Naval Records WW2

[zetlander]

I have a persons name and the name of the ship he served on in 1944-45.  How can I access his naval record.  I do not have his date of birth nor do I have his place of birth.

[t mo]

hi
all ww2 service records are still with the mod but can be applied for read got to www.veterans-uk.info from there you can download the forms necessary to apply .
but you will need a death cert and it costs £30 .
if you need us to help more you need to post his name and any other info you have on him such as did he marry and to whom even an educated guess may be better than nothing .
regards
trevor

[suds]

Hello

I did this for my Dad. I believe that, apart from the death certificate, they require you to be the next of kin or have the agreement of the next of kin.

And then, don't expect too much information. I received a single A4 sheet with some very basic information of ships/depots and dates. The information wasn't in a form readily understood by me, I joined a navy forum to decipher it. For instance it said MMU 19 and dates. It turns out that MMU stands for Mobile Maintenance Unit - how would you know that?

Regards

Suds

[zetlander]

Thanks for the replies.  The man we're after is my wife's father.  All she knows is his name and ship.  Her mother was married to someone else and had a very brief liason with this sailor who was also married to someone else. My wife was given up for adoption at birth and there is no way she can find out any more information apart from his name and ship. Is ther any way records can be accessed without proving kinship?

[t mo]

hi
from veterans site as stated the main info you as an individual will receive is his name rank service number, date of birth and place of birth date of joining up and date of leaving and any medals and decorations won whilst in service .
you don,t have to be his next of kin or any form of relative to receive the above but the other main thing you will need is a death cert for the man which it seems may be your biggest hurdle if you only have a name and nothing else to go on .
regards
trevor

[zetlander]

Thanks Trevor
We do have a real problem as we have no way of finding the necessary information.  I'll contact the veterans association and see if they can suggest anything.
Cheers

[leighton]

Hello zetlander,

Was your father in law in the Royal or Merchant Navy?

My father was in the Merchant Navy during WW2. Quite by chance I found him on a couple of American Passenger Lists, once in New York (1941) and again in Seattle (1942). As well as the name of his ship, it also gave his age, nationality and occupation on board.

A quick look on ancestry might be worth while

leighton

[TonyJames]

Zetlander

If you can trace the man's death details you should be able to get a copy death certificate from the Government Records Office. You may still need to prove kinship to get the Navy record.

As mentioned elsewhere you would get two pages of A4, the main list will show shore depots and ships he served on and dates of transfer. It should also show any qualifications. You should be able to find some information on the ships online but you see the ships logs you will need to visit the National Records Archive where they are held. they will tell you ship locations but not much else.

Hope this helps