60th MGB Flotilla

Motor Gunboats (MGB) & Steam Gunboats (SGB)
richard speller
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Location: Storrington, Sussex

60th MGB Flotilla

Postby richard speller » Sat Dec 28, 2019 12:09 pm

I am looking for information on the 60th MGB Flotilla which operated in the Med in 1943-44 and in particular about my father-in-law, who died some years ago, L/Tel Walter Thomas Le Page DJX 136665. He was (I think) the Flotilla L/Tel. Certainly he was awarded a DSM (I have found the DSM award in the London Gazette of 1 Jan 1945) but we do not know more details of the award.
Walter suffered from what is now recognised as PTSD so our knowledge of him is very patchy: we would particularly like info on the boat(s?) he served in, especially a photo. Any help would be great.

Admin
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Re: 60th MGB Flotilla

Postby Admin » Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:02 pm

Hello Richard

Thank for your post and welcome to the forum. The London Gazette as you have found seldom holds much information on individual awards, but I know papers relating to award citations for Coastal Forces are held at the Public Records Office (PRO) at Kew, but cannot say if the PRO has the records for every award granted. The author Seedie, complied a list of Awards to Coastal Forces from the Admiralty’s card index (now held at the PRO) but his list too only contains the basic information of boat, name and award, and in this instance only notes the award under the 60th MTB Flotilla, rather than a specific boat number. The boats of the 60th were MGBs 643, 645, 646, 647, 661 and MTBs 656, 667 & 651 all under the command of Lieutenant Commander B L Bourne, who I’m fairly certainly we hold information on and which I will look up for you later.

Regards
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richard speller
Seaman
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 11:45 am
Location: Storrington, Sussex

Re: 60th MGB Flotilla

Postby richard speller » Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:06 am

Many thanks - an encouraging start!

Admin
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Re: 60th MGB Flotilla

Postby Admin » Sat Jan 04, 2020 1:50 am

Hello again Richard

I have looked at the material I already have digitised and unfortunately it wasn't Bourne I had information on but Blount, another of the Dog Boat commanders in the Mediterranean on MTB 634. That said, there is a lot of material on the 60th MTB Flotilla in Dog Boats at War by Len Reynolds and Flag 4 by Dudley Pope but without knowing which boat your father-in-law served on, I am unsure where to best focus my efforts. You did mention you thought he may have been the flotilla's Leading Telegraphist which if true would likely mean he was with the Senior Officer of the Flotilla on his boat, which would be Basil Laurence Bourne on MGB 645. If this is not confirmed on his service record and/or you do not possess it, then the only possible means of confirming these details would be through obtaining a copy of his service details from the Royal Navy's Disclosure Cell, who you can apply to online.

I do have a further source of information which I will drop you an email about later, but in the meantime I am posting this photo of another boat MGB 646 in the flotilla from the IWM collection available online. Another boat in the flotilla, MGB 647, was that of one of our veterans, Peter, who posts on the forum and there are various contributions from him on the forum including photos.

MGB 647 thread
MGB 663 thread
MGB 661 thread

mgb-646-1-IWM-A-26456.jpg
MGB 646 on its way to Skiathos, Greece, with the escort carrier HMS STALKER in the background. After its liberation Skiathos was used as an advanced base for the assault on Salonika (IWM A-26456)
mgb-646-1-IWM-A-26456.jpg (52.83 KiB) Viewed 16526 times
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PDM321
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Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:55 pm

Re: 60th MGB Flotilla

Postby PDM321 » Fri Mar 19, 2021 7:30 am

Hi my father was a radio operator on 646. We have a number of photos of him and the crew which I can dig up if of interest


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