Themes

Clifford Simkin

Article highlights

Joining the Navy

An artificer is a highly trained navy engineer. Clifford Simkin began his engineering apprenticeship at 14 years old. He recalls his reasons for joining the Armed Forces -

'I worked for a large company which made a great variety of things from very small components to larger marine engines, and with the war creeping nearer and nearer it was natural for us in our early twenties to want to volunteer.'

Clifford unsuccessfully applied to the RAF in early 1939. They rejected his application due to the important nature of his civilian work. But, at the outbreak of World War Two, Simkin volunteered for the Navy as an Engine Room Artificer (ERA). Simkin underwent several tests for this demanding and highly technical job. Simkin describes his naval examinations -

'The test was divided into two parts, the first was a maths test, most of which was the theory of engine and boiler design, this took all one morning followed in the afternoon by a written paper on engine design, problems etc. Then the big one, 42 hours of practical work, fitting and turning, making your own tools from crude black forgings to enable the test to be done. The Admiral asked me if I had any difficulties, and I replied I had not been used to using all new machinery, but I had never been asked to use such junk as was necessary to do the test. He explained that it was done on purpose, if we could do a good job on that machinery we could do it on anything we were likely to meet at sea or on shore. I guess he had a point.'

Artificer Recruitment Pamphlet

Artificer Recruitment Pamphlet (RNM)

Clifford passed the tough exams and attended a shortened basic training course so that he could be used in the fleet as soon as possible. While at his base in Portsmouth he quickly found out the size of the task in hand -

'The idea that a ship comes into harbour and there is a gang of skilled men willing and ready to do your repairs is a myth. It was us, the poor artificer that was responsible for the maintenance and all repairs, and in such conditions you do the impossible, and of course we often had to do repairs when at sea, sometimes when under attack. One thing this life did teach me was to appreciate a situation in a hurry and do the necessary repairs efficiently and speedily.'