The German Minelaying Effort. Minelaying by the enemy during the dark hours probably took place during the night 28th/29th May, and was maintained with great intensity during the following two nights. Not only was Dunkirk road mined, including the Zuydcoote Pass, but also Route X and the area around the Kwint bouy. Folkstone and Dover Harbour entrances were also mined. In spite of the large number of mines laid, , only one British ship other than the Mona's Queen was known for certain to have been sunk by magnetic mines - The Fleet Air Arm yacht Grive which was sunk on 1st June. On that date, also, the hospital carrier St. David was damaged at anchor off Dover when a mine was exploded by a LL trawler sweeping close at hand. The A/S trawlers Thuringia, Westella and Blackburn Rovers were believed at the time to have been sunk by moored mines laid by a U-Boat, although at first it was thought that the last two at any rate had been torpedoed. If the enemy had been able to lay moored contact mines by aircraft, instead of magnetic mines, the results would have been very different. The Evacuation From Dunkirk.
My father Capt. T.S.Sankaranarayanan Served in the Medical Core of HS.Talamba.On his disembcation at Madras, the ship sailed back and was bombed by German planes near Italy.This photograph taken inside the ship shows the team of Medical Core and My father is sitting on the floor 3rd from the right wearing conical cap and specs.Note white arrow indication with red circle. TS Venkataraman (Son) VRamesh kumar (Grand Son) VSathish Kumar (Grand Son)
Can anyone help? Found this after my Grandfathers passing. He never mentioned this at all during his life. Am I right to assume this is Hospital ship Amsterdam? Any info or any ideas as to where to start researching this would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks (Letter dated Aug 1944)
Several of the ww2 ships listed above as hospital ships, including St David, were HMHC, hospital carriers. I can provide more information if required. Roy
Certainly looks like the Hospital Carrier Amsterdam, which was involved in the D-Day landings as an Infantry Landing Ship LSI(H). She sailed from Weymouth Bay on 5 June with 420 troops for OMAHA. After this she was sent for conversion and became Hospital Carrier No 62. On Aug 7 on her way back from JUNO beach, with 258 patients, she hit two mines at 0704. The ship went down within eleven minutes, 323 of the 419 people on board were saved. From John de S Winser's books, I haven't seen the original loss report so I can't give an explanation for the confusion. I
Have been looking for a hospital ship named Arnold It is the Amsterdam BBC - WW2 People's War - The sinking of the S.S.Amsterdam [Hospital ship]1944. Hospital Ship Amsterdam: 7 August 1944; sunk by enemy attack, en route from France to... | The National Archives Reference: ADM 358/3010 Description: Hospital Ship Amsterdam: 7 August 1944; sunk by enemy attack, en route from France to England Date: 1944 Jan 01 - 1945 Dec 31 Held by: The National Archives, Kew Nurse received MBE for wartime role on sinking hospital ship http://www.southseasubaqua.org.uk/images/trip_reports/2010_normandy/Normandy 2010 - Cider and Shipwrecks.pdf There seems to be some confusion within the reports - she was mined - she was torpedoed - she was leaving Juno Beach, she was leaving Calis [presume you mean Calais]. I would guess a copy of the TNA report above would clear up some of the ambiguity TD
Yeah I thought that too. I think this statement was given while he was still at Southampton Docks recovering. I can only assume he suffered as he could NOT swim - at all, I only ever knew him to up to his waist in the sea. this may explain the inaccuracies
Thank you Roy, I've applied for Next of kin application form to request for any information from the Army Personnel.
Thank you, these were the pieces of information I got from the internet too, from this I just naturally assumed it was Hospital ship Amsterdam! Would like to be 100% sure thought,or have it in writing somehow, so my investigation will continue.
Pick up a copy of - Hospital Ship Amsterdam: 7 August 1944; sunk by enemy attack, en route from France to... | The National Archives plus no one has found anything re a hospial ship named Arnold TD
I rather think that is the fee for the estimate of how much it will cost to copy the file, not the file itself. If so it will be much cheaper for you to get one of the forum members who do copying for much less than the NA to do it for you. Tim