I,m new to the forum and asking for help as I’m researching an old school friends father , who he new very little about. What he has got is his fathers WW2 haversack which has written inside A Macadie. RNR HMS Poona , Shetland. I’ve tried researching HMS Poona and it appears it should read HMIS Poona and it appears to be a corvette. I’ve tried the National Archives etc and have found very little on Poona , does anyone know anything about its wartime service, particularly in respect of the Shetland Isles…..thanks Colin
HMIS Poona was a Bassett class trawler used for minesweeping. As you will see from this link she was built in Calcutta for the RIN in 1941/42. When sold in 1946 she still had an Indian sounding name. HMIS Poona (T 260) of the Royal Indian Navy - Indian MS Trawler of the Basset class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net Problem is I can’t see any way that such a ship built for the RIN in India would have any reason to sail to the Shetland Islands in Britain. Plenty of trawlers were being built in Britain in WW2 for RN use. The only other thing I can think of is that HMS Poona in Shetland was some kind of shore base, but it is one I’ve never heard of.
Thanks very much for your input……it’s really appreciated, I’ve contacted the archivist at Shetland who can shed no light on it at all….I research as a hobby not for monetary gains but on this one I’m pretty stumped !! Thanks again
