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H.M.S.
LADYBIRD JOHN
JAMES JOHNSON (Johnno) Gunnery
Officer Royal Navy
and Royal
Australian Navy Boy 2nd
Class – Lieutenant Commander Retired Member of
the 22 April
1912 - 24 April 1992
HMS Ladybird 1937 China Station (click to enlarge)
Ship’s Complement Shanghai December 1937 In this unique photo signed by the whole crew Johnno’s signature appears in top left corner (click to enlarge) The inscription on the photo (below) suggests the photo was presented to him personally
J. J. Johnson front row, 3rd from left, next to mascot. (He appears 4th from the left in full photo above) Johnno’s Story Written on his retirement 1974 After serving 47 years in the Royal Navy and Royal
Australian Navy, Lieutenant-Commander John James Johnson (Johnno)
MBE, retires on the 21st April 1974, one day prior to his 62nd
birthday. Born in
HMS Powerful in Author’s Note: In
August 1905 HMS Powerful was
commissioned as Flagship on the Australia Station (This was the formation of
the Australian Navy) and stationed at Fremantle in Johnno’s
first experience with the sea was when he joined a training ship at For this first
2 ½ year commission in the Mediterranean Fleet he served in the
battleship HMS Royal Sovereign and the cruiser HMS Curacoa
which was sunk with all hands in World War II when the liner Queen Mary
rammed her while on a high speed convoy in the Atlantic. He completed
his first gunnery course at the Royal Navy school HMS Excellent in He completed
another gunnery course in 1935 and then joined the cruiser HMS Dauntless for
the China Station and later went to the gun-boat HMS Ladybird for a most
interesting commission for 2 years up the On return from The Revenge convoyed in the North Atlantics via Iceland, escorting troops from Canada, then to the South Atlantic, round Cape Town to the Middle East, then the North African campaign and later to the Far East. Lieutenant-Commander Johnson returned to HMS Excellent in 1942 for course and promotion to Gunnery Officer after which he went to the sloop HMS Enchantress (800) tons for the remainder of World War II on anti-submarine patrols in the Mediterranean. After World War II, he served at HMS ST Angelo in Later he joined
his first and only aircraft-carrier HMS Indomitable in the Mediterranean
Fleet which was paid off suddenly after an Av/Gas explosion which did
extensive damage, killing 11, seriously injuring 67 and maiming many for
life. The gunnery
officer continued in the Lieutenant-Commander
Johnson spent 35 years in and out of the gunnery school HMS Excellent mainly
instructing, serving twice in the experimental section on the gun and missile
trials, finishing up as the First Lieutenant, in which time he met many
Australians and was proud to join them in 1966. (He transferred to HMAS Leeuwin in He recalls that
one of the most frightening experiences he had was when he was serving as an
ordinary seaman in a 15-inch Gun house crew. As the smallest member of the
crew his job during gun quarters was cleaning out the barrel and chamber. On
Saturdays cleaning stations would last an hour. His job entailed climbing
into the gun chamber where he would wire scrub and oil it by hand. The chamber of
the 15-inch gun is 30 inches in diameter, where the breech is screwed into
the gun to take the explosion of four charges of cordite, to drive a 15-inch
shell accurately for 22 miles. The breechblock could be closed by power or by
hand. As a joke the men locked “Ord”
Johnson in the chamber and he lay there for half-an-hour with terrifying
thoughts going through his mind but refusing to panic. He stated later that
the half hour seemed more like a weekend to him! Involved in
Lieutenant-Commander Johnson’s war experiences were evacuating refugees
from the 1936 Spanish Civil War and then to Lieutenant-Commander
Johnson is married with 5 children, one who served in the Royal Navy and
another in the Royal Australian Navy. He was awarded the MBE in the New Years
Honours in 1972 for services in HMAS Leeuwin and after 47 years of a full, exciting and most enjoyable
career, he states that HMAS Leeuwin was one of the
most rewarding jobs that he has ever done.
On 12 December 1937 HMS Ladybird (and HMS Bee) went to the rescue of survivors from the Panay Incident after
the USS Panay was bombed by the Japanese
They came under fire from a Japanese artillery unit near HMS Ladybird was hit by six shells and HMS Bee dodged a shell as she came upon the scene. The newspaper clippings and photos are by courtesy of the Johnson Family.
Text reads: The entire
ship’s company of HMS Ladybird were all smiles when they posed for this
photograph in after their exciting experiences just previously on the Yangtze when they were shelled by the Japanese and participated in the rescue of the survivors of the USS Panay. (click to enlarge)
Lieutenant-Commander H.D. Barlow, Commanding Officer of HMS Ladybird (centre), with Lieutenant M. H. R. Crichton and Surgeon-Lieutenant W. A. Ryan
The Commanding Officer and officers of the French sloop Tahure now anchored on the Whangpoo. Johnson made a schematic drawing related to the incident as follows:
(click to enlarge)
Text reads: No wind. Sunny Sunday morning. No warning of Jap planes. 6 bombers approached at 10.55 am. Represented by RED lines and their bombs by RED spots. At 11.02 am. The 2nd raid represented by BLUE lines and the bombs by blue spots. S.S. “Tuckwo” hit twice. Reduced to a hulk. S.S. “ All ships barring (except) the Chinese Trooper by the Custom’s House were BRITISH. We had just finished our Church Service. Just in time!!
(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge) Among Johnno’s papers was a list of Ladybirds armament and particulars of the vessel. She was a formidable little ship!
Johnno also notes that Ladybird was white, inside and out and that her funnels were yellow with black tops. Below is a coloured photo of her sister ship HMS Cricket. The colour scheme was identical.
Also among his papers were the following drawings of the ship’s layout; lower and upper decks. He has noted where he was working and living.
Lower Deck (click to enlarge)
Upper Deck (click to enlarge)
Text reads: Look at it this way!! ----------------- Now this is what the stern looks like keeping yourself busy under the ship. This is what the tunnels are like I was telling you about
A Hand-drawn map of
Yangtze River from the (click to enlarge)
Telegram from Jack (Johnno) to his wife Olive December 1937
John James Johnson (left) and shipmate
Aboard HMS Revenge. Johnno Johnson 5th from right – front row (click to enlarge)
HMS Glasgow Ship’s Complement with HRH Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip. Also Lord Mountbatten whom Lieutenant Commander Johnson knew well. (click to enlarge)
John James Johnson (with his wife Olive) proudly wearing his MBE awarded at Government House Western Australia on June 22nd 1972. |
