Hi All, My grandfather served in Boom Defence. Joined up 30 November 1940, port division Rosyth (Rooke) Official number R/JX 230549. Served HMS Pembroke 30/11/40-9/12/05 as OD. HMS Wildfire (B.D.) 10/12/40-7/3/41 HMS Rooke 8/3/41-2/9/41 HMS Lanka (Port T) 3/9/41-30/11/41 HMS Lanka (Port T) 1/12/41-25/1/42 as AB HMS Haitan (Barmill) 26/1/42-31/3/42 HMS Lanka (Barmill) 1/4/42-30/9/42 HMS Lanka 1/10/42-14/1/43 HMS Lanka (Barmill)15/1/43-30/6/43 HMS Highflyer (Barmill)1/7/43-21/4/44 HMS Lanka 22/4/44-22/4/44 HMS Kirriemoor 23/4/44 HMS Rooke 20/9/44-17/11/44 HMS Wildfire (Thames B.D.) 18/11/44-24/1/46. Granted 1st Good Conduct Badge 30/11/43. HMS Lanka is in Ceylon and HMS Port T and HMS Haitan were the Top secret base on Addu Atoll. The far east fleet went there when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. HMS Highflyer is also in Ceylon. HMS Barmill is a Bar class boom defence vessel. Hms Kirriemoor was a boom carrier. Thames B.D. ????? cannot find any refrence to this base. HMS Rooke central boom defence base. HMS Wildfire a training base in Sheerness. HMS Pembroke RN Barracks at Chatham. Any help from about these bases or ships will be much appreciated. Any help with the role of boom defence would also be appreciated. Kind Regards James
James, welcome to the group, and thank you for your grandfather's service to Crown and Country. Do share some stories with us...it's not a well-known subject. We will try to help you with your quest.
Welcome James, An interesting area which I'm sure will receive some reaction from the members. Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is James, I am interested in World war 1 and 2. I got into ww2 2 years after my grandfather died so I knew nothing about his war service only that he was in the navy. I started to research his service 3 years ago, and found out his medal entitlement, unfortuantly his medals were lost 40 years ago. I have since got them replaced and they are now displayed, with a 2 pictures of him in uniform, I manged to find his old service certificate and from that i have managed to trace a lot of his service.
Hi All, My grandfather served in Boom Defence. Joined up 30 November 1940, port division Rosyth (Rooke) Official number R/JX 230549. Served HMS Pembroke 30/11/40-9/12/05 as OD. HMS Wildfire (B.D.) 10/12/40-7/3/41 HMS Rooke 8/3/41-2/9/41 HMS Lanka (Port T) 3/9/41-30/11/41 HMS Lanka (Port T) 1/12/41-25/1/42 as AB HMS Haitan (Barmill) 26/1/42-31/3/42 HMS Lanka (Barmill) 1/4/42-30/9/42 HMS Lanka 1/10/42-14/1/43 HMS Lanka (Barmill)15/1/43-30/6/43 HMS Highflyer (Barmill)1/7/43-21/4/44 HMS Lanka 22/4/44-22/4/44 HMS Kirriemoor 23/4/44 HMS Rooke 20/9/44-17/11/44 HMS Wildfire (Thames B.D.) 18/11/44-24/1/46. Granted 1st Good Conduct Badge 30/11/43. HMS Lanka is in Ceylon and HMS Port T and HMS Haitan were the Top secret base on Addu Atoll. The far east fleet went there when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. HMS Highflyer is also in Ceylon. HMS Barmill is a Bar class boom defence vessel. Hms Kirriemoor was a boom carrier. Thames B.D. ????? cannot find any refrence to this base. HMS Rooke central boom defence base. HMS Wildfire a training base in Sheerness. HMS Pembroke RN Barracks at Chatham. Any help from about these bases or ships will be much appreciated. Any help with the role of boom defence would also be appreciated. Kind Regards James Hi, My name is Joy Gore, the Ships, Rooke, Wildfire,Pembroke my father was also on them. Be great to hear from you. Regards Joy
Hi James and welcome to the forums. Particularly interested in anything you now about the Rosyth Command boom ships, that ain't far from me. At a rough guess, Thames BD (Boom Defence?) would be Chatham?
Hello James. I'm interested in the role of BDVs. If you've picked anything up during your research and would like to share it, please do Hello Joy. My grandfather was on the BDV HMS Burgonet. Be great if that was another that your father served on???
See Paul Lund and Harry Ludlam's Trawlers Go To War about the RN Patrol Service; it has quite a bit on the Patrol Service' role in boom defence and other coastal and inshore duties.
I have many pictures of Bar-Class Boom Defence Vessels both from the Royal Navy as well as the Royal Australian Navy. Here is a small selection taken at random, in order to show members what these unique little vessels actually looked like...
James / Joy / RJL, a story in the link that may be of interest. BBC - WW2 People's War - "MY WAR WITH THE 'BOOM DEFENCE AND BAR ' SHIPS" Also, a link to the list of all NR Boom defence vessels, Boom Defence Vessels - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net
Hi Phil. Thanks for the info. I've just picked up another bit of knowledge from your links. The BDVs worked in threes. My next quest? To find out which other 2 worked alongside the Burgonet. Possibly HMS Barflake for time until she was mined and sunk off Naples? http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/7667.html
If you would like to see the interior and close up exterior photos of ex HMS Barcross try this link http://www.sa-transport.co.za/military/navy/sas_somerset Sorry it wont work Error 403 The site exists I found it on a google search HMS Barcross
Arkite, thanks for the link. You can still get access to the photos. Try going via this route. Welcome to Transport in South Africa then click on the Military or Ships Pic tabs. Cally, brilliant pics as usual. Love those 3 moored up in Singopore.