Russian Convoys

[Eggs-11]

Hello people
The wife has said ive done a good job finding out about my dads
naval history (all thanks to certain people on this forum) that she would like
to find out about her dads naval history, All ive got is he served in the merchant navy on ships going to russia (mermansk) sorry about the spelling So if anyone can point me in the right direction i would be most greatful.

Regards mark

[herakles]

Mark,

This interesting topic has been discussed here in the past. I can't recall the exact details though. Perhaps a search would throw them up.

[historydavid]

Mark, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_convoys_of_World_War_II will give you some details of the convoy references and ships involved.

[Eggs-11]

Hello all
Have just ordered father in laws CR10 from national archives,
Went to southampton archives centre yesterday and got his
CR1 and CR2 papers the ships he served on up to 1941 are

SS Arandora star No 149837
SS Almanzora No 136353
SS andes No 135497

Regards. mark

[historydavid]

Mark, I only have brief details of one ship:

Steamship Arandora Star, 15.501 grt, torpedoed and sunk on 2nd July 1940 by submarine.

[historydavid]

Mark, try http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz/ for the other two.

Put the name in the box to see if details are in the database. There may well be several returns for each name with build dates, tonnages etc. By clicking on each one you may well be able to identify the appropriate one immediately, but if not you should be able to identify two or three possibles, which hopefully you can confirm from another source later.

[Eggs-11]

David
Thanks for the info have identified all three ships

SS Arandora star sunk off the irish coast in 1941 torpedoed by U47 captained by gunther prien who earlier in the war sunk the battleship
HMS royal oak.

SS Almanzora
Built 1915
tonnage 16034
owners Royal mail.

SS Andes
built 1913
tonnage 15620
owners also royal mail

Regards Mark

[Eggs-11]

SS arandora star

Torpedoed 75 miles west of the Bloody Forland (county donegal)
on the 2 july 1940
On board
Officers and crew 174
Military guard 200
German interned males 479
German POW 86
Italian interned males 734

Captain EW Moulton and 12 Officers and 42 crew lost their lives.
Of the military guards 37 drowned, with 470 italian and 243 germans.
A total death roll of 805 souls of the 1673 carried.

[historydavid]

Hello Eggs,

What was your source for the Arandora Star info, please?

[Eggs-11]

History
The link to the Arandora star is www.bluestarline.org/arandora.html
Regards. Mark

[historydavid]

Thank you Mark.

[Eggs-11]

Good evening people
Had a phone call from the national archives today about father-in-laws
CRS10 they cant find it , Question. If he joined the royal navy at the start of the war how would i find out his service records
Regards Mark

[John Brown]

Mark

This type of question has been asked many times on the forum. Have a troll or do a search and you should find the info you need.


Regards...John

[historydavid]

Mark, two websites you may find useful:

http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/russian/index.html

http://www.russianconvoyclub.org.nz/RussianConvoys.htm

[Eggs-11]

Historydavid
Thank you for the web sites will look into this evening thanks again.

John
Will look around this site later Thanks

Regards Mark

[Eggs-11]

Good evening people
Its been a while can anyone tell me how to download
a photograph
Regards mark

[astraltrader]

Mark - please see PM [private message]

[Eggs-11]

Can anyone recognise anyone in this photo. My father in law is one of them (Bert Collet).

[Stan.J]

Must have been the worst time to be on Russian Convoys.
(Hope you dont mind I tidied the pic up a little)
Regards,Stan

[Eggs-11]

Stan
Thanks for cleaning up the photo my father-in-law
is in the back row second from the right.

[Eggs-11]

Good evening people and merry christmas to all.
Have found out that my father-in-law served on
HMS Ark royal and a destroyer HMS Balldog.

[astraltrader]

Hi Eggs I think you must mean Bulldog [H91] the B class destroyer that served in the Royal Navy between 1931 and 1946.

She was famous for two quite different reasons.

Firstly on the 9th May 1941 she caught the U110 which led to the capture of the first complete Enigma machine.

Secondly exactly 4 years later on the 9th May 1945, she was the ship used to receive and accept the surrender of German forces occupying the Channel Islands.

[Eggs-11]

Terry
Thanks for the photos and yes i spelt the name wrong, To much christmas spirit,
I don,t think dad was on bulldog at the time they caught U110
he was possibly on ark royal when it sunk.
But will some how have to find this out.
Have read about Bulldogs war history and she certanly saw some action.
Thanks again terry for the photos hopefully will have some more photos to put on this forum soon Regards Eggs

[Eggs-11]

Another photo of bulldog taken from a differant angle

[Eggs-11]

Another photo of father-in-law taken 1940ish

Mark

[doug.birch]

Hi DAVE I served on the Russian convoys,believe me it was no picnic, we lost 1 merchant ship but sank 3 U-Boats. We had many merchant personel in the ships company,for our ship was a coverted merchantman. regards Doug.Birch

[doug.birch]

In our Arctic convoy veterans group in Adelaide, we have a member of the HMS Bulldog crew. name is Bob.Biggs. regards Doug.Birch

[Eggs-11]

Doug
Could you ask Mr Biggs, next time you see him when did he served on her and if he has any photos of bulldog or crew

Regards Mark

[Eggs-11]

Good evening people
I recieved today my dads service records

HMS Trelawney
HMS Pembroke
HMS Nigeria
HMS Stalker
Pembroke again
HMS wild goose
And prembroke again
He sailed in convoys PQ 9,11,14,15,16 and PQ17 onboard HMS Nigeria
and JW 58 and RA58 onboard HMS Wild goose.
Has anyone got any photos of the above ship

Regards Mark

Ps Pembroke and Trelawney i think where shore bases

[astraltrader]

Mark I presume you mean Wild Goose?

I do have a few although they are not as good as I usually like to have.

[Eggs-11]

Terry
Thanks for the photos of Wild Goose
Regards mark

[Eggs-11]

Great news
Have just recieved dads medals

1939-45 star
Atlantic star
1939-45 war medal
and the Arctic Emblem

He served under captain Johnny walker in the 2nd support group out of Liverpool.

Mark

[qprdave]

Good news Mark.

He served under captain Johnny walker in the 2nd support group out of Liverpool.

I would be more proud of this than any medal if it was me!

What I would have given to serve under this great and undervalued Man

[Eggs-11]

He served under captain Johnny walker in the 2nd support group out of Liverpool.

qprdave, Have read a lot about captain johnny walker and yes what a
undervalued man. If only dad had spoken about his experiance on board HMS Wild goose.
Mark
PS Have just ordered a copy of THE FIGHTING CAPTAIN and RELENTLESS
PURSUIT.

[qprdave]

Hi Mark

No I havn't read the books. I would like to.

As you mentioned about your Dad relating his experiences.
Unfortunately so many of these brave men took, and are, taking their exploits to the grave, never to be revealed.

On guy managed to get around a few of the men that served in the Great War to get their experiences before it was too late.

We should do this now with the men of the 2nd War and, in fact, Korea. before it is too late.

It's not only the Admirals, Generals, and Air Martials that need to be heard. Most of them weren't there when their plans came to fruition. It was the guy with the rifle or the tank or the Destroyer who was actually there.

My Dad didn't say much except for the amusing bits. He did say many times that he had it a bit easy as it wasn't as bad as the Great War.

Dave

[Eggs-11]

Evening all
Have just recieved a letter from the veterans agency
to say that dad has been granted the Atlantic star with
France & Germany clasp and the african star.
Mark

[Vegaskip]

He served under captain Johnny walker in the 2nd support group out of Liverpool.

qprdave, Have read a lot about captain johnny walker and yes what a
undervalued man. If only dad had spoken about his experiance on board HMS Wild goose.
Mark
PS Have just ordered a copy of THE FIGHTING CAPTAIN and RELENTLESS
PURSUIT.

Hi Eggs-11, There is a painting I did of H.M.S STARLING and ships of the 2nd Escort Group in 'Every thing else'- Jims Ship Paintings, Page 18-#144
Feel free to down load it if you wish.

[Eggs-11]

Jim
sorry it has taken so long to reply, thank you for letting me down load your painting of HMS Starling. I also have a print of starling and wildgoose tied up in liverpool harbor dated 1943.

[Eggs-11]

Sorry got the date wrong should be 1944
regards, Mark

[Vegaskip]

Jim
sorry it has taken so long to reply, thank you for letting me down load your painting of HMS Starling. I also have a print of starling and wildgoose tied up in liverpool harbor dated 1943.

Hi Eggs-11, Love the picture, I spent some time on the internet looking at his work a while back,they are really atmospheric and have that 'sat down and done a sketch as it was happening' look, which I suppose they were!.

regards

[Choppy Sea]

Sorry got the date wrong should be 1944
regards, Mark

Hi Mark, try www. mikekemble.com/ww2/wildgoose.html.

[Eggs-11]

Thanks Choppy sea
Have already been on this site, My father in law served on
HMS Wild Goose so i know a little bit about her and the history of the great man Captain Johnny Walker
Regards Mark