Royal Navy Research Archive Forums
Personnel => Royal Navy => Topic started by: ProjectKarl on 23 June 2025 11:35:25 pm
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Hi There,
Can anyone help me with my grandfathers records?
There are several times where it looks like he's at shore establishments, but it says "duty". What is duty?
And where it says "Lent"...does that mean he left the ship he was on to go to the ship listed beside the word lent?
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PEMBROKE – naval shore base/barracks at Chatham
GROVE - escort destroyer – torpedoed in the Med in 1942 – see:
https://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DE-HMS_Grove.htm
SPHINX – camp at Alexandria, Egypt
AFRIKANDER - naval shore base at Sinonstown, South Africa
ASSEGAI - naval training base at Durban, South Arica
EXPRESS destroyer; serving at that time in the Indian Ocean –
https://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-21E-HMS_Express.htm
AMEER - escort carrier
https://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/ESCORT/AMEER.htm
ASBURY - accommodation at Asbury Park, New Jersey USA
AVALON - naval shore base at St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
AVALON III - naval shore base at Argentia, Newfoundland
COCHRANE - naval base at Rosyth
MAYINA - transit camp at Colombo, Sri Lanka
DIYATALAWA – site of rest camp in Sri Lanka
Re: LENT - you are correct, it means that he was briefly loaned' to another ship or establishment for short period
Re: DUTY – This has been raised before, and not satisfactorily answered – I think the general opinion is that it meant ‘detached duty’, perhaps with a working party, basically somewhere that was not a 'regular' establishment
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Thank you.
Any chance you might have some insight on why the payroll sheet would have so many entries and movement during the same time frame that his navy record just shows HMS Grove to HMS Assegai to HMS Express? I'm really struggling to make sense of these six months. He was a POW and said he was saved by American soldiers. This six month period is the only period that I can see that happening. No mention of being a POW on any of his paperwork.
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A Service record shows who administered his pay and paperwork – he would not necessarily have actually physically been at the shore establishments shown …
The service record extract you posted shows -
PEMBROKE IV [ Grove] Jan 42 to Apr 42
NILE [ Grove] Apr to Dec 42
ASSEGAI June to December 42
TANA [Express] from December 42
EAGLET [ Express] from Feb 43
Note: TANA was at Kilindini, Kenya, and was an accounting and admin base
So Pembroke – Nile – Tana – Eaglet, he was probably never there, they were just the admin bases. As for Assegai, although they looked after his pay etc between June and December 42, the P & V shows that he was only there in October and November.
The P & V shows where he actually was –
GROVE January to June 42
SPHINX June – July 42
Detached? 3 days in July 42
AFRIKANDER IV July – September 42 [ one day on detached duty]
ASSEGAI October – November 42
EXPRESS from December 42
I can’t see any slot for being a prisoner