Before Discover More · 2022–2023

Submariners’ Stories

Members of the Royal Navy Submarine Service remember Gosport, escape training and life under the sea.

Before Discover More was formed, Simon Perry recorded the interviews for Gosport’s High Street Heritage Action Zone, with Sally Perry as producer, and they made the clips, the website and a display for the Submarine Museum.

Colour portrait of Chris Groves in a red jumper, holding a bronze trophy, with a naval uniform jacket with medals hanging behind him against a dark iron background.
Chris Groves, photographed in front of HMS Holland I. Portrait by Julian Winslow

At a glance

Commissioned by
Gosport Borough Council’s High Street Heritage Action Zone
Recorded
15 submariners and their families
Clips
More than 400, across 20 themes
On show
Clips and photographs on a plinth, permanently at the Submarine Museum
Project site
submarinersstories.uk ↗

The story

Gosport was home to the Royal Navy’s submarine service for generations, at HMS Dolphin on Fort Blockhouse. The town’s High Street Heritage Action Zone wanted those links recorded before they were lost.

Life on a submarine had been a closed and largely unknown world. Some of the interviews ran for hours, so they go into unusual detail. Among them is Commodore Jim Perks, recorded soon after he stepped down as Head of the Submarine Service. Earlier in his career, after commanding HMS Sceptre, he became ‘Teacher’, running the notoriously tough Perisher command course.

The interviews cover joining up, escape training in the tower at SETT, Perisher, life on board diesel and nuclear submarines, shore leave in Gosport, and life after the service. Julian Winslow photographed the interviewees at the Submarine Museum, in front of HMS Holland I.

The recordings were cut into short clips sorted into 20 themes. The Submarine Museum, the National Museum of the Royal Navy, the Gosport Society and the interviewees themselves shared photographs.

Some of the voices

Hear them on submarinersstories.uk ↗
  • Colour portrait of Commodore Jim Perks

    Commodore Jim Perks

  • Colour portrait of Ron Gordon

    Ron Gordon

  • Colour portrait of Lieutenant Ami Burns

    Lieutenant Ami Burns

  • Colour portrait of Ian ‘Pony’ Moore

    Ian ‘Pony’ Moore

Portraits by Julian Winslow

From the archive

Black-and-white aerial photograph of Fort Blockhouse, with the submarine escape training tower in the foreground and Portsmouth Harbour beyond.
Fort Blockhouse (HMS Dolphin) from the air, 1954 or 1955. Submariners’ Stories archive
Black-and-white photograph of young sailors in dark jumpers crowded round a table with mugs and fruit, smiling at the camera.
Opening of the Leading Juniors’ canteen, HMS Ganges, 1962. Lent by Brian Wood
Black-and-white photograph of sailors at a party, one in a white uniform and cap blowing a trumpet.
Socialising, possibly in Gibraltar, 1960s. Lent by Brian Wood
Colour photograph of two crew members working among pipes and machinery in a submarine’s cramped torpedo compartment.
A Tigerfish torpedo nearly home, HMS Opossum, 1990. Lent by Ian Moore

What the project made

  • A website with more than 400 clips, full interviews, transcripts and photographs
  • A plinth of clips and photographs, now on permanent show at the Submarine Museum
  • A talk to the Gosport branch of the Submariners’ Association
  • Portraits of the interviewees by Julian Winslow

A few of the clips

  • Ian Moore: The smell of diesel
  • Chris Groves: What happens if you fail Perisher
  • Midge Ure: Joanna’s nightclub in Gosport
  • David White: Reacting to sudden noises still now

Listen on submarinersstories.uk ↗

Made for

Gosport Borough Council, High Street Heritage Action Zone

Funded by

Historic England, through its grant scheme.

Partners

  • Gosport Borough Council
  • Submariners’ Association, Gosport branch
  • The Submarine Museum
  • National Museum of the Royal Navy
  • The Gosport Society

Credits

Simon Perry
Oral history interviews, audio clips and website
Sally Perry
Project Producer, handling and preparing all assets for the website, including audio clips
Julian Winslow
Portraits
Ron Gordon
Support through the Gosport branch of the Submariners’ Association
Meeja’s Oral History Engine
Manages and displays the interviews, clips and photographs

This project was made before Discover More CIC was formed. Recordings and photographs belong to the project and the people who lent them, and are shown here with credit.

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