Reel 1: Opening shot partially obscured. Series of shots looking down as Indian ratings hose down and scrub the stern deck of a Royal Indian Navy warship with a twin 4-inch gun. Looking through a life ring with water behind. Ratings painting. A Sikh officer on the bridge with binoculars (probably Prince Gunendra Singh, brother of the Maharaja of Patiala) he points something out to a British Captain. British officers on the bridge passing notes; one then goes to use a signal lamp. Two hands holding a rope (to fire a depth charge). Captain giving instruction to fire (he does so several times for the benefit of the camera). The depth charge is fired; camera follows and the charge explodes ten seconds after hitting the water. Severals shots of rating with binoculars, latterly in silhouette against setting sun. A silhouetted dual 40mm gun in fading light. Looking froward from bridge with two dual 4-inch guns; the movement of the ship and the sea is apparent with some spray. An aircraft carrier on the horizon. [Racking changes here] Telephoto views of other ships against water in bright sunlight, with rigging (?) out of focus in foreground and somewhat obscuring the view. A sloop (?) making smoke; it is well obscured. [Racking changes again] Interior; removing 4-inch ammunition from a magazine. A mechanical indicator, a circular dial marked ‘Teleflex’ with a triangular window, moves several times and shows ‘Star’ and ‘Stop loading’. On deck; a wooden boat (alongside the ship being lifted stern-first on a crane) is bailed out. Tilt from a small launch to the wooden boat. Hoisting signal flags. Rating hauling on a line. Removing a 4-inch round from a magazine. Operating the 4-inch shell hoist. Receiving round from the hoist. Passing the round up a chute through a deck hatch to be received by another. Passing shell up another chute. Loading 4-inch guns. Views of 4-inch guns traversing. Signal lamp with ships of convoy in distance behind. Views of the convoy. Convoy through porthole with 20mm gun foreground.

Reel 2: High shot, taken from the crow’s nest, looking down on the bridge and forward 4-inch turrets; the ship is underway and the guns at cruising stations. Both turrets traverse to port. A longer lens shot of B turret traversing. A single-barrelled pom-pom traversing. Forward 4-inch turrets at cruising station. Looking aft. Looking down at a slightly queezy angle at a 2-pounder 'pom-pom' and one of the ships small boats as the wake passes swiftly. Looking down on the bridge; officers look through binoculars. On deck; an Indian rating cleans the compass with close-up. Men working on a pom-pom. A rating cleans the barrel jacket of a pom-pom. A slightly obscured shot of ratings hosing down the deck. On deck, looking out to ships of the convoy forming up. In evening light a Catalina flying boat passes overhead. Views of merchantmen of the convoy and escorting sloops. Silhouetted 4-inch guns with a sailor above. Brief shot sailor standing by a deck hatch waiting for a shell. [Some judder from this point on] Pom-pom practice firing. Looking out towards practice target. Pom-pom crew and recoiling muzzle. Pom-pom tracer fire; the relatively low velocity is apparent. Pom-pom muzzle and ring sight with gunner. A small armed steamer. B Turret traversing to starboard, followed by A Turret. B Turret’s right hand gun fires but this is not seen clearly. B Turret firing. A bag is run along a line to HMIS Jumna steaming alongside, the crew are on the rails. Long lens of the bag reaching Jumna. Long lens Jumna’s bow cutting the water. A not very effective panning shot following a pair of 4-inch guns traversing towards Jumna. Jumna ahead. Shooting a Coston line.

Various scenes onboard a Royal Indian Navy Black Swan Class sloop escorting a convoy, somewhere in Indian waters in June 1944.

Notes

A well-shot piece with a variety of useful material. The sequence from the magazine to the four-inch gun, the depth charge, and the smoking sloop are all highly illustrative and a useful record of the Royal Indian Navy. The cameraman of this piece, Frank Worth, suggests on his dopesheet a variety of potential uses for this film. He suggests, for instance, that the footage of the men bailing out the wooden boat is 'reminiscent of pictures of torpedoed survivors'. This is probably somewhat optimistic, but illustrates the cameraman's publicity consciousness.

Series note: The MWY series of films is believed to be part of a ‘pool’ of film received by the Government of India from various sources, including South East Asia Command, the Indian Inter-Service Public Relations Directorate, the Ministry of Information, and from Allied governments. This footage would have been considered for editing and release through the Indian Newsreel Parade; see INR series.