29th Canadian Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla

Motor Torpedo Boats (MTB)
max930
Seaman
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2016 2:14 am

29th Canadian Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla

Postby max930 » Wed Dec 07, 2016 4:20 am

My grand father was on MTB 463. A/B Clifford Brown, RCNVR was his name. Just interested if any Canadians here or at least some with knowledge of Canada and Canadians contribution back then. Sadly, most of my family from that era are gone now. I have two paternal aunts left and two aunts by marriage that all married WWII veterans. All my grand parents, on both sides served in WWII.

http://www.naval-museum.mb.ca/mtb/crew463.htm my grand father with his mates in 1944.

Anyway, back when I started school. We learned about Remembrance Day and its meaning. Veterans even spoke to us in our classrooms. Now the kids get the day off! Not to be anti-American, just 99% of what we hear about WWII, is American centric. I want to start taking the kids in my family to museums and teach them their personnel connection to that history.

The fate of MTB 463: http://www.forposterityssake.ca/Navy/HMC_MTB-463.htm

I'm a big supporter of Canada's legions poppy fund campaign. I've donated every time I see the young cadets out in front of stores with poppies. One of the oldest of my generations kids in my family is my nephew he will seven in Feb........ I don't want to scare him, but do want the young generation like him to grow up knowing what my grand parents did for them. Fact if MTB 466 didn't pluck my grand father out of the English Channel on D-Day, I might not be writing this now. I want all the kids in my family to think like this on Remembrance Day.

Pioneer
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Re: 29th Canadian Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla

Postby Pioneer » Thu Dec 08, 2016 1:50 pm

Welcome aboard 'max930' glad that you found us.

Stephen
Sub Lieutenant
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 7:58 pm

Re: 29th Canadian Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla

Postby Stephen » Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:49 pm

Hello max930,

I have no extra knowledge of MTB 463, but I can point you to some sources on Canadians in Coastal Forces that you might enjoy. There are a few books to start with:

Hal Lawrence, 1989. Victory at Sea. McClelland & Stewart Inc.
Brian Nolan, 1991. Champagne Navy. Random House.
Anthony Law, 1989. White Plumes Astern. Nimbus Publishing Ltd.
Leonard Reynolds, 1955. Motor Gunboat 658. Cassell.

The first two are histories of Coastal Forces: Nolan's book is exclusively about Canadians, Lawrence's I believe focuses on them, but not exclusively (although I confess I haven't read it yet). Law was the C/O of the 29th Flotilla and this book is his memoirs of his time in command. Reynolds was a British officer, but served largely under Canadian officers and in predominately Canadian crewed flotillas.

You might also find this thread and the images within it (you may need to register to see them, which is free and painless) of interest: http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/s ... hp?t=16930

This fact sheet from the Friends of the Canadian War Museum is useful: https://www.friends-amis.org/index.php/ ... orces/file

And the Canadian Coastal Forces Trust website might be of interest. I'm not sure how active they are, but they're very interested in former MTB 486 (Tony Law's boat), now a houseboat just up river from my office! http://www.canadiancoastalforcestrust.com/

If you have any specific queries about these boats, crews or flotillas, please ask away and I'm sure that someone here might be able to help (we can certainly try).

Regards,
Steve

Brian Holmes
Commander
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Location: Portsmouth

Re: 29th Canadian Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla

Postby Brian Holmes » Mon Dec 12, 2016 9:50 pm

MTB_463 British Power Boat Co, Hythe Hampshire 25/3/44
463.png
Crew of MTB 463
463.png (153.78 KiB) Viewed 30303 times
On the bridge, (left to right): Lieut Glenn Creba, RCNVR, of Winnipeg, Commanding Officer, Lieut. Richard Paddon, RCNVR, first Lieutenant, of Labrador, L/S Fred Caselton, RCNVR, of Toronto, Coxswain.
Below (From left to right): Sto. (M) Lome Mears, RCNVR, of Ottawa; A/B Clifford Brown, RCNVR, of Winnipeg; Tel. Walter Brown, RCNVR, of Toronto; A/B Albert Larrick, RCNR, of Kydney; A/B Stewart McAlpine, RCNVR, of Toronto; A/B Leonard Amot, RCN, of Ituna, Sask.; L/Sto (M) John Watt, RCNVR, of Vancouver, O/S Theodore Gross, RCNVR, of Waterloo, Ontario; P.0. M.M. George Munro, RCNVR, of Dauphin, Man

Known Crew
Lt Douglas Glen Creba RCNVR Lt 1/1/42 Q 096 29th MTB Flotilla Commanding Officer MTB 463 Based at Felixstowe Commanding Officer MTB 485 31/7/44 Died in Victoria, British Columbia 28/6/90
Lt Richard Paddon RCNVR of Labrador Lt 27/4/43 29th MTB Flotilla First Lieutenant MTB 463 Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy 29th MTB Flotilla Based at Felixstowe MTB 486 26/10/44 29th MTB Flotilla MTB 485 1944 29th MTB Flotilla Commanding Officer MTB 462 24/1/45 – 14/2/45
POMtrMch George Munro RCNVR, of Dauphin, Manitoba 29th MTB Flotilla Based on Portsmouth MTB 463 Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy
LSea Fred Caselton 29th MTB Flotilla Based on Portsmouth MTB 463 Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy
LSto John Watt RCNVR, of Vancouver 29th MTB Flotilla Based on Portsmouth MTB 463 Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy
AB Leonard Amot 29th MTB Flotilla Based on Portsmouth MTB 463 Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy Sinks on a mine 8/7/44
AB Clifford Brown 29th MTB Flotilla MTB 463 Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy Sinks on a mine 8/7/44
AB Albert Larrick 29th MTB Flotilla MTB 463
AB Stewart McAlpine RCNVR, of Toronto 29th MTB Flotilla MTB 463 Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy
Ord Theodore Gross RCNVR of Waterloo, Ontario 29th MTB Flotilla Based at Lowestoft, Dover, Ramsgate and Portsmouth MTB 463 Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy
Sto Lome Mears RCNVR, of Ottawa 29th MTB Flotilla MTB 463 Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy Sinks on a mine 8/7/44
Tel Walter Brown 29th MTB Flotilla MTB 463 Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy Sinks on a mine 8/7/44

Wartime Activities
29th MTB Flotilla
4/44 Working up at HMS Bee, Holyhead
5/44 Based at HMS Fervent, Ramsgate
27/5/44 29th MTB Flotilla transfers to HMS Hornet, Gosport
Based at Lowestoft, Dover, Ramsgate and Portsmouth,
29th MTB Flotilla
MTB 459, MTB 460, MTB 461, MTB 462, MTB 463, MTB 464, MTB 465 and MTB 466
Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy
(Based on Portsmouth and then the Eastern Task Force)
8-9/6/44 MTB 461 (SO), MTB 462 and MTB 463 are on patrol near Cap d’ Antifer where they attack two Mowe Class Torpedo Boats. Some damage is inflicted but MTB 461, MTB 462 and MTB 463 suffer casualties and are forced to withdraw under smoke. MTB 464, astern of the others and making covering smoke is hit by gunfire. One man is killed and another wounded.
11-12/6/44 The Second S Boat Flottilla is in Action with a directing frigate and MTB 461, MTB 463 and MTB 464 of the Canadian 29th MTB Flottilla off Le Havre. S 179 and S 181 are damaged by the detonation of acoustic mines..
12/6/44 MTB 461, MTB 463 and MTB 464 are in position to fire torpedoes at two Elbing Class torpedo boats but are called off to clear the way for destroyers to attack. Shellfire goes over the MTBs as they retire.
8/7/44 29th MTB Flotilla is operating close inshore east of the beachhead in an attempt to locate launching sites for human torpedoes. The water is shallow and not swept for mines. MTB 463 detonates 26 small mines without damage. Shortly after 0500, MTB 463 is badly damaged by a further mine explosion and begins to settle. MTB 466 comes alongside MTB 463 within three minutes having gone through a 200ft waterspout caused by the explosion which caused her engines to stop although they were soon restarted. One man is recovered from the water and the wounded are taken to a Polish destroyer anchored nearby. MTB 463 can not be salvaged and sinks. German account credits a One Man Torpedo with sinking MTB 463.

mulligan
Seaman
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Re: 29th Canadian Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla

Postby mulligan » Thu Nov 12, 2020 12:54 pm

Just joining this forum. Very interesting.
The picture of the crew of MTB 462 shows my Uncle Richard Paddon looking all of 12 years old. He's the short one on the bridge. He told me the story of hitting the mine on 463 and the ride back to England on the Polish destroyer. That ride was pretty wild too. Lots of spirits and a fairly lengthy recovery period!


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