Item ALL/3 - Diary of Albert Lee.

In August 1917, at the end of two months in dockyard hands, a new Captain, B S Thesiger, was appointed to the Inflexible and she proceeded to Scapa Flow for working-up exercises with the Grand Fleet. After so little activity for so long, Lee noted that it "makes one wake up" when the battle cruisers were suddenly ordered to sea, but no engagement materialized (16 October). Just over a week later, the survivors from the destroyer Mary Rose, sunk while escorting a Scandinavian convoy, were brought on board the Inflexible (24 October 1917). The Inflexible took part in two fruitless sweeps in the North Sea in November and during the winter formed part of the escorting force for the Scandinavian convoys. Owing to "stress of work" and the temporary loss of his diary, Lee made no entries for the periods 20 November 1917 - 7 February 1918, 30 April - 20 July, 4-19 August, 26 August - 21 September 1918. The infrequent entries during these months record U-boat attacks on the Scandinavian convoys, Allied counter-measures (26 March, 26-7 April) and the continuing weekly exercises. The most interesting entries for the final weeks of the war relate to the poor quality of British mines (27 September), the destruction of the U-boat manned entirely by officers off the entrance to Scapa Flow (29 October) and Armistice Day celebrations in the Battle Cruiser Fleet. The Inflexible was present at the surrender of the High Seas Fleet and, to Lee, ". it was a most wonderful sight.. one could hardly understand it all" (21 November) and he went round the Moltke the following day. Much to the ship's company's disgust, however, they were deprived of their Christmas leave because of the situation in the Baltic (4, 6 December). Lee only kept his diary intermittently in 1919, but he did enter the Captain's speech informing them that "the old home is to be broken up" (23 January), and the consequent discharge of most of the ratings at the Nore (31 January) and the ship's reduction to the Third Fleet (14 February). Lee's diaries contain summaries of many of the speeches made by the Inflexible's Captains during the war, and also transcriptions of congratulatory signals made to the Inflexible. All three volumes include photographs, press cuttings and odd notes by Lee relating to the war at sea, 1914-18. ALL 2 Printed "Extracts from the Press" relating to naval activities during the First World War, notably the Battles of Coronel and the Falklands, British minesweeping in the North Sea, the American Mining Squadron, the German East Africa blockade runners, the cruise of the Seeadler and the future of the submarine. 70pp. ND

Imperial War Museum Department of Documents >> A Lee

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Ms.158pp

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/cebc2e9e-0f45-4e8d-896e-37f6ffdb82c3

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