List of Illustrations
Unless otherwise specified, images are from the Fell family collection, all rights reserved.
The crew of the original X-craft submarine X-24: Sub-Lieutenant Joe Brooks, Lieutenant Max Shean, Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Vernon ‘Ginger’ Coles and Sub-Lieutenant Frank Ogden.
Some of the officers and men of 14th Submarine Flotilla photographed aboard the depot ship HMS Bonaventure in Scotland, late 1944.
HMS XE-1 surfaced during training in Scotland.
An XE-craft approaches the practice anti-submarine boom in north-west Scotland.
Lieutenant Max Shean, the Australian commanding officer of HMS XE-4.
Captain William Fell, commanding officer of 14th Submarine Flotilla, with his second-in-command, Lieutenant-Commander Derek Brown, HMS Bonaventure, 1945.
Acting Leading Seaman James ‘Mick’ Magennis with his commanding officer Lieutenant Ian ‘Tich’ Fraser. (Photo: Imperial War Museum)
The crew of HMS XE-5 photographed in Scotland before departure for the Far East: Sub-Lieutenant Beadon Dening, Lieutenant Herbert ‘Pat’ Westmacott, Sub-Lieutenant Dennis Jarvis and Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Clifford Greenwood. (Photo: Imperial War Museum)
HMS Bonaventure passing beneath Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.
The Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus (DSEA), an early rebreather modified for use by commando divers.
The commanding officers of the four XE-craft submarines used in Operations Struggle, Foil and Sabre: Lieutenant Jack Smart, Lieutenant Tich Fraser, Lieutenant Pat Westmacott, and Lieutenant Max Shean. (Photo: Imperial War Museum)
Rear-Admiral James Fife, commander of submarines, US 7th Fleet, with Captain Fell on the bridge of HMS Bonaventure, Brunei Bay, July 1945.
The attack and passage crews of XE-1 and XE-3 being addressed by Rear-Admiral Fife on the quarterdeck of HMS Bonaventure shortly before departing Brunei Bay for Singapore, 26 July 1945.
Rear-Admiral Fife and Captain Fell bidding a final farewell to the attack and passage crew of one of the XE-craft involved in Operation Struggle.
Tich Fraser’s XE-3 departs for Singapore under tow from HMS Stygian, 26 July 1945.
XE-craft interior showing the steering position in the foreground.
XE-craft interior: planesman’s position.
The Japanese heavy cruiser Myoko. (Photo: Japanese Navy via Wikimedia Commons)
Captain Fell and Lieutenant-Commander Brown on HMS Bonaventure.
VJ Day party aboard HMS Bonaventure, Brunei Bay, 2 September 1945.
The VJ Day party one hour later.
Jimmy Fife salutes the quarterdeck as he departs HMS Bonaventure for the final time in early August 1945.
An XE-craft surfaced in Brunei Bay shortly after the end of the war.
Captain William Fell, commander of 14th Submarine Flotilla, and Captain William Banks, commander of 12th Submarine Flotilla, photographed at Buckingham Palace just after the war.