Rachel Thank you for your enquiry. I am currently away from home, and have had to extend my time away so have not had the opportunity to consult the literature I have. I wonder if the model was originally made from a plan by the late John Lambert, who also produced a very good volume on the Vosper b...
Hello Rob Thank you for your enquiry. I am currently away from home so do not have full access to my research materials. The configuration of ‘short’ MTB flotillas can be found in Home Waters MTBs & MGBs by Len Reynolds, and I have some lists of the ML flotillas when I can access them. The Battl...
SMDEVON wrote: ↑Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:55 am
I could send you a photo of the cabinet but cannot see a way of doing this here.
When you post a reply in the forum, you will see a tab below the text window marked ‘Attachments’, and selecting that will show an option ‘Add files’ which may be used to post an image file.
Hello Alastair, and welcome to the forum MTB 639 belonged to the 32nd MTB Flotilla, and there is information on 639 and other boats in the flotilla in other threads in the forum which I list below. The official Admiralty listing of vessels lost at sea during the Second World War gives attack by airc...
These images supplied by Jacques Bartels are of 'blood' flags for the Dutch 9th MTB Flotilla, one of which is held by the Royal Netherlands Naval Museum at Den Helder. It is thought the graphics and number possible depict statistics for the flotilla. There are 10 ships, separated into two sections o...
The 9th MTB Flotilla, MTBs 201, 202, 203, 204, 229, 231, 235, 236 & 240 was initially a part Dutch, part Royal Navy flotilla, but became entirely Dutch crewed by 1943. The flotilla was based at Dover (Wasp) and Dartmouth (Cicala) Boat Types: MTB 201 = White 27.11.41 MTB 202 = White 12.01.42 MTB ...
Thanks Ian I notice the addition of torpedo tubes which must date from around the summer of 1940 when some MLs were equipped with tubes from old American destroyers I believe to serve in a defensive capacity while the threat of possible invasion — Operation Sealion — was at its height. I just did a ...
Hello again Ian I would say the navigational MLs would still have required a telegraphist as the signals would have been in encoded morse. In fact it's possible they carried two, with a signaller as well, since they would have formed vital communications hubs. The December 1944 Red List gives the 11...
Hello Shipwright and welcome to the forum. I'm afraid I haven't been able to turn up much so far. He does not appear in our awards database which could have provided a boat number, nor have I found any reference to his having joined the former Coastal Forces Veterans Association (CFVA), which are th...
Hello Ian Thank you for the additional information. Here is the summation of what I've managed to find thus far. ML 147 A Mc Ward is shown as in command in the October 1943 Navy List with Lt Cdr D W S Arnaud in command in April 1944. He also took command of ML 164 later, so the crew photo I have fro...
This interesting film produced in 1973 and set against a backdrop of the then contemporary deployment of MTBs by the Norwegian Navy, traces the use of the motor torpedo boat by the Sjøforsvaret and the work of the Norwegian Coastal Forces units based at Lerwick during the Second World War. Although ...
Hello Ian Welcome back to the forum and thank you for your father's service details, and for the photograph of the crew. I will conduct some research over the weekend, and put together some notes. I have some related resources for some of the boats mentioned which I think you'll find interesting. Re...
Paul That’s a very interesting plaque, and fairly unique I would imagine. I wonder if Bill McCann might have been a signwriter by trade prior to the war? Crew member Ken Forrester we know all about as he was a distant member of London Branch for many years, and we have an extract from his autobiogra...
The only information I have managed to find on the boat is that it formed part of the 28th ML Flotilla, along with MLs 232, 295, 307, 341 & 483. The flotilla was based at Alexandria (December 1944), and tasked with minesweeping and anti-submarine duties.
Dear Forum Members In a long overdue update of the forum I have implemented the use of ‘cookies' to enable compliance with GDPR regulations within the EU, or in the case of the UK, compliance with legislation still in effect. This now allows for the reinstatement of notifications on forum threads yo...
Hello Paul Thank you for your enquiry. Could you confirm if Bill Mccann was your grandfather, or someone else, and if so, whether your grandfather was a member of crew. I will contact you via email, if you don’t mind, about getting a good quality photo of the plaque, and arrange to pass on resources...
Katrina I am sorry to hear the Birmingham Nautical RNA have disposed of your Dad's medals and glassware, which is a very wrong thing to have done with a bequest! I believe it is possible to apply to have medals replaced, but that is not the same as having the originals, and the other items are irrep...
There were a number of Warrigton-Smythes involved in Helford. Oddly enough I’ve just been reading about them. I happen to have a small publication by Landfall Publications entitled Operation Cornwall 1940-1944: The Fal, the Helford and D-Day . It states part of the original SOE contingent on the He...
Thank you for the photo. That is one book I don't have so I will have to look out for a copy. I have conducted a thorough search of everything I have, and have looked online in the IWM etc, but have not managed to find anything at all.
Roger It appears HMY Kiloran was an armed yacht, and I have managed to unearth this image, which seems on the face of it to be Kiloran functioning as a ferry at Torquay, so I wonder if this is the Kilora n, then that means any Fairmile B would only have been Kiloran II and up? kiloran-at-torquay.jpg...
Roger The plot thickens again! I have just been looking through some documents I have on the Dartmouth, Falmouth and Helford River Flotillas, which were the SOE and SIS run operations to Brittany using Coastal Forces units, and French Fishing Vessels, some of which were specially constructed by the ...
Hello Graham Thank you for the crew photograph. I believe from similar crew photos I have seen that this is Weymouth where the original Coastal Forces working-up base was located. New boats with their crew were sent there to undergo training exercises, including the use of torpedoes. I must contact ...
Hello Elaine Thank you for your contribution to this post. It is indeed a long time since it was last written to, but the information is always there to be discovered by someone else in the fullness of time. Your Dad’s boat was part of the 55th MTB Flotilla whose Senior Officer was Don Bradford. He ...
Simon The principal references for MTB 651 are Dog Boats at War by Len Reynolds, which is still in print, Flag 4 by Dudley Pope, and then there is the privately published memoir of one of the Commanding Officers of MTB 651, Kenneth Horlock, entitled Our Lady of the Pirates . In addition there was an...
Hello Simon Thank you for your enquiry concerning your grandfather's service with MTBs 651 and 790. I took the liberty of rotating your image of the service record, added your later amendment to your original post, and then removed the duplicates. MTB 651 served in the Mediterranean as part of the 3...
Apologies Bernie, this one has slipped through the net somewhat. There are references to MTB 350, part of the 11th MTB Flotilla in Len Reynolds' Home Waters MTBs & MGBs which I will compile for you. There are a series of awards for the boat noted in the awards database along with one casualty . ...