I came upon this photo attached in the book 'Flagship Hood' by Alan Coles and one of the survivors Ted Briggs pub'd by Robert Hale London (page 52). It shows a game of hockey being played next to the aft turrets on the quarterdeck of the Hood. Looks a similar view of her stern to me, only yours is starboard so I'd agree your supposition is spot on. My interest came from the fact that uncle served on the Hood. Cannot help with the port, the ship cruised the globe.

I searched the Naval History Website using the search engine on the home page and found several entries for a vessel 'HMS Sagitta'. It appears to have been a naval sloop in service in the Med and Red Sea and was sent on active service. I also found an image of the vessel which could be your father's vessel. My father served on HMS Dido which mentioned alongside one extract relating to the Red Sea port of Massawa.
Entries found :
"SAGITTA (has been found spelt SARGETTA), hired yacht, Pendant No 01. Built 1908, 744grt/758TM. Armament: 2-12pdr, 1-6pdr AA. In service 5.12.14-15.2.18. May have served as wireless-equipped A/P Group Leader or in special yacht squadrons, at home or in Mediterranean. Battle Honour (and link to despatches, casualties, awards) Belgian Coast 1915. Served in WW2.
Royal Navy Auxiliary Patrol ships of World War 1, based on British Warships, 1914-1919 by Dittmar and Colledge
Red Sea Monday 20th July 1942
 
4. ARPHA and SAGITTA sailed for the Yemen coast to intercept German and Italian refugees who were due to leave Jedda on the 22nd July. This was a result of political pressure on Ibn Saud, who agreed that these internees could leave and that he would connive at out ships intercepting them inside territorial waters.
 
5. ROBERTS was moved from Suez to Abu Zenina anchorage for the protection of shipping waiting call up to Suez.
Red Sea  Monday 3rd August 1942
 
3. H.M.S. SAGITTA intercepted fourteen Italian escapees from the Yemen at Sherm Makar. No objection was raised by the local authorities to H.M.S. SAGITTA's presence in territorial waters.
Red Sea
 
13. DIDO was docked in the Admiralty Floating Dock at Massawa for repairs to her plates aft.
 
14. Nineteen Italian internees were intercepted by ARPHA and SAGITTA off the Yemen Coast south of Jedda."


 

I’ve been going through the effects of my late father, who joined the Royal Navy in 1948 and spent most of his service on HMS Challenger.

Among them I’ve found a small wooden box about 10.5” x 9” x 3.25”.  Stamped on the base are E.G&S and 1A/3911.  Someone has scratched the number 7462 on the front.

Does this sound like a ditty box?  If so, does anyone know what the stamped markings and the number 7462 signify, please?

I’m guessing 1952 would be a year of manufacture, but might be wrong.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

I found the following information concerning the '6 R Card' just by using Chatgpt. You may find more on the other abbreviations.

'It refers to a Form R.6 — a type of rating record card used by the Royal Navy to track a sailor’s service details. These cards were part of the Admiralty’s internal filing system and were used to record:

Postings and drafts

Training and qualifications

Changes in rating (promotions, acting rates, reversion)

Disciplinary notes

Medical or character assessments

Think of it as the Navy’s way of saying:
“A new R.6 record card has been created or updated for this rating.”

Thanks to Alan Watson from the Medusa Trust (https://www.hmsmedusa.org.uk/), it has become clear that the HMLD picture, shows the HDML 1295.
HDML 1295 was built by the Sussex Shipbuilding Company, Shoreham, Sussex and delivered to the Royal Navy on 12 November 1943. It was a part of the 149th ML Flotilla (Special Operations) which played a role in Operation Neptune (the D-Day Landings) and was designated FDB 74 after the war. After the war all armaments were removed from the boat. HDML 1295 also carried the name ML 3512. At a certain time (after serving in HMS Hawke) the boat was shipped to Hong Kong and served there till 1958 when she was sold.

The service record basically shows the 'parent', often a shore establishment, that was responsible for pay and admin.
Often a ship will be listed, with the name in brackets, after the principal name.
I believe that a better record is the Pay and Victualling ledgers, but MoD do not always provide this, unless you specifically ask - it may be worth contacting the records people =

https://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/Records_page.htm

and enquiring

I've had a copy of my fathers ship/Shore establishments for some time. 
It would appear that about 3/4 of his time in the navy was spent on shore establishments. ( I understand this may have been for pay reasons).
 I know that he was was on Artic Escort duties, but can't identify which ship, also 31th Dec 1943, my parent's 1st Wedding Anniversery, he was off Iceland. He also spent time at Malta and was at Palestine, but I'm unable to date this properly.

Can anyone suggest the next step ?

many thanks

Janette

In the collection of my late father in law, there is a badge without any indication about hwat the purpose is of the badge itself.
A picture is included and I hope there is someone who can give some information about the origines of this badge.

With kind regards,
Erik

I have scanned the entire book in high resolution and it is available as a 84MB download for people who are interested. Please leave me a reply if you are interested.

With kind reagrds,
Erik

My uncle George served in the Royal Navy from 1931. On 11th August 1939 he joined HMS Hood and took part in all its actions and deployments until it went down in in May 1941. Sadly he did not survive. I recently sent off for his service record which showed he had been posthumously awarded the War Medal, The Atlantic Star and The 39-45 Star . However I noted that he was not awarded the Africa Star despite the fact that the Hood took part in several Mediterranean actions as detailed in Ted Briggs(a survivor) book 'Flagship Hood'. In fact Ted, whom I once met, actually knew him as a fellow signaler and my uncle is actually named in Ted's book as part of one of the actions at Mers-El-Kebir (Algeria). The criteria for the Africa Star medal includes that any active service in the Mediterranean theatre would qualify and he seems to satisfy this.
Is anyone able to explain why he wasn't awarded the Africa Star?
Thanks,
Roger