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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: KPM on Tuesday 26 February 08 17:27 GMT (UK)
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Hi
I have just received a copy of my Grandad's Naval record and scrap book which is absolutely fascinating as I am able to tie up photographs and postcards with the Service Record.
However, what I would like some clarification with is the ships he served on (his record spans from 1918 to 1945)
For example in 1919, it reads Columbine (Verdun). I googled both and it looks as if HMS Columbine was a depot ship and that the sailors would probably have messed on Columbine as the Flotilla moved around a lot. I found this on an old forum for another site but I don't really understand what it means.
Could someone explain this to me - what exactly was the Flotilla and why does his record look as if he was on two ships at the time.
Other examples are Birmingham (Calliope), Vivid III (Raleigh), Tamar (Keppel)
Any help would be really appreciated
KPM
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KPM,
You seem to have the gist of it already. A Flotilla is simply a collection of ships which has a senior officer ( probably a captain if a destroyer flotilla - or even an admiral if capital ships are included)in charge of them and to whom all the commanding officers of the flotilla report. It doesn't mean that they all sail away together, they are more often engaged independently.
Small ships such as mineweepers, corvettes, diesel subs and the like have a depot ship, sometimes called a tender. This mother ship provides administration, pay, stores etc for the small ships. But the crews of the small ships would eat and sleep on their own vessel, and would operate independently from the mother ship for perhaps weeks at a time. An example is HMS Tamar in Hong Kong which is a shore base but which (when I was there anyway) looked after a flotilla of minesweepers and other small craft for the services I've described.
regards, Leofric ( Nine years before the mast...)
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Hi Leofric
Many thanks for your reply - its all beginning to fall into place now.
It looks as if the first one is the shorebase and the second is the ship. Last night, I found out that HMS Columbine was the shorebase at S Queensferry in Scotland. Now that you've told me Tamar is the shore base in Hong Kong - I think I've got it now ;D
Grandad has lots of photos from Hong Kong taken around 1930 so again this fits in.
Thank you very much for your help with this
Anne-Marie
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Hi Leofric
Many thanks for your reply - its all beginning to fall into place now.
It looks as if the first one is the shorebase and the second is the ship. Last night, I found out that HMS Columbine was the shorebase at S Queensferry in Scotland. Now that you've told me Tamar is the shore base in Hong Kong - I think I've got it now ;D
Grandad has lots of photos from Hong Kong taken around 1930 so again this fits in.
Thank you very much for your help with this
Anne-Marie
Hi Anne-Marie,
Just to let you know about a great website that deals exclusively with Hong Kong history: www.gwulo.com
I took the liberty of emailing David, whose baby that simply wonderful site is, about your stack of old Hong Kong photos. He suggested I append this note to your post and invite you to get in touch with him via the gwulo.com site should you need any of the photos identified. We Hong Kong oldsters like to play the 'where is this/was this?' game on gwulo. You'd enjoy all the (often conflicting) responses that come in. Just in case you can't make contact via that site, do send me a PM and we'll easily get it sorted out.
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hi anne marie
just to add to your post taking each ship as you,ve written it hms columbine was a flower class corvette - verdun was a vanoc class destroyer
hms birmingham was a light cruiser as was hms calliope
vivid 3was a training est/ ship , no real explaination as to what it was on the site - hms raleigh the only ref to this is that she was an unarmoured frigate
tamar you already know about but hms keppel was a shakespeare class flotilla leader
all this info and photos of most can be found on www.battleshipe-cruisers.co.uk
trevor
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Hi
Thank you both for your replies.
chiboy - the site looks great - not really had a chance to spend much time there yet but first look is impressive. I will certainly make contact to see whether anyone can help id any of the photos.
Trevor - thank you also for the information. I will also have a look at the site you have suggested. Grandad had collected several postcards of the ships he had been on, but it will be great to learn more about these ships as well.
Thank you once again for all of your help
Anne-Marie
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Hi Anne-Marie
We have a very good forum at:- http://www.worldnavalships.com
should you wish to join (no charge)
We can answer most types of questions and have a wonderful collection of ship photographs.
Why not give it a go?
Bob.
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Hi Bob
Thanks for your reply.
I will also have a look at this forum.
Anne-Marie