A Dundee man is getting ready to make an emotional return to the site where he saw a ship explode during the second world war.

Royal Navy veteran Charles Devlin (78) will travel next month with his wife Evelyn and two seamen with whom he served 60 years ago to Croatia to pay their respects to the 135 men who died when the HMS Aldenham hit an enemy mine.

Mr Devlin’s ship, the HMS Atherstone, was following the HMS Aldenham across the Northern Adriatic Sea back to dock after a day of bombardment when the ship exploded into a cloud of smoke.

Mr Devlin recalled, “Most of the men on the HMS Aldenham were below deck when the ship hit the mine—meaning that almost all of the crew were killed.

“I was only 18 and on deck at the time and saw the ship explode right before my eyes.

“Our ship had to hit a hard starboard so that we did not hit the other ship, which had split in two.

“We then circled back to pick up some of the survivors—but only picked up 35 out of the 170 people who were on the ship.

“I have never forgotten that day—December the 14th, 1944, will stay with me forever.

“How my ship the HMS Atherstone didn’t hit a mine I’ll never know because a month later an aerial photograph of the area showed that there were 40 mines in that part of the sea.

“We had emptied the ship of shell casings because we were running low on fuel and that might have meant we bobbed higher in the water. This probably saved my life.”

Mr Devlin and his former comrades Charlie Humphries from Huddersfield and John Bachelor from Halifax, who remain firm friends to this day, will drop a wreath where the HMS Aldenham exploded.

They are making the trip thanks to an award of £1875 from the Heroes Return scheme run by the Big Lottery Fund.

They will leave Britain for Croatia on October 4 for a week’s trip.

“The money means that I can go back with my wife and two of my friends to hopefully drop a wreath at the site where it sunk,” Mr Devlin continued.

“It will certainly be an emotional trip and one where we will share memories, both good and bad.

“I think the fund is an excellent idea because these incidents should not be forgotten.”

The Heroes Return scheme is the centerpiece of the New Opportunities Fund’s Veterans Reunited programme through which lottery money is provided to enable veterans to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the second world war.