Trawlers Lost During WW2

[spidge]

Another great resource on shipping lost in ww2

http://www.royal-naval-reserve.co.uk/lost.htm

TRAWLERS LOST
DURING WWII

1939-1940 1941-1942 1943-1945

The Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS), developed from the pre-war Royal Naval Reserve Trawler Section, manned at its World War 2 peak, 1637 craft of various kinds including converted trawlers, corvettes, fuel carriers, motor launches and naval seaplane tenders. Of this total, from September 1939 through to May 1945, approximately 260 trawlers were lost in action, from the northern seas off Norway to the eastern seaboard of North America, the Far East, Africa and the Mediterranean. This material loss however pales into insignificance when compared to the 15,000 or so, RNPS personnel who were killed during WWII and the 2385 RNPS seaman who "have no known grave but the sea".
Included on the following pages are details of those Admiralty trawlers lost during World War 2.

Trawlers Lost - World War 2

[Antipodean Andy]

What a website! There goes my lunch break!

[sniper]

Originally Posted by Andy in West Oz

What a website! There goes my lunch break!

Totally agree with you Andy, a very good website which means i won't be getting to bed until the very early hours of tomorrow. Nice one Spidge.

Sniper

[Kyt]

This is an excellent site with lots of stories:

Royal Naval Patrol Service

[Kyt]

I watched a programme last night uncovering wrecks in the Thames River (the article below summarises the programme's findings). The subject matter was very interesting but the presentation and the presenters were terrible!

Pictured: Divers discover amazingly preserved shipwreck of HMS London on bottom of Thames | Mail Online

and

Old Father Thames gives up his secrets - Times Online

HMS Aisha

In 1938, Robert Turner probably felt as if he owned the river when he was cruising on his beautiful new 98ft cruiser Wilna. But a year later it would be painted battleship grey and pressed into service as the HMS Aisha. Hitler had realised that the Thames was London's major artery, transporting fuel, food, and troops. Cut the Thames and he'd bring London and the rest of the country to their knees. The river became a target for the Lufwaffe bombers and submarines that sneaked up the estuary. The Aisha was fitted with an antique First World War machine-gun and put into the care of a ragtag group of volunteers. Known as “Dad's Navy”, or Churchill's pirates, these were the same heroes who pulled off the miracle of Dunkirk. Advanced acoustic and magnetic mines (and standard contact mines) were dropped by plane and laid by submarine. Port of London staff were posted along the river in shelters, to note where mines hit the river. Those laid by submarine were harder to spot. Dad's Navy had nothing to combat the fast E-boats that sneaked all the way up the river to the city. In October 1940 the Aisha hit a mine and

SS Letchworth


Boats such as the Aisha, though valiant, were scant defence against the Luftwaffe. On November 1, 1940, five bombers thundered above the collier SS Letchworth as she headed into London with a cargo of coal, part of a convoy delivering vital supplies to London's power stations. Eight bombs whistled into the water around the Letchworth, but the ninth scored a hit.

Other boats in the convoy - as many as 60 ships would sail together for security - rescued the crew and set them ashore on the tip of nearby Southend Pier, before continuing towards London. But when the bedraggled sailors appeared at the base of the pier in Southend, locals thought they were spies. They didn't believe there had been a shipwreck - the pier is the longest in the UK, and the plight of the Letchworth had gone unnoticed. Eventually, suspicions allayed, a shopkeeper took pity and clothed them.

[Brian S]

Here's something I copied quite a few years ago (getting old)


TRAWLERS SUNK WHILE ON LOAN TO U.S.A.

St.Cathan 565 Tons - Sunk in Collision off S.Carolina 11/4/42
Senateur Duhamel 913 Tons - Sunk in Collision off Wilmington 6/5/42
Bedfordshire 913 Tons - Sunk by U Boat off Cape Lookout 11/5/42
Kingston Ceylonite 940 Tons - Sunk by mine off Chesapeake 15/6/42
Pentland Firth 900 Tons - Sunk in Collision off New York. 19/9/42