Postby Brian Holmes » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:23 pm
ML_150 Sheerness Dockyard 6/3/41
Birthday Honours 1942
MID MtrMch Herbert Caffrey C/MX76653
For rescuing survivors in the Nore area 23/11/41
MID AB Maurice Steele C/JX155031
BEM MtrMch Herbert Caffrey C/MX76653
For an action with E Boats in the Nore area in which E Boat S96 was rammed and sunk 24/9/43
DSC TLt James Owen Thomas RNVR
DSM LSea Ivan Watson C/JX238268
DSM LMtrMch Walter Wood P/MX503207
MID AB Robert Arthur Saunders C/JX350821
MID Ord Michael Conway Page P/JX428125
Known Crew
TLt George Clifford Fanner RNVR Commanding Officer ML 150 1941. Commanding Officer MGB 323 6/42 – 1/44 where he was awarded a DSC and twice Mentioned in Despatches. Senior Officer SGB Flotilla 6/44. Awarded a bar to his DSC whilst serving in HMS Attack in 1945 Born in Axbridge Somerset 1909
T Lt H A Payne RNVR (Commanding Officer)
TLt James Owen Thomas RNVR HMS Minos II (Lowestoft) 1/9/41 Commanding Officer ML 150 8/4/42 TLt 17/7/42 Commanding Officer ML 202 11/10/43 Commanding Officer ML 222 4/9/44 where he was Senior Officer 1st ML Flotilla. DSC 1943, MID 1944 and DSC 1945. Born 13/6/16 and died in Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey 11/5/97
LSea Ivan Watson C/JX238268 Ord MTB 219 MID 1941 LSea ML 150 DSM 1943
LMtrMch Walter Wood P/MX503207
AB Robert Arthur Saunders C/JX350821
AB Maurice Steele C/JX155031
MM Herbert Caffrey C/MX76653
Ord Michael Conway Page P/JX428125
Wartime Activities
1/1/41 6th ML Flotilla Based on Falmouth
ML 145, ML 146, ML 147, ML 148, ML 149, ML 150 and ML 152
1/7/41 6th ML Flotilla Based on Great Yarmouth
ML 145, ML 146, ML 147, ML 148, ML 149, ML 150, ML 151 and ML 152
23/11/41 Rescuing survivors in the Nore area
On 25th and 29th November and 2nd December, ML 150 picked up the crews of four ships.
BONS - Memory of TLt George Clifford Fanner
The first two went up just after midnight near Hearty Knoll. One was a large tanker with a crew of over 50, of which only 17 got away alive. The second was carrying timber; there was no loss of life and she was eventually towed into Yarmouth.
I learnt several things that night some unpleasant, like the awful timbre in human voices when they are in agony and danger, the terrific draught caused by a big fire, how slippery fuel oil, mixed with water, makes everything, including human bodies, how tired and exhausted one soon becomes doing that sort of work; and some pleasant, like the astonishing guts of the ordinary ‘matelot’. I learned too, the extraordinary distance a cigarette end shows in the dark. The crew of the second ship had taken to the lifeboats and were found entirely by this means.
1/42 At Lowestoft
24/9/43 S 96 sinks the British Trawler Franc Tireur and Donna Nook. ML 145 and ML 150 engage E Boats in the Nore area. ML 145 rams E Boat S96 previously rammed by ML 150. The German crew then abandon ship and S 96 explodes due to demolition charges. ML 145 rescues thirteen survivors including the senior officer of the 4th S-Flotilla aboard S 96 as a passenger. ML 150 rescues a further three survivors. ML 145 and ML 150 are both damaged but limp back to base. ML 150 is towed, stern first, by an MGB.
7th ML Flotilla (Based on Portsmouth)
Operation Neptune - Invasion of Normandy
Navigation leader at Gold Beach
Post War Fate
3/48 Sold