We Fought Them in Gunboats

[tim lewin]

I have just found and read a very small and vididly real book written by Lt. Cdr Hitchens "Hitch" called We Fought Them in Gunboats; it is a 1943 production published just after he was killed in action. The fly leaf is inscribed by my father Terence Lewin Feb. 1944 London-Plymouth so a real little piece of history. There are a few not very good pics in the book. The MGBs concerned were based on HMS Beehive which I think was a Felixstowe? Harwich?
Has anyone else read this book or know of the author? or has a father or relative who served in MGB at Beehive? I guess if so I could copy the book for you.

tim

[RogerP]

Greetings Tim from way 'downunder',

We Fought Them in Gunboats was one of the first coastal forces books I read. I think the very first book I saw was "The Little Ships" by Gordon Holman who as a newspaper correspondent went to St Nazaire on the MGB.

Hich's son Antony has written a very good follow-up to his fathers book titled "Gunboat Command" which has a few nice photo's in it. Antony lives in Dorset, I have his contact details if you wish to get in touch.

Yes, Hich's flotilla was atHMS Beehive, Felixstowe.

Cheers,
Roger Pearson.
Bendigo, Australia.
debrogerp@hotmail.com

[tim lewin]

how splendid; so good to know that the thread goes on; of course Anthony is mentioned in his father's book many times a a small boy. I would appreciate being in touch with him if you could send me his contacts by private message.
Very many thanks
tim
PS. This book has been in a bookcase in the family since those days, my father must have bought it, or been given it, just after my parents were married on Feb 14th 1944 whilst Ashanti was still under repair in drydock at Plymouth, i guess on that date he would have been returning to the ship after honeymoon in the Lake District.

[Rob Hoole]

Cracking piece of video showing the restored MGB 81 at sea with the newly restored RAF Air Sea Rescue Launch HSL 102 here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8505497.stm) on the BBC website.

[Bee]

Brilliant piece of footage there Rob...thankyou for posting it. It's heartening to see this bit of heritage being preserved.

Regards,
Bee

[Maritime Michael Ian]

My late father bought a copy of "The Little Ships" whilst he was Chief Storekeeper (Chandler) at the Poole, Dorset, Yard of British Power Boat Company, it's the second edition and dated December 1943, the first edition was dated October 1943. Hitch's Gunboat Flotilla were all British Power Boat MGBs and the censored photo of his boats are shown in the book passing a minesweeper (opposite page 112 in the second edition).

Ian

[tim lewin]

Indeed, it was excellent, and quite a surprise as only a couple of days before i had been talking with the chap in the interview. There are several very good books on life in MGB/MTBs around now. I will list a few titles after checking my book shelves.

I recall that someone somewhere in the UK is/was restoring the last working E-boat, any news of this?

[Maritime Michael Ian]

Brilliant footage of the two British Power Boats at speed. The RAF HSL 102 ( if she is the original) was built at British Power Boat Company's Hythe yard in 1936 and were known as the "64 foot type".

According to BPBs records, as shown in the biography of Hubert Scott-Paine, MGB 81 was 71 feet 6 inches and was one of a batch numbered 74 to 81, with five surviving boats being renumbered and reclassed as MTBs 412-417. In fact it appears that 81, completed on 11th July 1942, whose first Commanding Officer was Sub Lt. J.A. Cowley and whose first action was on the night of 13/14th August 1942 became MTB416. (see Home Waters MTBs and MGBs at War 1939-1945, Leonard C. Reynolds, page 46. Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2000)

[Maritime Michael Ian]

I have a good selection of books on MTB/MGBs, Air/Sea Rescue Launches which I thoroughly can recommend where possible to obtain a copy(s), as follows:

British Power Boat Publicity Brochure dated January 1939;
The Little Ships, Gordon Holman, 1943;
Warships of WWII, Part 7-Coastal Forces, H.T. Lenton & J.J. Colledge,Ian Allan London 1963;
The Buccaneers, Bryan Cooper, Purnell's History of the Second World War, Weapomns Book, No13, London, 1970);
Fast Boats and Flying Boats, Biography of Hubert Scott-Paine, Adrian Rance, Southampton 1989;
Home Waters MTBs & MGBs At War 1939-1945, Leonard C. Reynolds, Sutton, 2000;
Coastal Forces at War, David Jefferson, Seconjd Edfition, Haynes, Yeovil, 2008;
Gunboat Command, Antony Hitchens, Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2008
British Coastal Forces of World War II, Paul J. Kemp, ISO Publications, London, 1997;
British Motor Torpedo Boat 1939-45, Angus Konstam, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 2003;
Flag 4, Dudley Pope, Chatham Publishing, re-print London, 2006;
The Battle of the Narrow Seas, Lt. Cdr. Peter Scott, White Lion Publishers, London, 1974.
In Harm's Way, Geoffrey Hobday,Imperial War Museum, London, 1985;
Hold The Narrow Sea, Peter C. Smith, Moorland Publishing, Ashbourne, 1984;
The RAF Air Sea Rescue Service 1918-1986, Jon Sutherland & Diane Canwell, Pen & Sword, Barnsley,2005

Hope this list may be of interest.

Ian

[Rob Hoole]

Indeed, it was excellent, and quite a surprise as only a couple of days before i had been talking with the chap in the interview. There are several very good books on life in MGB/MTBs around now. I will list a few titles after checking my book shelves.

I recall that someone somewhere in the UK is/was restoring the last working E-boat, any news of this?

Hello Tim,

This website appears to have the latest news about the project to restore the E-boat S.130 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/4045221/Nazi-E-boat-saved-by-military-enthusiast.html):

www.rovcom.co.uk/s130_ww2_schnellboot_lift.htm (http://www.rovcom.co.uk/s130_ww2_schnellboot_lift.htm)

I vaguely remember some sort of tenuous link between Schnellboot 130 (S.130) being among the E-boats that attacked the ships conducting the ill-fated Operation Tiger D-day rehearsals at Slapton Sands, and MGB 81 (re-designated MTB 416 (http://www.warboats.co.uk/mgb81/mgb81.htm)) being among the Dartmouth-based MGBs sent to the rescue. However, the dates don't match.

[Ednamay]

I have a remote memory of a book by Peter Scott giving an account of his time in the navy with several MGBs (?) in the Channel, trying to forestall the eboats; does this ring bells with anyone?

Edna

[Rob Hoole]

I have a remote memory of a book by Peter Scott giving an account of his time in the navy with several MGBs (?) in the Channel, trying to forestall the eboats; does this ring bells with anyone?

Edna

Hello Edna,

As included in Ian's list above, it was 'The Battle of the Narrow Seas', available on Amazon here (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Narrow-Seas-History-1939-1945/dp/1848320353).

[Ednamay]

Hello Edna,

As included in Ian's list above, it was 'The Battle of the Narrow Seas', available on Amazon here (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Narrow-Seas-History-1939-1945/dp/1848320353).

Hello Rob,

Thanks, I will chase it up; lost my copy in one of our house moves!!!!

Edna

[Ednamay]

Hello Rob,

Thanks, I will chase it up; lost my copy in one of our house moves!!!!

Edna

Thanks, Ian and Rob; I have received a new copy and struggled, I read it many years ago but nowadays my attention span is not what it was!

I have donated it to my son (who collects books on his favourite bits of history), who tells me we already have it, because he has my late husband's copy (but can't find it in the DIY chaos) - and there was me thinking it was a library copy I read!!

Edna

[Maritime Michael Ian]

You are very welcome EdnaMay

Ian:)

[jpfoynes]

Lt-Cdr Hichen's book came out in 1944, with backing of Admiralty and the censors, and just a few months after he was killed in action off the Hook.
Because Peter Scott allowed to use the official Admiralty communiques, and had more time, and the censorship had now been lifted, he was able to produce a much more detailed and precise account in 1945.

To the list I'd add "Attack Craft" by Phelan and Brice (1974). In spite of vague title, and spanning whole 1890-1970 era, it is an expert account of development of MTBs and MGBs and their German E-boat adversaries.

I will also plug my "Battle of the East Coast, 1939-1945", which gives full account of North Sea naval war, based largely on the original documents.
It was reviewed in the "Naval Review" in 1995 and details can be seen on British Library Integrated Catalogue. I still have copies and can supply them without advanced payment. (jpfoynes@aol.com)

Julian (J P) Foynes