Hi all With the outbreak of war with Japan on the 7th December, HMS Revenge was recalled from escorting convoy BA-10, a Bombay to Aden convoy, and sailed for Trincomalee, arriving there on the 12th December. I believe she may have been accompanied by an Indian sloop, but don't know of its name, can anyone help please?
Checked the Admiralty War Diaries, it show Revenge order to Columbo on the 7th Dec (2 mentions in the 7th Dec records)…….it does NOT mention another vessel. Then it show Revenge at Columbo, departing on the 12th Dec (records on previous to this do not mention when Revenge arrived in Columbo). In the 12th Dec record it does mention two other ships (Seamew and Scarab) departing on the same day, but does not confirm if they were with Revenge, or sailing elsewhere. In fact their sailing time is different than Revenge> Finally arriving at Trincomalee on the 13th December. This dairy does not mention other ships with Revenge at this time Source: Fold3.com
Not much is known about convoy BA-10. Even over on Convoyweb Revenge is the only ship listed. She is described as an escort between 5th & 7th Dec. Looking at the BA series it seems they are troop convoys running between Bombay & Aden usually made up of only two or three ships. The escort was generally only a single cruiser. If you think about this makes sense. What is the threat at this time? Surface raiders. Italian submarines in east Africa had been eliminated. The last 4 had sailed for Bordeaux in May 1941. German U boats didn’t begin to operate in the Indian Ocean until 1942 and then only in the southern part. So an escort of a single unescorted cruiser, AMC, or old battleship was more than adequate. And IJN subs had no base in the IO.
Thank you guys, that's really kind of you Temujin to provide such detail, are you able to access those files on line? And I'm comfortable with what you say Ewen Scott, that all makes sense. The fact is I had a note that said Revenge was escorted into Trincomalee, but like a fool, didn't bother to make a note of my source. Other searching on the web revealed 4 Dec 1941 Convoy BA 10. This convoy departed Bombay on 4 December 1941 for Aden. It was made up of only one ship, the transport Nevasa (British, 9213 GRT, built 1913) carrying Indian troops and some RIN personnel. The 'convoy' was escorted by the battleship HMS Revenge (Capt. L.V. Morgan, CBE, MVO, DSC, RN) until the early afternoon of December 7th, when HMS Revenge was ordered to proceed to Colombo with all possible despatch. The 'convoy' arrived at Aden on 10 December. (44) 11 Dec 1941 HMS Revenge (Capt. L.V. Morgan, CBE, MVO, DSC, RN) arrived at Colombo from escort duty. (45) 12 Dec 1941 HMS Revenge (Capt. L.V. Morgan, CBE, MVO, DSC, RN) conducted D/G trials at Colombo. She then left for gunnery exercises. On completion of these she set course to Trincomalee. (45) 13 Dec 1941 HMS Revenge (Capt. L.V. Morgan, CBE, MVO, DSC, RN) arrived at Trincomalee from Colombo. (45) HMS Revenge (06) of the Royal Navy - British Battleship of the Royal Sovereign class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net And nicely sourced, again a hint to myself!
Yes, the files are all in Fold3.com, a subscription based service which is owned by Ancestry……so if you have a subscription to Ancestry, you can also get a “cheaper” subscription to Fold3 (and to Newspapers.com) Trouble with Fold3 is they do have a ‘search engine”, but it’s not great…..I find when searching for specific ships or names or other info I usually have to do a general search (which sometimes turns up nothing), and then have to manually go thru the files that I suspect the information is in…..tedious, but if you have a date (such as looking in the Admiralty War Diaries) you usually can get their.
Nevasa ship movement card confirms dates of sailing for the info you listed in your post Source: British National Archives https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk Source: British Armed Forces & National Service
