-ho! Just over the horizon loomed Norway with its snow capped mountains silhouetted brightly against the sky. We were still 60 miles or more away & as we closed in we saw the ruggedness & terrific height of the mountains more plainly. We were doing 20 knots so it took us just on three hours before we reached the Fiord which led to Bergen. At the entrance we stopped main engines & waited for a pilot to come aboard. We still had another two hours steaming to go up the fiord before we should finally reach the harbour and town of Bergen itself.

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forargyll.com, Argyll News: Letter home from Midshipman Derek Hirst HMS Zambesi 8th May 1945 :Argyll,Scapa Flow,Bergen,World War II, | For Argyll, May 1945

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