Coastal Forces Veterans

Jeremy I have managed to scan some entries from the CFVA newsletters on the subject of the Rescue Motor Launches (RMLs) which provide an insight into the valuable work your father and others performed in the oftentimes very trying conditions of the North Sea. The Exploits and Service of Rescue Motor...

Jeroen, my interpretation of the log book is that MGB 67 was engaged by E-boats off the Dutch Coast, just north of The Hague, according to the coordinates given. MLs 100 & 106 are shown as on an operation and were Fairmile ‘A’ minelayers, presumably on a minelaying operation somewhere, with MTBs...

Hello Jeremy, and welcome to the forum. The former Coastal Forces Veterans Association (CFVA) newsletters contain articles on RMLs, RML 512 for one, and I seem to recall an article about a rescued American aircrew, which I will endeavour to find, although there were, unsurprisingly, a number of such...

Hello Jeroen Two possibilities come to mind with regards to R.B.14. First, the Royal Navy operated a grid system for the North Sea which was encoded, so it might be an area of sea, but it could be a misprint also, and may refer to F.B.14, F.B. being one of the designators used for patrol units, usua...

No I didn't receive it Keith. Can you give it another go please?

keithmcg wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 4:05 pm I think my dear wife found this one after your last post and yes, not cheap, but probably worth it in the long run.

Keith, did you receive the materials from Ken Joyce which I emailed you?

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Stephen I was trying to email you, but it bounced back. Can you tell me who the copyright holder is on that publication on the 13th & 14th Flotillas? I corresponded with Ken Joyce of ML 269 some years ago and he sent me photocopies of his entries in that booklet, and I'm sure if it belongs to th...

John, thanks for the latest photos. The first one looks like a guard detail possibly, and the second is taken at Malta and show Control Target boats, which were converted MTB/MGBs. These ones I believe are US built Higgins PT boats which were transferred to the Royal Navy in October 1944. There's wh...

Hello Warrior-reearcher Thanks for your enquiry to the forum. Unfortunately I've not been able to turn up any photo on any of the three boats you mention. The only one I know of which you no doubt may have come across is this one on the IWM web site. Len Reynolds' Mediterranean MTBs at War doesn't c...

hello Keith Thank you for your enquiry about the 14th ML Flotilla. The article you link to provides a very good account. I have materials from Ken Joyce, who served on ML 269, which was a member of the 14th Flotilla, which I will email to you using the contact address you have given. I don't think t...

I have managed to add a new section to the web site which in the fullness of time will hopefully contain all the entries from the former Coastal Forces Veterans Association newsletters. The three entries I managed to find which reference MGB/MTB 611 are: MGB 614 The 51st Flotilla Rough Time for MGB ...

For is she MTB or MGB I note that the cut outs to enable torpedoes on leaving the tubes to hit the water smoothly are not shown The boat on closer inspection has V letter before its number Hello Peter Yes I'd noticed that. This is one of the early MGBs constructed without the scallops, yet it's bea...

John I hope to get those materials on the Dieppe action posted online over the weekend.

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Thanks John, I have managed to download a copy and will read it later.

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Hello Jeroen The command structure of Coastal Forces is a topic which to the best of my knowledge has never really been covered adequately to date, since as you rightly point the emphasis has tended to be one the boats and individual operations of flotillas. Indeed the command structure of Coastal F...

Thanks for the photos. Looking at the group shot I think the younger man standing second left is likely the Motor Mechanic and sporting a Petty Officer’s cap, and the older gentleman next to him, is more likely the Coxwain, who would also have been a Petty Officer, and which makes more sense as a ph...

Hello John

Unfortunately there's no facility within the forum to load pdf documents, as it's only intended for image files. You could post your document on a free online service such as Google Drive and then share it by posting a link for the document within your forum post.

Regards
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Hello Jeroen Thank you for your enquiry to the forum. I've not been able to turn up any event so far in that part of the North Sea. If there were Coastal Forces units involved they would have likely come out of HMS Beehive at Felixstowe, and May 1942 is a bit too early for the Dog Boats that later o...

Yes, Lt. Commander A.R.H Nye had earlier been Senior Officer of MGB 312, but in November 1944 was made Senior Officer of a reformed 52nd MTB Flotilla which comprised MGBs 511-518 which were Camper & Nicholson boats originally ordered as gunboats but completed as motor torpedo boats, and new Fair...

Hello John, and thank you for your enquiry concerning your Uncle, Ernest Edwin Gavaghan. It's possible J. L Barton might have been an officer at the base or else an earlier officer. The February 1944 edition of the Navy List gives Lieutenant-Commander Ian Duff Lyle as the senior officer for the boat...

Hello Martin, and thank you for the additional information. I have always liked this photo as it is one of the clearest and sharpest we have in our growing archive, so it’s good to put another name to one of the crew. If you have any further information on you father-in-law’s time in Coastal Forces ...

MTBs led out the minesweepers to protect them, with a shallower draft ML minesweeper clearing a path initially for the larger minesweepers. Dan Layers then laid buoys to mark out the ten channels that would lead directly to the landing beaches for each of the invasion forces, while HDMLs stood watch...

mtb-696-01.jpg Crew of MTB 696.jpg John, your photo still didn't load but I managed to find this one instead. Geoffrey Hudson, the former Coastal Forces Veterans Association (CFVA) historian wrote on the subject of 696's unusual armament in a volume of the CFVA's newsletter, and got a reply in the ...

I’ve found, on a BBC WW2 Peoples War website the recollections of Lt Rouse although it is slightly confusing as he refers to both ML197 in the main body of the document, but ML23 in the final paragraph! I'm fairly certain in talking in that piece about X23, the midget submarine that lay off the 'S'...

Hello PParker and thank you for your enquiry to the forum. I'll try and post more details later if I can find any but just to answer your questions quickly. Navigational Leaders were MLs fitted with a special latticed mast abaft the bridge, after their funnels had been removed for the purpose. The m...

Hello John and welcome to the forum. Could you have another go at attaching your image please as it doesn’t appear to have been saved by the system. The ‘V’ you refer to was the flag superior allotted to MTBs but never used that often seemingly. It’s possible that D-Day and the need for standard rec...

Good luck with your research Tony, and if I turn up any specific reminiscence of 116 or the 2nd ML Flotilla I’ll pass it on. If you have any crew photos you could pass on we’d be grateful to receive them.

Hello Tony The movements of minor war vessels are contained in the Admiralty's Red Lists , but I'm not sure if they are all that informative, merely listing which port the boats for a particular flotilla are working out of for a given month. The Naval History site has some pages were you can see ins...

The 2nd ML Flotilla was based at Plymouth during Operation Neptune and comprised MLs 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 119, 120, 171 & 491, with 116 (Albone) & 117 (MacDonald) attached to the 14th Minesweeping Flotilla . The 14th MSF was attached to Force U which was assigned to Utah Beach in the Ame...

London Branch has learned of the death of Len Couzens, aged 94, at his home in Bradford. Len served on MGB 324, which formed part of the First Coastal Forces Flotilla, engaged in clandestine operations off the shores of occupied France. He is survived by his widow Pat & family, to whom we send o...