During the war HMS Albrighton was hit four times whilst he served on board her. On the 5th May 1942 when proceeding off Cap D'aily France she was engaged by enemy forces but was not impaired. On the 19th August 1942 she sustained minor damage. On the 11th December 1943 she attacked an enemy convoy off the French coast and suffered minor damage. During his draft to HMS Albrighton he was mentioned in dispatches. It is believed that HMS Albrighton assisted a Canadian ship that was in difficulty. Charlie, being a strong swimmer, rescued several Canadians from the sea. On the 13th February 1945 an Artic Convoy in adverse weather and opposition by way of 12 U Boats and eighty enemy aircraft, eight of which were destroyed entered harbour safely in snow squalls and poor visibility. The Corvette HMS Denbigh Castle who had been covering the last Freighter was torpedoed and had to be towed into the Kola Inlet by a Russian tug and beached and later capsized. As a consequence Charlie spent sometime in a Russian hospital recovering. His children would appreciate contact from anyone who knew their dad.
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William Porte (known
to all Prince of Wales boys as Charlie) retired from the Royal Navy in
1946. In 1948 he began instructing seamanship at the Prince of Wales Sea
Training Hostel in Ingham, Norfolk. In 1953, accompanied by his new wife