HMS Pollux June 1942

Discussion in 'The War at Sea' started by TrevorHH, Mar 9, 2020.

  1. TrevorHH

    TrevorHH Junior Member

    Hi All

    I wonder if someone can give me some information about HMS Pollux please. I am researching a naval officer Lt R Haynes who early in his career in WW2 was posted to this 'ship', from HMS Mercury (ie the Royal Navy Signals School & Combined Signals School.) for a month in June 1942. So far been unable to find anything about it. Can anyone point me in the right direction please. Many thanks.

    Trevor
     
  2. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    Apparently at or on the Isle of Man - a radar school see Mortimer, John (Oral history)
     
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  3. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    At the Isle of Man - she was a former French minelayer - from Dec 1943 to June 1944 her CO was Lt Cdr Cecil Goring Thomas RNVR.
     
  4. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

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  5. TrevorHH

    TrevorHH Junior Member

    Thank you for this info and links most helpful.
    Trevor
     
  6. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Seems this ship moved around a bit - according to someone who was aboard her she was

    In September 1943 I left Alexandria for home, and served from January 1944 until the end of the war on HMS Pollux, a French mine-layer, around the British coast. I well remember putting in to Portsmouth on VE Day, and the skipper opening the rum locker!

    BBC - WW2 People's War - Ship Hit Mine and then it Sank in just 11 Minutes

    TD

    British Naval Minelaying in World War 2, including submarines and coastal craft
    Foreign Minelayers

    POLLUX
    Coastal Mlyr
    2,461
    14
    236
    French. Only in 1939.

    Might be the same ship
    Dunkirk evacuation May 1940
    French minelayer POLLUX departed Dundee for Rosyth
    French submarine ACHILLE and minelayer POLLUX departed Rosyth for Cherbourg.

    Operation Aeriel, June 1940
    D.9. reported :- (1828)
    Convoy: ROYAL ULSTERMAN, CITY OF LANCASTER, BELTOY, MAURICE ROSE, GLANLEA (GLENLEA?), HARPATHIAN, GLENDENNING, POLLUX, LECHISTAN containing troops sailed 1100
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2020
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  7. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    What ho!
    HMS Pollux shows up in my new purchase The Applications of Radar And Other Electronic Systems in the Royal Navy in World War Two:

    Further down the same page:
    All on page 225.
     
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  8. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    In 1942 HMS Pollux was a RDF (Radio Direction Finding) training ship. She was used to give practical seagoing training in RDF techniques. HMS Valkyrie, a shore establishment on the Isle of Man was the RN RDF/Radar training establishment. HMS Pollux may therefore have operated out of Douglas although I have seen references to men ex-Valkyrie joining the Pollock at Gourock.

    Tim
     
  9. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    Shaun Chapman describes having completed his radar training in the Isle of Man and certified as a radar technician being sent to Scotland to join HMS Pollock "a coal burning destroyer" for further seaborne radar training before joining a Flower Class corvette. This appears to be in 1941 so possibly Pollux had not been assigned to the work at that time.

    Shaun Chapman, Hopes of Victory
     
  10. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    Apologies and before confusion sets in. In #8 I meant to say "men ex-Valkyrie joining the Pollux at Gourock". I can't find a coal burning destroyer called HMS Pollock and I'm thinking that Shaun Chapman has also mixed Pollux and Pollock. HMS Pollock was an ASW Trawler but she wasn't launched until 1943.

    Tim
     
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  11. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

  12. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    Given that Shaun Thomas appears to have joined Pollock in 1941 it might suggest two ships with that name - and the ASW trawler was launched after the older vessel was decommissioned. He certainly seems ok at identifying and naming all the other ships he was involved with. However to confuse matters further Slideshare, a Canadian Social media site, has a post from a Canadian veteran who describes being posted to HMS Pollock a Russian Icebreaker for radar training at the Isle of Man. (my highlighting). Unfortunately he gives no dates. How easy would it be to confuse a coastal mine layer with a destroyer or an icebreaker?
     
  13. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

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  14. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

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