HMS Grebe

[tony]

Hi can any body give me any information on HMS.Grebe? I have searched the internet for months now but cant find any info on HMS.GREBE , if any body can help me i would be very grateful
thanks to all:)

[kc]

Welcome to the forum :)

According to J J Colledge's 'Ships of the Royal Navy' there is no HMS Grebe - at least not as a 'fighting ship'. The book is usually the definitive answer on whether a ship existed or not, but it may be that your Grebe was not a fighting ship. I'll check some other sources and see what I can find by way of trawlers / harbour vessels and that kind of thing.

[kc]

I looked up some other sources and can only find one HMS Grebe anywhere. It was a trawler launched in 1907, which was hired by the Royal Navy between 1917 and 1919.

[John Brown]

Tony

This may solve the puzzle..... HMS Grebe was not a ship but a Royal Naval Air Station in Dekheila, Alexandria, Egypt. I believe it was loaned to the RN by the Egyptian airforce from about 1940.

Hope this helps.

[kc]

That would explain why it is not listed in any of the resources I tried. At least not as Grebe anyway - it is listed in the Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy book, under Egypt, which was helpful when I only had the ship name to go by :rolleyes:. Sounds like you have solved the mystery though.

[beaufort]

On arriving in Alexandria, the survivors from HMS Kelly who were able transferred from HMS Kipling, and had a bath and a meal on Resource. They were then taken to the FAA station at Dekheila, aka HMS Grebe. According to Poolman's little paperback on HMS Kelly, they were accommodated in tents. There is no indication how long this arrangement lasted or how soon they were redeployed.

I wonder if anyone has photos of HMS Grebe in the war years? Or - more to the point - of those tents! :)

[David Verghese]

HMS Grebe [/I]in the war years? Or - more to the point - of those tents! :)

Hi Beaufort

This link takes you to a picture which I feel is what you are after.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=dekheila+alexandria&hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1030&bih=610&tbm=isch&tbnid=hXb4gKp1SVSf1M:&imgrefurl=http://www.johnhootonphotography.com/Airplanes/One-Life-Left/16151568_x8M3Vs/1212767021_uCfPa&docid=OiNR5wyMpL3C9M&itg=1&imgurl=http://www.johnhootonphotography.com/Airplanes/One-Life-Left/JD38895/1212767021_uCfPa-L.jpg&w=800&h=480&ei=fQN3T7qnGuKu0QWLzNHEDQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=150&sig=111661240381291751595&page=1&tbnh=113&tbnw=189&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=105&ty=50

There are some very interesting pictures, which can only be purchased I believe, on this site.

David