ww2 ship my papa served on oin the royal navy

[Jonny Boy]

OK i need some more help with family war information i have a pic of a ship i believe that my papa ( moms dad) was on in the British Royal Navyhis name is Eric chapman . i think it is a corrnett. and i  believe he once said that it was one of the 2 ships he was on that were torpedoed and sunk. the number on the side of the ship i believe are 1376 if you  can provide a link or have info on this ship it would be great

thanks

 

[old medic]

Do you mean Corvette?

The best thing you can do is take a good look at the photos, and get the number off the side of the hull.
That is the navy penant number.  Each ship has it's own.  Once you have that, you can find a listing of the number
and the ships name online. 

The number you mentioned, 1376 doesn't make sense.  There should be a letter, followed by two or three numbers.
Corvettes usually had penants in the K xx  - K xxx series.

uboat.net (among others) has a good listing of penant numbers.

Good Luck 

 

[Jonny Boy]

ok i will try and look it up. i only have one picture of the ship and it is about 60 years old. it was taken at sea so it is hard to make out the numbers. i will try and look and see if it does have letters in it. thank you

 

[old medic]

If you can't make out the penant number,  you can compare your photo to the various classes of ships online.
Look at the placement of guns, masts, funnels, the superstructure, etc. then look for similar ships.  Once you know
the class of ship, you can narrow down the number.  Perhaps even match a patial penant to a name.

 

[Jonny Boy]

ok i will have to look at it the next time i get a chance

 

[Jonny Boy]

ok i looked at the picture again and the number on the side is j376

 

[old medic]

http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3818.html

 

[Jonny Boy]

thank you for the link but my papa was in the royal navy. not the Canadian navy. i may of read the numbers wrong. is it possible for a Canadian ship and British ship to have the same numbers?

 

[Jonny Boy]

i also believe it was sunk during the war. in the Indian ocean. that is what i have been told anyway.  if that helps any

 

[old medic]

HMS Golden Fleece was in the Royal Navy (RN) .  The "His Majesties Ship" designation shows that.
If it was in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), it would have HMCS "His Majesties Canadian Ship" infront.

The penant numbers would not have been duplicated.

Cheers.

 

[old medic]

Is it possible your picture was taken from the ship, and it's not a picture of the ship?

Perhaps someone in your family can help you out.  Are there any photos of him in uniform, or with a cap on?

Otherwise, you can pick through this list:

Cruiser HMS CORNWALL (10,000t, 1928) Sunk by Japanese dive bombers, Indian Ocean, 42/04/05
Cruiser HMS DORSETSHIRE (9,975t, 1930) Sunk by Japanese dive bombers, Indian Ocean, 42/04/05
Destroyer HMS THANET (1,000t, 1919) Sunk in action with Japanese surface craft, off Malaya, 42/01/27
Destroyer HMS VAMPIRE (On loan to RAN, 1,090t, 1917) Sunk by aircraft, bombs, E of Ceylon, 42/04/09
Submarine HMS PORPOISE (1,500t, 1933) Sunk, probably by aircraft, Malacca Strait, E Indies Date approximate, 45/01/19
Submarine HMS STONEHENGE (715t, 15/6/43) Lost on patrol, probably off Nicobar Islands, Indian Ocean, Date approximate, 44/03/22
Submarine HMS STRATAGEM (715t, 9/10/43) Sunk by surface vessel, depth-charges, off Malacca, East Indies, 44/11/22
Corvette HMS AURICULA (915t, 5/3/41) Mined Courrier Bay, Madagascar, 42/05/05
Corvette HMS HOLLYHOCK (1,010t, 19/11/40) Sunk by aircraft bombs, E of Ceylon, 42/04/09
Minelayer HMS KUNG WO (R, 4,636t, 1921) Sunk by aircraft bombs near Lingga Archipelago, Singapore area, 42/02/14
Minesweeper HMS BANKA (R, 623t, 1914) Sunk by mine or aircraft, E Coast of Malaya, 41/12/10
Minesweeper HMS CHANGTEH (R, 244t) Sunk by aircraft bombs, Singapore area, 42/02/14
Minesweeper HMS HUA TONG (R, 280t, 1927) Sunk by aircraft in Palembang River, Sumatra, 42/02/13
Minesweeper HMS KLIAS (R, 207t, 1927) Scuttled at Palembang, Sumatra, 42/02/15
Minesweeper HMS MALACCA (R, 210t, 1927) Scuttled in Tjemako river, Sumatra, 42/02/18
Minesweeper HMS SCOTT HARLEY (R, 620t, 1913) Sunk, probably by surface craft, Indian Ocean, 42/03/03
Minesweeper HMS SIN AIK LEE (R, 198t, 1928) Lost by enemy action or destroyed at Singapore, 42/02-03
Minesweeper HMS SQUIRREL (940t, 16/8/44) Damaged by mine off Puket, Siam (Thailand) Sunk by own forces, 45/07/24
Minesweeper HMS TAPAH (R, 208t, 1926) Lost by enemy action or destroyed at Singapore, 42/02-03
Minesweeper HMS VESTAL (940t, 10/9/43) Sunk by aircraft, off Puket, Siam (Thailand), 45/07/26

 

[Michael OLeary]

http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/class.html?ID=140

Minesweepers
Algerine class
123 ships

Technical information
Type Minesweeper
Displacement 850 BRT
Length 225 feet
Complement 85 men
Armament 1 4" AA gun 4 20mm guns (4x1)
Max speed 16.5 knots
Engines Geared turbines, 2 shafts / Reciprocating (V.T.E.) engines, 2 shafts
Power 2000 SHP / 2000 IHP
Notes on class The Royal Canadian Navy ships of this class had no minesweeping gear fitted due to the fact that they served as convoy escorts during the war.


http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3818.html

HMS Golden Fleece (J 376)
Minesweeper of the Algerine class

Navy: The Royal Navy
Type: Minesweeper
Class: Algerine
Penant: J 376
Mod: Reciprocating engined
Built by: Redfern Construction Ltd. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched: 29 Feb, 1944
Commissioned: 29 Sep, 1944
End service:

History: Served in the East Indies and Pacific at the end of the war. Returned through the Mediterranean to Devonport (Plymouth) arriving there on 10 September 1946.

Scrapped at Llanelli, Wales starting on 8 August 1960.
Former name: HMCS Humberstone


http://www.ragingchipmunk.com/PT171/pages/explain/

Referred to in diary/log(?) of PT 171, see notes for Noc 23.


http://warships.web4u.cz/lode.php?language=E&stat=GB&typ=EML&trida=Algerine+(VTE+kanad.)

Warships of World War Two page - Algerine Class Escort Minesweepers


http://www.seawaves.com/newsletters/TDIH/october/25Oct.txt (and other pages from same site)

SeaWaves Today in History -
25 Nov, 1942 - Algerine-class minesweepers  ......... HMS Golden Fleece (ex-HMCS Humberstone) ........ ordered from Ontario shipyards
Jun 3, 1943 - Minesweepers transferred RCN to RN while under construction in Canada and renamed:  ......HMCS Humberstone/HMS Golden Fleece, ...........
October 25, 1943 - Minesweeper HMS Golden Fleece (ex-HMCS Humberstone) laid down Toronto ON
Feb 29, 1944 - Minesweeper HMS Golden Fleece launched Toronto ON
Aug 29, 1944 - Minesweeper HMS Golden Fleece commissioned
Aug 8, 1960 - HMS Golden Fleece (ex HMCS Humberstone) arrived Rees, Llanelly for scrapping


http://www.nmm.ac.uk/memorials/Memorial.cfm?MemorialID=M4998&CFID=2324174&CFTOKEN=44945160&jsessionid=0230537641106282009672

Maritime Memorials site

"LET THERE BE A WAY THROUGH THE WATER"/THESE TREES AND MEMORIAL STONE/WERE COMMEMORATED ON 14 MAY 2000/REMEMBERING WITH PRIDE AND GRATITUDE THE MEN AND/THE SHIPS OF THE "ALGERINE" CLASS OF FLEET MINESWEEPERS/OPERATING IN THE ROYAL NAVY 1942-1961/AND THOSE WHO ALSO SERVED IN ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY ESCORTS/OF THE "ALGERINE" CLASS/......./GOLDEN FLEECE/.........'

 

[Jonny Boy]

i talked to my mom nd she said that she missplaced his war papers that had all the information on the ships he was on. she also told me he was a gunner. she also told me that he served on armed merchant cruisers during most of the war. he was on several differant ships.  i guess i will not know for sure about what ships and everything until we find his papers.

 

[larry Strong]

If you write here. They will give you a copy of your Father's service record

Directorate of Personnel Support (Navy)
Navy Search
TNT Archives Services
Tetron Point
William Nadin Way
SWADLINCOTE
Derbyshire
DE11 0TB

Hope this helps

 

[winchable]

The archives in England are strangely accomodating, I pulled all of my grandparents Royal Marine and Royal Navy service records and they send me paper copies of them all in less then a month.

There was a documentary on the BBC a few months back about researching family history, as a result there was a surge of popularity at the archives and because of that most archiving sources in the UK are first class I think.

 

[larry Strong]

You got yours back in a month!! Did you know the service #'s? It took me all summer last year to get my Dad's from them. My next step is to get copies of the logs of the ships he served on, during the dates he was on them.

 

[winchable]

I knew everything already, thankfully my grandfather is still alive and a bit of a packrat so he kept quite a bit of his stuff, and you know the saying "once a marine always a marine" he's forgotten alot of things (forgets my sisters name) but he's always remember his service so it made it easy for them to find all his files.
To be honest he remembers most of it so well, I had recorded most of it myself, having the official document just verified it's validity.

It helped that I was actually in England for much of it too probably.
Good luck with it though both of you, it's well worth it if that's your bag.

 

[larry Strong]

Well I don't know if it's my "Bag", However to my your family history is important, Dad passed on a few years back, and never did talk much about it, I do know that it must have been somewhat scary, as he did tell me he stayed drunk for about 3-4 years after the end of it. I now have a Grandaughter and though I might not get in to the nitty gritty details, it would be nice to have,Counting my son we are now into the third generating to wear a uniform.

 

[winchable]

My grandfather has only started talking about his experiences since my grandmother passed away before he did, so about 2 years ago he sat my father and I down so we could go through his personal effects and record his story, if you can believe it that's the first time in 45 years he's spoken about his experience.

He had only ever told her about everything that happened and assumed that he would die before her and then she would tell us because it was always too difficult for him, being a stiff upper lip type of Englishman he'll take death over emotional outbursts such as crying.

But since he is the only one left from my family from his generation he finally opened up, we take it one very small step at a time and some days we only get a few words out of him about it.

 

[larry Strong]

Dad often talked about writng his memoires, but never did. I live in Alta and he lived in Ottawa so for 20 some years there was a lost opertunity to sit and talk, which I deeply regret to this day. I was always to busy working and raiising a family to take the time to go out there often.