START 00:00:00 Monochrome scenes in the South China Sea, summer 1939: view of two naval ratings on duty on the platform with an octuple Mk VII 2-pounder pom-pom and the quadruple .5 inch machine gun mounting on the starboard side of HMS Kent, another County Class cruiser, HMS Dorsetshire, on the starboard quarter (see MGH 2735). Panning shots showing a Royal Fleet Auxiliary oiler (possibly RFA Penleaf), a junk and a minesweeper/sloop in the distance at Wei-Hai-Wei (?) and the anchorage in the bay.

00:00:34 A view of a lighthouse on a coastal headland in the Mediterranean. A Turkish flag flying from HMS Kent's mainmast, with the searchlight platform ('Sutcliffe's Birdcage') in the foreground.

00:00:48 Views of freighters, junks, one, possibly two D Class destroyers, the submarine depot ship HMS Medway, the light cruiser HMS Birmingham and a Chinese sampan in the stretch of water between Kowloon and Hong Kong. Naval ratings and Indian artillerymen with a light mountain gun that has just been transferred by crane onto HMS Kent.

00:01:34 Views of modern factory or commercial buildings wrecked in 1937 during the fighting between the Nationalist Chinese and the invading Imperial Japanese forces for the control of Shanghai. Japanese soldiers ride past the scene in a 30-cwt truck. Sandbags in the doorways and windows of the abandoned buildings.

00:02:13 Views of the river bank lining the Mekong River as HMS Kent, accompanied by a Royal Navy sloop, steams towards Phnom Penh, capital of the French protectorate of Cambodia. Views of the road leading to the gateway to Angkor Wat, a twelfth century Hindu temple and palace complex later taken over by local Buddhists, and scenes inside the walled compound featuring some of the large number of bas-reliefs and the five-towered temple at its core. A crossing point on the River Mekong (?) where a saloon car is driven over ramps onto dry land from a steam-powered ferry boat. Modes of transport in Phnom Penh - a cycle rickshaw, a mule waggon - and pagodas and pavilions in the Royal Palace.

00:08:13 Two junks in rough seas off Hong Kong. Short Sunderland flying boats belonging to 230 Squadron at their moorings at Seletar, Singapore Island (see MGH 2732). Views of fishermen's jetties in the Straits of Johore.

00:09:07 Colour views of the New Territories and units of the East China Station in the waters between Kowloon and Hong Kong dressed overall, possibly in celebration of the promotion of Sir Percy Noble to the rank of full Admiral (see MGH 2734); among the ships present for this event is the D Class destroyer HMS Diamond (pennant number H22), the light cruiser HMS Birmingham and the submarine depot ship HMS Medway.

00:09:48 B&W shot of the light C Class cruiser HMS Cardiff close to HMS Kent and steaming on a parallel course on her starboard beam (see MGH 2732). Two Royal Navy officers in swim suits emerge out of the rolling surf onto a beach (location unknown).

END: 00:09:57

Silent 8mm monochrome and colour footage shot by Lieutenant-Commander George C Blundell in 1939 at sea, in Hong Kong, on the Chinese mainland and in Cambodia whilst serving on HMS Kent.

Notes

Summary: with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, George Blundell (1904-1997) served on board HMS Kent as a torpedo and electrical specialist from December 1937 to January 1941. As HMS Kent was not armed with torpedoes, Blundell was put in charge of the depth charge party and the ship's anchors as well as serving as the China Station's fleet torpedo officer until the end of 1939. HMS Kent was a County Class cruiser, launched in March 1926 and commissioned in June 1928. Her first ten years of service were spent in the Far East with the 5th Cruiser Squadron, returning to the UK for part reconstruction in 1938. In early 1939 she returned to the Far East and remained in tropical waters until August 1940, when she joined the Mediterranean Fleet in Alexandria. After being badly damaged by an Italian torpedo in September 1940 (see MGH 2740), HMS Kent spent more than one year in dock for repairs and was then assigned to the Home Fleet. In January 1945, after three years of duty in northern waters, she was paid off into reserve and scrapped in 1948.

Remarks: an absorbing record taken in the final years of European domination of the Far East, with just a hint of the war with the Japanese to come.