Genealogy Chat

Hi all

My dad's Royal Navy records arrived today and having paid £30 I am disappointed with the information provided. Unlike the army record of my father-in-law (very detailed and professional-looking), it is merely a typed table showing the various "ships", dates and a couple of uninformative notes. It doesn't tell me where the ships went. I have spent the day discovering that several of them are not ships, but shore-based stations. In fact, the only "real" ship he was on was a Motor Launch (ML 829) which would appear to have been part of the 49th ML Flotilla between October 1943 and February 1945.

The only thing I can find re ML 829 is on National Archives and am awaiting (10 days!) for an estimate of the cost of copying this, which seems to be the ship's log for 5 weeks.

I can find nothing about the 49th Flotilla but I guess it was part of the Burma campaign, which I believe dad was involved in. One of the shore-based stations is at Colombo, Ceylon.

An accompanying sheet shows two other dates with the word Highflyer alongside. I am assuming this is the shore-based station at Trincomalee which he definitely visited, but it was also a hospital. I don't recall him ever mentioning that he went to hospital.

I know he also went to India and Singapore, but not during the period covered by the NA record re ML 829.

Does anyone know how I can discover other info?

Thanks

Margaret

All Naval personnel prior to 1972 were given their service records when they were discharged:

"Prior to 1972 all RN personnel were given their service record when they discharged. For pension purposes the RN retained pay details. Therefore the only information held on RN personnel who served prior to 1972 are their Service details (number, rank, name etc) and a list of dates and ships/shore bases."

I'm not sure that there will be anywhere else that you can find any info.

Sam x

Might be worth you reading the Research Guide to Operational records of the Royal Navy in WW2 on the National Archives website. This gives guidelines as to what they hold, but most would involve you going to Kew or getting someone to go for you. Bear in mind that the log may not be too useful.

Royal Naval Museum would be worth contacting too.

His record would have no need to say where the ships went, of course - just that he served on them!

If a record refers to anything being alongside, it would mean that it was a vessel in harbour / port

Hi folks

Sam, I had forgotten that - seems a bit pricey at £30. Ah well!

Annielaurie, I will contact the Royal Naval Museum.

It is odd that dad didn't keep his naval records, he tended to keep historical things. He also told us that at one point he was shipwrecked and his family received the dreaded telegram - then the raft he was on was saved. I'd love to find something about that.

Margaret

Hi Elizabeth, dad was not an officer, he only made Able Seaman. Just so sad there is nothing to tell me about his time in Singapore, Rangoon, Burma, Sri Lanka, him missing presumed dead, etc.

Ah well, I loved him just the same.

Margaret

Other places to try are the

Imperial War Museum
http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.6

National Maritme Museum
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/

The London Times
www.timesonline.co.uk


Royal Navy
http://www.royal-navy.org/
http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3839

WW2
http://www.worldwar-2.net/index.htm (look at timelines)

Have pm'd you Margaret

Thanks, Elizabeth, not my Stokes lot. For some reason, only my dad from his family served in WW2, he was plain Fred, and of no note at all during he war, except he was the best dad in the world to me.

Margaret