ML 486

[lancer3397]

Hello all,

ML486 was my grandfather's ship for most of the war. He was on her when she sailed across the atlantic to the med and he spent most of his time u-boat hunting in warm waters. He's since departed but I have his medals and his RN service records. I also have an excellent photo album full of photos from his time on 486, but what I don't know is what flotilla she was in, or her war record.

I've tried the national archive. I'm not sure I'm searching right, but from what I can tell, ships logs are held in ADM53 but there is no reference to ML486 in the national archive.

can anyone assist at all with any info for ML486, the larger unit she was a part of, or where I might be able to find her log.

[Admin]

Hello Lancer

Welcome to the forum.

ML 486 formed part of the 30th ML Flotilla along with MLs 470, 479, 481, 482, 484, 485 & 487.

Fairmile 112' B-Class Motor Launch
Builder's Yard: Johnson & Jago, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
Completion: 10th March 1942
Loss or Disposal: 1945
Notes: ML 486 survived the war and was sold in 1945 at Trinidad.

From my understanding this flotilla served in the West Indies, rather than the Mediterranean, being based at Trinidad where ML 486 is shown to have been disposed of in 1945. We know of one other member of ML 486's crew, Joseph Vaughan, who subsequently went on to serve on MTBs in the Mediterranean, so he may not have been with the boat that long. I would be interested in seeing the photographs in your grandfather's collection both to see if Joseph Vaughan features, but also determine possible locations. What is not clear from the War Diary entries shown below, is whether the MLs of the 30th ML Flotilla made there own way, in company, all the way across the Atlantic to Charleston, before onward passage again to Trinidad, hopping presumably between Stornaway, where they seem to have all been gathered last, to the Faroes, then Iceland, Newfoundland, and so onwards. The long journey made under their own power might explain the question around overhaul or renewal of engines on their arrival.

Entries from the Red Lists, and also from the Admiralty War Diaries show the following information:

30th M.L.Flotilla
470, 479, 481, 482, 484, 485, 486, 487

Admiralty War Diary Entries:

03.10.1942

Your 2025/26. Pending final decision as to engine renewal or overhaul, Navy Dept, requests vessels be sailed to Charleston when released, stopping as necessary en route. F.O.N.F. pass to S.O. 30th M.L. Flotilla.

05.10.1942

Your 1430/2 (Salor 4979) and my 2229/3.
Following arrangements being made. 16 new engines are being ordered to Charleston now to be ready to fit on arrival of Flotilla. Arrangements will be
made to slip boats and repair hulls as necessary, concurrently with fitting new engines.
(2) Old engines will be overhauled and allotted to new constructions within about seven weeks.
(3) F.O.N.F. is requested to signal estimated date of arrival of Flotilla at Charleston. F.O.N.F. pass to S.O. 30th M.L. Flotilla.
(B.A.D. 1541Z/5 to Admty. F.O.N.F.)
Reply with itinerary: F.O.N.F. 1239/7.

07.10.1942

Your 1541/5. Following is intended itinerary for 30th Flotilla:-
Arrive Place Leave
St. Johns 12/10
14/10 Sydney 16/10
17/10 Shelburne 18/10
19/10 Boston 21/10
23/10 New York 25/10

Understand subsequent routeing may be through inland waterways time required not known but expect Flotilla will arrive Charleston about 31/10 (F.O.N.F., 1239Z/7 to B.A.D. (R) Admty etc).

Red Lists:

24.05.1942
30th ML Flotilla (To form up at Fort William)

Coastal Forces bases shown in brackets

470 Fort Willam,
479 Brightlingsea. Equipping. date uncertain,
481 Inverness,
482 Invergordon,
484 joins on completion,
485 Yarmouth,
486 Fort William,
487 Brightlingsea. Equipping. date uncertain,

07.06.1942 — 21.06.1942
MLs 470, 481, 482 & 486
Larne (Racer)

MLs 479, 484, 485 & 487
Fort William (St Christopher)

05.07.1942
MLs 470, 481, 482 & 486
Larne (Racer)

MLs 479, 484 (Sarisbury Bay. requipping. date uncertain.), 485 & 487
Fort William (St Christopher)

19.07.1942
MLs 470, 481, 482 & 486
Larne (Racer)

MLs 479, 484, 485 & 487
Fort William (St Christopher)

02.08.1942
MLs 470, 481, 482 & 486
Larne (Racer)
Reallocated for Foreign Service

MLs 479, 484, 485 & 487
Tobermory (St Christopher)

30.08.1942
MLs 470, 481, 482 & 486 Stornaway (Racer)
Reallocated for Foreign Service

MLs 479, 484, 485 & 487
Stornaway (St Christopher) Reallocated for Foreign Service

13.09.1942
No longer shown in Home Waters Lists

15.08.1945
Paid off an in Reserves (Trinidad)

Regards
Admin

[John110547]

I hope the following information is helpful.

• ML 486 was one of twenty-three Fairmile B-type Motor Launches (ML) ordered on 27 August 1941 & was built by Johnson & Jago, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. ML 486 was commissioned on 10 March 1942 & assigned to the 29th ML Flotilla at St Christopher.
• ML 486, 470, 479, 481, 482, 484, 485, 487 in May 1942 transferred from the 29th ML Flotilla to the 30th ML Flotilla & ordered to prepare to sail to St John's, Newfoundland & Labrador where their tasks included anti-submarine warfare & escort duties under the authority of the Canadian Command (Atlantic Coast).
• On 2 June 1942, the 30th ML Flotilla were at Larne.
• I do not know when the 30th ML Flotilla departed for Canada, with their maintenance team & their relief crews, but their route would have been via Reykjavík, Iceland & Nuuk, Greenland, to St. John’s, Newfoundland.
• From September 1942, the 30th ML Flotilla commenced antisubmarine & escort duties out of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
• On 26 September 1942, MLs 486 & 481 departed for Bay of Bulls for St John's after being relieved by MLs 484 & 485 from their antisubmarine patrol duty.
• On 30 September 1942, MLs 486 & 481 arrived at St John's from the Bay of Bulls.
• On 4 October 1942, MLs 486 & 485 departed St John's to carry out an antisubmarine patrol of the Bay of Bulls.
• On 5 October 1942, MLs 486 & 485 arrived at Bay of Bulls to carry out an antisubmarine patrol.
• On 7 October 1942, MLs 486 & 485 departed for Bay of Bulls for St John's after being relieved by MLs 481 & 482 from their antisubmarine patrol duty.
• On 8 October 1942, MLs 486 & 485 arrived at St John's following their antisubmarine patrol of the Bay of Bulls.
• On 9 October 1942, MLs 486, 484, 485, 487 departed Sydney, Nova Scotia, to escort the five-merchant ship convoy BW 07 (DRAKEPOOL, PENHALE, RITA, ROSE CASTLE, TRANSRIVER) en route to Wabana, Bell Island.
• On 10 October 1942, MLs 486, 484, 485, & 487 were en route to Wabana, Bell Island with convoy BW 07.
• On 11 October 1942, MLs 486, 484, 485, & 487 were en route to Wabana, Bell Island with convoy BW 07.
• On 12 October 1942, MLs 486, 484, 485, 487 arrived at Wabana, Bell Island with convoy BW 07 from Sydney, Nova Scotia.
• On 14 October 1942, MLs 486, 484, 485, 487 departed Wabana, Bell Island, to escort the nine-merchant ship convoy WB 07 (COLONY TRADER, DRUMAHOE, ELMBAY, MOYRA, PANOS, PENHALE, ROSE CASTLE, SARNOLITE, SPERO) en route to Sydney, Nova Scotia.
• On 15 October 1942, MLs 486, 484, 485, & 487 were with convoy WB 07 en route to Sydney, Nova Scotia. On the same day, the 30th ML Flotilla received orders to prepare for deployment to the Caribbean within two weeks.
• On 16 October 1942, MLs 486, 484, 485, & 487 were en route to Sydney, Nova Scotia with convoy WB 07.
• On 17 October 1942, MLs 486, 484, 485, 487 arrived at Sydney, Nova Scotia with convoy WB 07 from Wabana, Bell Island.
• On 21 October 1942, MLs 486, 470, & 484 were dispatched to provide an escort to convoy SH 55 to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
• On 22 October 1942, MLs 486, 470, 484 arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia with convoy SH 55 & departed the same day for St John's.
• On 23 October 1942, MLs 486, 470, 484 arrived at St John's
• On 24 October 1942 at 19.00hrs, MLs 486, 470, 485, 487 departed St John's, Newfoundland & Labrador for Trinidad via Cape Cod, Peninsula, Boston, Massachusetts, Charleston, South Carolina, Miami, Florida.
• On 26 October 1942, MLs 486, 470, 485, & 487 arrived at Boston, Massachusetts.
• On 7 November 1942, MLs 486, 470, 479, 481, 482, 484, 485, 487 departed Boston for Charleston.
• On 18 November 1942 at 10.15hrs, MLs 486, 470, 479, 481, 482, 484, 485, 487 arrived at Charleston.
• On 13 January 1943 at 12.00hrs, MLs 486, 470, 479, 481, 482, 484, 485, 487 arrived at HMS Benbow, Trinidad.
• On 13 December 1944, MLs 486, 470, 479, 481, 482, 484, 485, 487 were at Trinidad.
• In 1945, MLs 486, 470, 479, 481, 482, 484, 485, 487 were decommissioned in Trinidad.
• In 1946, MLs 486, 470, 479, 481, 482, 484, 485, 487 were sold in Trinidad.

[lancer3397]

Thanks for that. This a great start.

I get the photo album tomorrow from my. Mum. I know my grandad annotated most with who was in them etc.

I know they went for overhaul in Charlestown because he told me about the wonderful. Leave they all got. Local families in Charlestown hosted the crews. My grandfather ended up at the house of a senator and he corresponded with the family for a number of years after the 2mwar although I don't have any names and no letters have been preserved.


I've got various items from his leave in the states. His crew went to new York as well.

I will post photos once I've got the albumi.my hands.

As I remember, he was quite proud of the fact the got all the way over under their own power, but the boats pitched a lot due to the weight of auxiliary fuel tanks fixed to the upper deck for the voyage over upsetting their metacentric height stability.

Another story has them chasing a suspected boat for a while until they eventually gave up the search.

Can you give any advice regards obtaining the log? And or the flotilla log/orders/diary at all?

486's doesn't seem to be listed for Kew.

[lancer3397]

I hope the following information is helpful.

......

Very useful. Where did all that info come from? Records or a book?

[Admin]

Can you give any advice regards obtaining the log? And or the flotilla log/orders/diary at all?

There's no definitive explanation that I am aware of as to what exactly happened to the log books for the small ships of Coastal Forces, except to say very few seem to have survived. The archives at Kew have a handful for MLs 223, 495 & 6002 — however they came to be preserved — and the IWM have a couple which were preserved by H F Cooper, co-author with L C Reynolds of Mediterranean MTBs at War, who kept those belonging to his own command. A further one I am aware of is for SGB 4 (Grey Fox) in IWM North, which again appears to have been preserved by one of her officers and then handed at a later date by the family to the museum. They were either taken as souvenirs it seems, or else handed in, but presumably disposed of, and the odds of any more coming to light appear slim.

Admin

[lancer3397]

I also had a thought today on this regards the 30th flitilla boats.

They were all paid off and scrapped in Trinidad, so I think it highly likely the logs were never returned to the UK and were either scrapped with the boats, or, like you say, retainer by individual officers.

[John110547]

I got the information on the 30th ML Flotilla when I was researching the Canadian Light Coastal Forces some years ago.

[lancer3397]

oh wow.

Would it be possible to obtain a copy? as i think this is going to be the only documentation I'm going to be able to find on the operations of my grandfathers ML.

update- I got the photo album from my mum yesterday, quite a few of them are marked with names and locations etc. I have also through the power of the internet, made contact with the american family that put up some of the crew when the launches were overhauled in Charleston from November 1942 to January 1943.

The great grandson of the family has the family records etc and is going to see what material they have in relation to the flotilla staying in Orangeburg during this period. I have also contacted the mayors officer and the local newspaper for archive material, as the flotilla attended a number of public events in Orangeburg in that time.

[John110547]

I have sent you all the information I have at this time. If I find anything else in the future, I will post on the CFV forum website.

[lancer3397]

ah, understood. it sounded like you had the actual 30th ML ORB, but I see what you're getting at.

so it's still out there somewhere. I have since sourced the US Navy NOB Trinidad war diary, so I have some elements of 30th ML ops in the carribean, but obviously, the Flotilla diary would be more detailed and more personal