I have an entry from a 1943 Navy List, under Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve - Temporary Lieutenants (A), that reads: (P) Hill Dugan Simpson 25 July I am guessing that the he was an acting Lieutenant (hence the (A)) but could someone help me with the '(P)', please? In a later Navy List (1944) there is 'Merlin' against his name; would that be HMS Merlin, ie RNAS Donibristle? Is there any other source, please, that would give me Hill Dugan SIMPSON's Service Record? Thanks, Graham
Temporary denotes that he was yet to be confirmed in the rank. (P) denotes that the officer was qualified for Pilot duties in the Fleet Air Arm. MoD will give you his Service Record in exchange for a admin fee provided certain limitations on date of death are met. Yes RNAS Donibristle was designated HMS Merlin Ross
I after the meaning of Lieutenant (S) please. Robert William Robb – age 31 – Lieutenant (S) HMS Spartiate, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. I an aware that HMS Spartiate was a World War II Royal Navy shore establishment based in the St Enoch Hotel, Glasgow. Robert was a Paymaster Lieutenant and was on board the aircraft carrier “Ark Royal” when she was torpedoed in the Mediterranean. Robert and other crew members were passengers on the destroyer HMS Stanley (formerly the USS McCalla) when she was escorting a convoy from Gibraltar to Britain. She was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-574 on 19 December 1941. Cheers Ken
I am looking into a WW2 RNVR officer and on The Navy List his name is recorded at various times with one or both the following two symbols (* and/or WK). Can anyone enlighten me what these stand for please?
The * is within a circle if that helps jog anyone's memory. Can't find a symbol or acronym key for The Navy List online so any help greatly appreciated ... All the best, Skip
From the database on Ancestry for July 1944 the abbreviations section shows : No WK I'm afraid, but that could change depending on the year I guess - so do you have a year?? - it would aslo show that thw W of the WK stands for Warrant TD
Many thanks TD - I should have mentioned he was ranked from Midshipman to Sub-Lt, then Lieutenant and that the two symbols appear in his latter Navy List entries in 1944/45. Several other offices on the same page have the same symbols in front of their names
WK indicates holder of Bridge Watchkeeping Certificate. * within circle indicates qualified officer of modified status (not sure what this means, probably something like routine watchkeeping but not when in action). Tim
Sorry got that slightly wrong. In this case * within circle means 'qualified officer'. Not 'qualified officer of modified status' as I first said. Tim