Angus Konstam's book British Motor Gun Boat 1939-45 (published in 2010) shows on page 8 MGB 8 armed with a Rolls Royce 2 pounder. This is an illustration but there is a photo on page 38 of MGB 10 in Dover Harbour "in early 1942" with a Rolls Royce 2-pdr aft. He also notes (page 31) that &q...
Checking back with the photo my father took of "the mad Scotsman Macnair and his Oerlikon" , I think it must have been taken on his other boat, MTB 731. This would date from 1944 or 1945. And yes, the other photo does look like it could show a 2 pounder. The Mad Scotsman Macnair and his Oe...
I don't know for certain, I'm afraid. As I understand it, these MGBs would have been armed with two twin Vickers 0.5' MGs (or possibly four .303'MGs) and either a 20mm Oerlikon or a 2 pounder pom pom. I have a photo of my father's boat (MGB 8) which shows an Oerlikon - this would date from 1943.
I don't know if there is an action report from either of the MGBs involved. The National Archive has an account of the sinking of MTB 220 by one of its crew. This has not been digitised but a copy could be ordered on-line. Here is the link : http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/details?...
Reynolds' book does not identify the two MGBs except to say that they were from the 2nd MGB Flotilla. Both MGB 9 and MGB 13 were from that Flotilla (Reynolds, p196) so it seems quite possible that they were involved.
Reynolds' "Home Waters MTBs at War" says "there were only two major actions during May 1942, even though patrols were mounted almost every night". Actions are described on 11/12 May involving MGBs 41, 46 and 67, and a second action on 13/14 May involving MTBs 219, 220 and 221 and...
As I understand it, the 66th MTB Flotilla was created for an anti-submarine role and its boats shipped 32 depth charges in place of the torpedo tubes. This photo shows my father's boat (731) with the depth charges in place and what are (presumably) some of the the other boats of the flotilla alongsi...
Andrew There is a description of this action in Len Reynolds "Dog Boats at War" (page 105) : "The two boats made the long passage north to the Trondheim area during the dark hours, and at 07.25 [on 25 October 1943] they sighted two coasters off Bessaker, and immediately attacked with ...
This is a shot of MTB 731 at Dover showing (I believe) the depth charge racks along the deck. I wonder whether this may be just postwar? The crew seem pretty relaxed...
Nick Here are the photos I mentioned. The quality is not great, but the second photograph includes what might be another D towards the top left of the photo. There are quite a number of vessels involved in the rescue. It may be possible to clean the pictures up a bit, but I'm not a Photoshop expert....
I have a couple of very small photographs taken by my father (serving on MTB 731) of the rescue operation you mention, which relates I believe to the USS Miantonomah (CM-10/CMc-5), mined at Le Havre on 25 September 1944. I'll post as soon as I get the chance.
This is another shot of MGB 16 - I presume taken shortly before or shortly after the previous photo. It's a bit blurred (though that's not a surprise, I suspect, given how fast the boats must have been travelling). Does anyone know what the pennants might mean?
Well I knew MGB 8 had gone to Shoreham as a houseboat postwar but I didn't expect her to still be there! She seems to be lived in (or was at the time the photo was taken) - at least the roofing felt looks new. It's amazing that she's lasted so long. This photo is of MGB 16 (off Weymouth?). There see...
My father served as first lieutenant on MGB 8 from mid 1943 and took some photographs of some of the other boats of the second MGB Flotilla (6, 7, 13) as well as boats I think were with other flotillas (16 and 57). The quality is not brilliant, but some of the people may be identifiable. Might the l...
My father (Sub-Lt Geoffrey Alan Dale) was First Lieutenant of MTB 731, so I am interested in your research. I have transcribed a Report of Proceedings from the National Archive dating from 26 December 1944 about a patrol on the night of 23/24 December 1944 during which MTBs 731 and 750 made an attac...