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Arctic Convoys

Lady Penelope

Lady Penelope

master brummie
My father, John Bennett, was in the Royal Navy during WW2. I have just read Andrew Williams' book 'The Battle of the Atlantic' and would like some help please.

Dad died suddenly when I was 16 so I didn't get to talk to him about the war. However, I do have his record of service and 17 'snaps' which were taken at sea. I would love to know a little more about them.

I know that some of the ships he was on were training ships but I think it's best if I list them:

Collingwood, Victory, Dunluce Castle, Aurora, Burwell (Ferret), King Alfred, Drake IV (Skate), Victory III (Fleetwood).
He was also at Lochailort, training base in Scotland which we passed when travelling on the steam train to Mallaig.

On another thread I confused everyone by posting too many pictures at once so I will try to do better on this thread.

Firstly, I was wondering if anyone can shed any light on which ships are in these pictures please?

Ship 1.jpgShip 2.jpgShip3.jpgShip 4.jpg
 
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Lady Penelope said:
My father, John Bennett, was in the Royal Navy during WW2. I have just read Andrew Williams' book 'The Battle of the Atlantic' and would like some help please.

Dad dies suddenly when I was 16 so I didn't get to talk to him about the war. However, I do have his record of service and 17 'snaps' which were taken at sea. I would love to know a little more about them.

I know that some of the ships he was on were training ships but I think it's best if I list them:

Collingwood, Victory, Dunluce Castle, Aurora, Burwell (Ferret), King Alfred, Drake IV (Skate), Victory III (Fleetwood).
He was also at Lochailort, training base in Scotland which we passed when travelling on the steam train to Mallaig.

On another thread I confused everyone by posting too many pictures at once so I will try to do better on this thread.

Firstly, I was wondering if anyone can shed any light on which ships are in these pictures please?

View attachment 143818View attachment 143819View attachment 143820View attachment 143821
Click to expand...
According to Wikipedia D27 was named HMS Walker and saw Arctic Convoy duties between 1944 and 1945. It was decommissioned in 1945. I'm still trying with the others.
 
Much has been said and written about PQ17 which was a disaster. However it gave rise to much needed improvements in how the Arctic convoys were operated
Collingwood and Raleigh are 'stone frigates' i.e. shore based training establishments.
You may find this interesting Lady P:

Family History - Royal Navy and Naval History World War 2, 1939-1945

Royal Navy and Naval History World War 2, 1939-1945
www.naval-history.net
Who knows what you may discover.
 
Thank you to everyone for the posts and links. I shall be looking at these later and will come back to you all.

Pedrocut, rather than list the dates I've scanned some of Dad's Service Record and this might help.

Service RecordPg1.jpgService Record Pg2.jpgService RecordPg4.jpg
 
I wondered if I posted the rest of the pictures it may help with identification? I've separated them into 'ships', 'crew' and rescue.
Rest of ships first - I'll post them in separate batches.

Ship 5.jpgShip 8.jpgShip 9.jpg
 
There are many mentions of the cruiser Aurora in 1940 and 1941, but nothing between 15 Sep 40-13 Aug 41 as
many months are missing from the Archives. Maybe better luck with the other ships.
 
A few scary moments for John from Alan's link...

1940…25th Sep Covered return passage of damaged submarine SPEARFISH to Rosyth and under air attack at sea for first time. Sustained slight damage from near misses.

21st November … During departure from Rosyth with Striking Force HMS BELFAST detonated a magnetic mine and sustained serious damage which disabled her. Stood by HMS BELFAST until tow was established.

1941…..9th April….Rescued survivors from HM Destroyer GURKHA which had been sunk during air attacks on Home Fleet ships during passage to Norway. (Note: An attempt to tow the damaged destroyer was abandoned.)

18th April…. Carried out bombardment of shore targets in Rombaksfjord.

24th April… Bombarded enemy positions near Narvik with HMS WARSPITE, HMS EFFINGHAM, HMS ENTERPRISE and HM Destroyer ZULU prior to allied landings by troops from HM Cruiser VINDICTIVE.

7th May…Sustained serious damage during air attacks with two turrets disabled and several casualties.
 
I believe my brother in law was on those convoys but I know very little about his service, if you come across a William(Billy) Cox amongst your research I'd be pleased to hear it.
 
Thank you all. Lots for me to think about and digest. I knew about the Belchen from the Andrew Williams book and I understood from my brother that Dad was on the Russion convoys at some point. Murmansk and Archangel were mentioned.

These next pictures are entitled 'Rescue' (my title) but I'm afraid I don't know whether they are from the Ghurka (as mentioned in the link), another British ship or from a German one. Mom always thought they were German POW's. They are not in any particular order.

Rescued 1.jpgRescued 2.jpgRescued 3.jpgRescued 4.jpgRescued 5.jpg
 
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These last pictures are of the crew, I wondered if anyone (with better eyesight than me) could read the sailors hat in the middle picture. Dad's badge is 'Up Narkover'.

Ship 6.jpg Dad is front row on the left.

Ship 7.jpg Dad is on the right in the back row.

Crew 1.jpg On the right again.
 
Hi Lady P. Your picture No4 is without doubt HMS Furious & pic No11 is one of the Colossus Class Carriers. Although difficult to say which one of the 10 in the class she is, (all were very similar) I would think that she is HMS Glory. Hope this helps a little.
 
chocks2 said:
Hi Lady P. Your picture No4 is without doubt HMS Furious & pic No11 is one of the Colossus Class Carriers. Although difficult to say which one of the 10 in the class she is, (all were very similar) I would think that she is HMS Glory. Hope this helps a little.

Thanks chock2. I'm getting some real support on these pictures. Your information really adds to things.
Click to expand...
 
Lady Penelope said:
These last pictures are of the crew, I wondered if anyone (with better eyesight than me) could read the sailors hat in the middle picture. Dad's badge is 'Up Narkover'.

View attachment 143859 Dad is front row on the left.

View attachment 143860 Dad is on the right in the back row.

View attachment 143861 On the right again.
Click to expand...
Lady P
In wartime, they only carried HMS on their hats, no ship name. My late father in law was a Chief ERA from 1932 to 1945 (and sunk three times, including the Repulse at Singapore) but he apparently did one Artic convoy, he did not speak much of the war and it did have a bad effect on his later life (an inability to settle or take a regular job), but he did speak of the privations of the Artic convoy and said he was glad to get back to warmer climes, Some of the names on your father's record are shore establishments (Stone Frigates) - Collingwood (Fareham), Victory (There were 8 in WWII) renamed HMS Nelson in 1974, Ferret (at Londonderry), King Alfred (Hove) and Drake (Plymouth). I am having difficulty identifying the one name on his records that looks as if it begins with an X
 
Bob Davis said:
Lady P
In wartime, they only carried HMS on their hats, no ship name. My late father in law was a Chief ERA from 1932 to 1945 (and sunk three times, including the Repulse at Singapore) but he apparently did one Artic convoy, he did not speak much of the war and it did have a bad effect on his later life (an inability to settle or take a regular job), but he did speak of the privations of the Artic convoy and said he was glad to get back to warmer climes, Some of the names on your father's record are shore establishments (Stone Frigates) - Collingwood (Fareham), Victory (There were 8 in WWII) renamed HMS Nelson in 1974, Ferret (at Londonderry), King Alfred (Hove) and Drake (Plymouth). I am having difficulty identifying the one name on his records that looks as if it begins with an X
Click to expand...

Bob, It's actually a fancy 'L' - the name is Lochailort and more information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochailort.

It was originally a country house, taken over first by the army and then the navy. Not sure what he was there for but he was training on torpedos at one stage. The house is in a beautiful setting and as I said in an earlier post, we passed it whilst travelling on the West Highland railway some years ago.

I knew that some of the names were of training establishments but didn't know there were that many.
 
Lady Penelope said:
Bob, It's actually a fancy 'L' - the name is Lochailort and more information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochailort.

It was originally a country house, taken over first by the army and then the navy. Not sure what he was there for but he was training on torpedos at one stage. The house is in a beautiful setting and as I said in an earlier post, we passed it whilst travelling on the West Highland railway some years ago.

I knew that some of the names were of training establishments but didn't know there were that many.
Click to expand...
Most matelots dreamt of a stone frigate permanent posting, when I first moved to the South West I was on the Torpoint Ferry going into Plymouth and there was an obese chief looking very wistful, I got talking to another man from HMS Raleigh, who advised that this Chief arrived at Raleigh when it opened and by good fortune had spent his whole career there. His only seagoing was twice daily on the Torpoint Ferry. He had joined 1939 and this was 1962.

BOB
 
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