Hi all,

On 24 August 1941 Force H with BB Nelson, CV Ark Royal, CL Hermione, DD Nestor, Forester, Fury, Foresight and Encounter attacked Sardinia Island and supported CM Manxman minelying operation in the Gulf of Genoa.
During the operation Force H was divided in two groups: one with CV Ark Royal, CL Hermione and 1 DD, and the other group with BB Nelson and the 4 remaining DD. Could anyone identify the destroyers of each group.

Thank you very much
Jordi

That's brilliant, thanks mate the M makes sense as he was a shipwright serving on a repair ship patching up damaged ships operating in the south pacific in wW2

Yes.    For an explanation of how RN service numbers worked, see:

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/NavalNumbers

M indicates Miscellaneous branches (electrical, supply etc)   He would also have had a Port letter (P, C D etc before that, but these did sometimes change if they shifted homeports

Thanks PO

Do you just know from the format?

Yes, MX/118026 is an RN Service Number

Hello all
Hope someone can steer me in the right direction
I wrote off to Whale Island for my late granddad's service record
They sent me an acknowledgment but said due to covid in could be 6 months before I hear anything substantive

On the letter there is a reference next to his name of M.X 118026

Is this his service number? It doesn't say so explicitly anywhere. I am careful not to make assumptions as I am wanting to get a stone made up for a veterans walkway at our local war memorial and the deadline is soon

Thanks all

S

Thank you PhiloNauticus
There’s some very useful information there, especially the damage report in the National Archives, I will have to order a copy. Really appreciate your efforts on my behalf.

Best
Jon.

You have clearly done a lot of research anyway, so much of this you probably already know, but I'll offer it anyway=

Adam was built in 1919 as Thomas Maloney by Cochranes at Selby, being one of the Mersey class of trawlers ordered by the Admiralty for the Royal Navy during WW1.  Saw no service with the Navy, being sold for commercial use to Thomas Hamling and Co. of Hull and renamed ST. NEOTS (H112)
324 tons (gr)     138ft 3in x 23ft 7in 
official number 139360
Taken over by Royal Navy 12 March 1940 and fitted for minesweeping.
To Polish concerns for commercial fishing 14 July 1944 and renamed Podlasie
 

The file containing the damage report is in the National Archives:
 https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2754790

A photo of the crew in 1941:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205140080

For some idea of what life was like as a minesweeping trawler, try to get a copy of “Trawlers Go to War” by Lund & Ludlam. 

Excerpts: 
“At Dover, eight former fishing trawlers from Hull, Grimsby and Fleetwood, together with a dozen assorted drifters, comprised the Dover Patrol. In the Channel front line, under constant attack from raiding aircraft and shellfire from the big guns of Calais, theirs was an eventful life of minesweeping, escorting convoys, rescuing ship survivors and ditched airman …” (L & L p168)

“We in the Yashima, Adam, Wigan and the other trawlers had our own routine at sea. Leaving harbour for sweeps or escort duties we would load all guns and keep the guns crews closed up ready for action. Only on ‘out-sweep and ‘in-sweep’ did they leave the guns to help, and then there was always someone standing by. These precautions were necessary as it was Jerry’s habit to pay us a sudden visit. Pairs of Me109s would sweep in low over the water, give a stick of bombs and zoom off…” (L & L p168)

Perhaps the RN Patrol Service association may help

http://rnpsa.co.uk/cms/