Another couple of photos taken by my uncle Wireman Kenneth Mark Perry DSM. They show H.M.S Duke of York and H.M.S King George V. No idea where they were taken....any offers? They will not have been seen before as they are from a private collection.
The ship on the left is definitely KGV (she and Prince of Wales had different secondary directors from the rest of the class) but I'm not convinced that the ship on the left is DoY. The photos were taken in warmer climes judging by the shirtless sailors and shorts. So far as I can tell, KGV and DoY did not operate together in foreign climes until 1945 when they were not wearing an Admiralty Disruptive camouflage scheme. DoY spent her time with the Home Fleet except for the period Nov / Dec 1942 when she went to Gibraltar to cover the Operation Torch landings in North Africa. It was only after her 1944/45 refit that she left for the warmer climes of the Pacific. During Nov / Dec 1942 KGV remained with the Home Fleet. However in early May 1943 KGV left for Gibraltar and stayed with the Med Fleet until mid Oct 1943 visiting Algiers, Malta and Alexandria. Between late May and Oct she was joined by Howe. The port that they spent most time in was Algiers. So I would say that the photos were actually of KGV and Howe, taken at Algiers sometime between 12th June, when Force H relocated from Gibraltar, and the end of Sept / beginning of Oct 1943.
Ewan, Back of photos reads Duke of York / KGV. To be honest I don’t think my uncle would have made such a mistake....but?
Problem with notes on back of photos is one does not always know how soon after the photo was taken that they were written. I've been badly misled by notes on the backs of family photos written years after the event by someone going through their collection and annotating from memory.
What ship(s) was your father on? Maybe you can cross match its / their movements with those of KGV & DoY/Howe. Royal Navy warship histories of World War 2
Ewan, It was my uncle.....he was on the destroyer Kingston which had a short but varied life, most of which was spent in the Med, after Kingston was damaged beyond repair he went to H M S Fishguard but she would not have been in the same area as Duke of York or KGV.
It can't have been when he was on Kingston as there is no occasion that I can see when she would have come across one, let alone two, of the KGV class. There is an overlap between KGV & Howe with Fishguard in the Med in July 1943 during Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. She was detached from the convoy KMS19 she had accompanied from the UK and joined the escort for the landing forces (Escort Group D). She even spent some time in Algiers around 25th July at a time when both battleships were in that port. HMS Fishguard, cutter Take some time and study the ship movements. It fascinating filling in the gaps to understand these personal stories.
