Coastal Forces Veterans

Hello Christian That's a great collection of models you have there. The Dog Boat is particularly impressive, and it's interesting to see one made out as an RAF LRRC. The BPB MASB looks a very graceful boat too, more so than comes across in photos of them at times. I'd love to see a Fairmile B made o...

After a short time away, I have just been looking at the forum and noticed a reply from yourself back in June and it seems to suggest that you have said that my father served on MGB 325 not MGB 326 I was using available sources. In this case Seedie's List of Coastal Forces decorations which refers ...

You may be interested to learn of this recording made of Stan Cross, crewman onboard MTB 666, and presumably available to purchase from the IWM.

The following extract is taken from the September 2000 edition (No. 103) of the Coastal Forces Veterans Association newsletter: 666 The Devil's Number What happened to MTB 666 as told by Stan Cross To say that I was flabbergasted when, during the CFVA's Annual Commemoration Service the Rev. Ron Patt...

Hello Andrew & Terri I would imagine CFMB would stand for Coastal Forces Mobile Base. The situation in the Mediterranean in the latter stages of the war meant that CF units often worked in advance of the Allied front line, and so had to operate with the support of mobile bases rather than establ...

Hello Lee There is a brief description contained in our database of boats, of events surrounding the loss of MTB 666 and capture of some of its crew, which was drawn from an article which originally appeared in one of the newsletters of the former Coastal Forces Veterans Association. I will try and ...

For those who may not be aware, the main web site contains a database of known Coastal Forces craft that provides basic information on each of the boats. To quickly find details of any boat, type the boat's pennant number only (e.g. 123) into the white box at top left of the Coastal Forces Boats dat...

I think it would be unlikely for someone killed in the Mediterranean theatre to be buried in South Africa. Was Joseph Clark South African, or had he emigrated there? If so, then another possibility is an error in the recording of the boat number by the CWGC. There was a South African built Fairmile ...

Hello Anna Just to add slightly to what has already been said, to address your question of whether MTBs would have been used to rescue airmen, I think it can be said that there are certain aspects to the subject that make for an element of crossover at times. In the main, air sea rescue work was car...

Hello Bob

Paul Kemp seems to have had a number of different publishers, one of them being Cassell, now owned by Orion Books. Have you tried contacting his various publishers for a possible lead on his whereabouts?

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I happened to come across this reference to a sister ship of MTB 715, so am adding it here out of interest. Perhaps some other nicknames may emerge in time that can be added to the thread too. Early that morning, cousins Jack Larssen and Arnold Hovland had gone ashore at Kviksodden in S.W. Norway to...

Dear Stephen Thank you for your interesting enquiry. The obvious candidates for the MTBs carried on davits on larger warships would have been the Thornycroft boats, built to the earlier design of Coastal Motor Boat which saw service in the First World War, and originally designed with this purpose i...

SGB 308, later Grey Wolf, believed to be taken during her sea trials, which would most likely make this the Firth of Clyde, given her construction yard of Denny Brothers at Dumbarton.

Hello Popeye This section entitled Burma Operations (1942-1945) from the Official History of the Royal Indian Navy by Lieutenant D.J.E. Collins, and available to read online gives quite a good account of the naval campaign on the Arakan Coast, if you haven't already come across it. I seem to recall ...

Thank you for informing us of the death of your late father John Day. On behalf of the London Branch of Coastal Forces Veterans, the web team wish to extend our condolences to you and all the family at this sad time. Your father’s work with early ship-based radar enabled the boats of Coastal Forces ...

As you may already be aware, Telegraphist Frederick Norman Tyldesley was awarded the Croix de Guerre, though it appears the award was not announced in the London Gazette, so there is no ready way of knowing precisely what it was awarded for, beyond the work that MTB 91 was involved in, having been t...

I am researching the Coastal Craft Career of my Great Uncle, Mike Marshall, who served on MGB 607 and MGB 503, 502, 509. Hello Charles By the strangest of coincidences I have been working on a Book of Remembrance for the dead of Coastal Forces, to be made available on the website in the near future...

I think the boat in the photo is FPB 5020 (decommissioned 1956). Yes, John Lambert's book on the Fairmile D contains a drawing of FPB 5001 (former MTB 780 ) as of 1954, having the same forward, mid, and aft armament as shown in the photo, together with the clear wheelhouse, and which depicts the wh...

futher to my meeting with my researcher concerning mtb 670 he has pointed out on the subject of the torpedo tubes being removed ,notes made on dads comments show that the tubes were removed when they were on mine sweeping manoveres this was done for safety reasons... SOE and The Resistance: As Told...

That's an interesting photo David. Those with greater knowledge of D-Class boats may be better able to comment on the nature of the four aerials that are visible, as well as on the type of radar equipment carried. But comparing this photo to the known one of MTB 670 that jonco has posted, obvious di...

Hello David That's very interesting, and it certainly bears further investigation. I suspect the affair is probably linked to the political goings on at the time in the region, the Allies having started off by backing the Chetniks, before deciding to throw their weight behind Tito's Partisans instea...

Just to help clarify something here. MTB 670 is recorded as having been lost on passage between Malta and Alexandria on 30 January 1946. It was lost in conjunction with a number of other boats, including MTB 658, which was Len Reynolds' boat — the well known Coastal Forces author. I was just reading...

The Imperial War Museum has certain materials for all of those boats (not sure about photographs) including sound recordings from crew members who served, though you would have to pay to procure any items.

The only one I am aware of at the moment is: Rum and Raki: War in the Eastern Adriatic 1939-1945 ; War in a Narrow Sea by Charles W Koburger, Jr (2003) I am not entirely sure though if this publication, which is more a brief monograph than a book, ever had an actual publisher. Other works of his hav...

Here are just a few names of officers for MTB 670 obtained recently from the Navy List for June 1944

Temporary Lieutenant A.S. Rendell RNCVR (in command)
Temporary Sub-Lieutenant J.K. Findlay
Temporary Sub-Lieutenant J.O. Young

I managed to glean the following names of officers who served at various times with MTB 638 from the Navy Lists, during a recent visit to Birmingham Central Library: MTB 638 Officers October 1943 Temporary Lieutenant L. H. Blaxell RNVR Temporary Sub-Lieutenant A B. Childs RNVR February 1944 Temporar...

I found this short piece that happens to mention MTB 638, in a newsletter of the now disbanded Coastal Forces Veterans Association. The Admiral’s Powder Parlours — not so amusing at the time!! A group of Dog Boats arrived at Gibraltar Feb 43 with upperdeck fuel tanks, one of the boats was MTB 638 in...

Hello suddardsp Thank you for your post regarding your later father Jack Sidebottom. I don't have precise details of the incident for which your father was awarded the DSM but the London Gazette entry for his citation may be found within the issue for 10th October 1944. The link provided will take y...

Hello Rita The short answer to your question is that any member of the public can view materials held in the National Archive, but you will need to arrange for a reader's ticket . The National Archive is essentially like a big library, the only difference being that documents have to be brought to y...

Just to briefly clarify the issue of crew lists recorded within archives. Imperial Museum North at Salford happens to have the Log Book for SGB 4, which it has on display, and which is open on the page that gives details for its movements on D-Day. There is a crew list written in pencil by the Senio...