Hi all, My great grandfather was in the Royal Navy and served as an Able Seaman on the HMS Belmont, and was on board when it was sunk by a U-boat in 1942. I've found a document on him via Find My Past which says that he joined the Navy in 1923 and has a whole list of ships, as well as a lot of other information that I don't quite understand. I was hoping somebody could point me in the right direction with it? ... I know a lot about how he died but very little about what ships he served on, where the ships travelled to, just an idea of what he did during all that time before the war and then during the war. My grandfather only has one photo of him, so if there's any archive or place where you can access any photos of the crew etc then that would be immensely appreciated... though I know probably unlikely. Many thanks in advance
Hello I suppose you realise that U-82 was sunk a week later on 6th February with all hands lost as well? Belmont was one of the 50 Lend Lease destroyers provided y the US when we were desperately short of ships. Many were ex WW1 vintage (if not before) and had been mothballed so were full of defects, had American size machinery etc so were usually running with lots of running repairs. She only lasted just over a year with the RN, but no doubt did the best possible in true Navy fashion If you haven't seen this already, it details how the sinking occurred Destroyer Down Convoy NA2 was mainly troopships bringing Canadian soldiers to the UK, so it could have been large troopships sunk, with a much greater impact on the War, if Britain hadn't been able to protect Canadian troops it might have resulted in the cessation of troops available for further Allied offensives.
Hi Kevin, Thanks a lot for the above. I knew that U-82 had met it's demise not long after (my nephews favourite part of the story!), but I didn't know the full details of exactly how the Belmont was sunk so thanks a lot for that. He went from HMS Ladybird that was in China, to HMS Delhi that was in North Africa, then the Atlantic via Malta... was it quite typical for Naval folk to go on so many different ships in so many different places?
An interesting record with a lot of info. Here we go and I hope I don't make too many mistakes. You can ignore the columns marked 'List' and 'No.' as these only refer to to the Pay and Victualling Ledgers of the Establishment/Ship where Archie's reords were held. Many of the entries are for shore establishments/acounting bases. Where you have an entry with a name followed by another name in brackets the first is the accounting base and the name in brackets is where he was actually serving. 13 Jul 20 Joined as a Boy Seaman aged 15. HMS Impregnable (ex HMS Powerful - cruiser) - Boys Training Ship at Devonport. 31 Jan 21 HMS Conqueror - Dreadnought battleship (in Reserve). 27 May 21 HMS Iron Duke - Dreadnought battleship. 24 Feb 23 (18th birthday) rated Ordinary Seaman and signed on for 12 year engagement. Victory 1/Centurion - shore establishments/accounting bases, Portsmouth. 8 Apr 25 HMS Centaur - C Class cruiser. 6 Nov 25 Rated Able Seaman Victory/Excellent - shore establishments, Portsmouth. 31 May 28 HMS Caterham - Hunt Class Minesweeper, tender to the Navigation School, HMS Dryad. 23 Jan 29 HMS Warspite - Queen Elizabeth battleship. 12 Mar 32 HMS Canterbury - light cruiser. Used at this time as transport ship to China, so probably on board just for passage. 28 May 32 HMS Ladybird - Insect Class gunboat on the Yangtze River. 1 May 34 HMS Calcutta - C Class light cruiser (probably on board for passage back to UK). 4 May 35 HMS Nelson - Nelson Class battleship. 20 Apr 38 HMS Enterprise - Emerald Class light cruiser - for passage UK to FE. 28 May 38 HMS Ladybird (again). Ladybird moved from China to Hong Kong (Tamar) to Singapore (Terror and Sultan) to Malta (St Angelo). 20 May 40 HMS Delhi - Leander Class Cruiser in refit at Malta. 28 Sep 40 HMS Belmont 31 Jan 42 Presumed DD (Discharged Dead) I you google the ships you will get some more info (take care you get the right ship for the time frame as many ship names were repeated through history. Searching the ships on Family History - Royal Navy and Naval History.Net will also help you. I'll be back shortly with more info that can be gleaned from the records. Tim
See HMS Ladybird (1916) - Wikipedia as to how Archie went from China to Malta. Difficult to tell exactly how long he was in HMS Delhi as he was back in UK in Aug 40. See here for ship's deployment during relevant period HMS Delhi, British light cruiser, WW2 Further info from Service Record: Character and Efficiency: This was assessed on 31 Dec every year. The standard normal being VG (Very Good) and Sat (Satisfactory). Archie's character was VG throughout except for 1924 and 1930 when it was 'Good'. It may be on of these is due to the entry 'Absent over leave' although I cannot see a date. Nothing to worry about as he had his three GCBs (Good Conduct Badges). His efficiency was generally Sat although there are blips 1930-32 when he was reduced to 'Mod' (Moderate) but this is offset by several assessments as 'Supr' (Superior). The entries AB, AB 3yrs and AB over 6yrs merely indicate his pay rises. He qualified as a SG (Seaman Gunner) on 4 Mar 32 on the Lewis Machine Gun, no doubt due to his impending draft to HMS Ladybird. Although he joined the Navy in 1920 he was not able to sign an engagement until he was 18 years old, which he did on 24 Feb 23 for 12 years. He re-engaged on 10 Mar 34 'to complete), this means re-engaging to complete service for pension. Hopes this all helps - any further questions, just ask. Tim Edited to add: HMS Belmont, destroyer HMS Belmont (H 46) (British Destroyer) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net It would seem that Archie went to Halifax, Nova Scotia to commission the Belmont in 1940.
Thanks so much for this, it is greatly appreciated... I've had a nightmare trying to decipher it myself (not helped by the terrible handwriting of whoever did it!) so this is incredibly helpful. He was in Asia for 2 years on the Ladybird but Japan didn't enter the war until 1941 officially, I'm interested to know what he was doing there especially when the war at home was in full swing? I didn't pay much attention in history at school and wish I had. There's not a lot of information about HMS Nelson during the time he was on it, I'm assuming during peace time they were simply patrolling the colonies? Also nice to see that he had a good naval record... would've put a real spanner in the works if he'd been a dissenting rogue! Again thanks for all your help, my granddad knows very little about his father Archie so he will be delighted to find out all this.
