Genealogy Chat

Yes, HMS Drake previously known as HMS Vivid, was Plymouth but was also the Royal Navy Barracks at Keyham Devonport. These Barracks housed many of the the Petty Officers and the Barracks received a direct hit 21 April 1941, the blackest night for Plymouth in general. There were many injuries and deaths, which I think is still surrounded by much secrecy. Official figures suggested 123 (I think) were killed and no figures for the injured. The reason for this was that Plymouth was very badly bombed during the war and much of Plymouth and Devonport gutted, which according to the MOD resulted in about a thousand deaths overall and many injured but the figures never included service deaths or injuries because of propaganda to keep the morale high. To date these Service figures have still not been released by the MOD. Plymouth was mainly a Naval Base and there were thousands of service personnel in the City to include many of those been rescued at Dunkirk in 1940 and much army activity as well. It was always suspected in Plymouth that these casualty lists were kept deliberately low so as not to frighten the population. If you can prove next of kin you can obtain the records from the MOD at Gosport at a cost of £30 and possibly a years wait. This may give you more info as to what happened to your ancestor. Are you sure it was Excellent and not Exeter? HMS Exeter received a direct hit 1 May1942 in the South Java Sea and I think she sailed from Plymouth on that voyage, but you would need to check all that out. There is a lot on HMS Exeter to include Crew Lists on various websites. You can find by a google search. Janet

They were all shore stations. HMS Beaver was a Shore Establishment in Hull. HMS Drake was a shore station at Plymouth. HMS Victory is now called HMS Nelson in Portsmouth. My father was at HMS Excellent the gunnery school at Whale Island, Portsmouth. Maybe the torpedo incident was a training accident. http://www.gwpda.org/naval/rnshore.htm

HMS Victory was a naval barracks - don't know about the rest. Have you tried googling? Jay

My gt uncle served during WW11, from his naval records it shows that he served between 1940-1942, can anyone offer any history on the following ships he served on? I think some may have been shore based HMS Beaver 2, HMS Drake 4, HMS Victory 1, HMS Excellent. He was invalided from the war in 192, the family story goes that he was torpedoed and thrown into the water. I cannot find any information to validate this. Any replies most welcome