SWB wrote:
QSAMIKE wrote:
SWB wrote: This thread passed me by until today - cracking job on the re-unite Mike and a very nice group too.
Would be interesting to know his WWII service, he must have loved his job to spend over 50 years at sea.
Good Morning Meurig.......
This is what I have been able to find out about his WW2 service so far from Naval Lists......
Originally retired in 1922 at own request
Recalled to duty ?
H.M.S. Aurania – Captain – 23/09/39-17/01/40
Senior Naval Officer, Aultbea – a/Rear Admiral – 07/01/42-19/10/42
H.M.S. Haig - Senior Naval Officer, Rye – a/Rear Admiral – 24/11/42 – 01/06/45
Mike
Thanks Mike
HMS Aurania - armed merchant cruiser - had a narrow brush with a u-boat in 1941 (after his time) - don't suppose he really wanted to see one again after his encounter in WW1. Then shore service, Rye would have been a lovely billet on the south coast.
Here you go Meurig......
H.M.S. Aurania – Captain – 23/09/39-17/01/40
Peacetime career
As one of the post-Great War "A-class" ocean liners, RMS Aurania was built by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd. at their Wallsend-on- Tyne yard for Cunard and launched on 6 February 1924. Her sisters included RMS Alaunia and RMS Ausonia. With the merger of Cunard and the White Star Line in 1933, she continued to serve with the resulting company, Cunard White Star Ltd.
Wartime career
With war looming, she was requisitioned by the Admiralty on 30 August 1939 and converted to serve as an armed merchant cruiser, which involved the fitting of a number of guns. The conversion was completed on 2 October 1939. On completion of the work she entered service protecting trade sailing through the North Atlantic, covering the convoys. She was initially assigned to the Northern Patrol, followed by the Bermuda and Halifax Escort Force and then the North Atlantic Escort Force.
Senior Naval Officer, Aultbea – a/Rear Admiral – 07/01/42-19/10/42
HMS Flora was commissioned as a naval base at Invergordon in the Cromarty Firth, an offshoot of the Moray Firth, on 1 Oct 1939. It paid off on 16 Jul 1945. The name was also used for a base at
Aultbea in Loch Ewe. HMS Flora II was commissioned as the Coastal Forces base at Invergordon on 1 Sep 1942. On 4 Nov 1943 it dropped its ‘II’ prefix but continued to use the name HMS Flora.
H.M.S. Haig - Senior Naval Officer, Rye – a/Rear Admiral – 24/11/42 – 01/06/45
HMS Rye - Combined Operations Training Base Rye. Base was commissioned on 20/8/43 and paid off on 15/9/43. Re-commissioned on 2/2/44 and paid off on 10/1/45.
Mike
