A 98-year-old World War Two veteran from Oxford has shared his experiences with crew of the new HMS Glasgow frigate.

The Royal Marine gunner, Archibald ‘Archie’ Hazledine had served in HMS Glasgow No.7 in the closing months of the war.

Mr Hazledine specialised as an ack-ack gunner and was assigned to the ship after the Normandy operation on D-Day in the final invasion of the Japanese home islands.

Petty Officer Kieran ‘Woody’ Woodward helped host the veteran, noting “his keen interest in the mission bay” and “really good questions”.

Mr Woodward said: “It was an absolute pleasure hosting an old HMS Glasgow shipmate.

“It was a pity that the visit had to end actually – we would have been very happy to exchange stories with him all day!”

Archie was an air-raid warden in Oxford before he was called up and recalls the night of the Coventry blitz on 14th November 1940.

On fire watch on the Oxford Castle mound, he watched an orange glow on the horizon as German bombers flew over.

The wartime cruiser relied on the marksmanship of men like Archie, pumping out up to 300 20mm rounds a minute.

Mr Woodward added that Archie was very interested in the ship’s flight deck and fascinated to learn of its capability in landing the RAF’s heavy Chinook helicopter.

The new HMS Glasgow is the first of eight Type 26 anti-submarine frigates being built by BAE systems for the Royal Navy, replacing the existing Duke-class ships from later this decade into the mid-2030s.