Hi, I'm trying to find the location of or the way to research the location of the Auxilliary Anti-Aircraft Vessel HMS Golden Eagle in April 1940. Is there somewhere that would hold the ships location, like an equivalent war diary perhaps? Hoping the many knowledgeable people on this forum can help! Mark
Does May or June 1940 help? Special Service vessels – paddle steamers GOLDEN EAGLE (Ty Lt J R Dent Pbty RNR), ROYAL EAGLE (Ty Cdr E F A Farrow RNR), both at Sheerness Nore Command, June 1940 Auxiliary minesweeper WAVERLEY (537grt, Lt S.F. Harmer-Elliot RNVR) of the 12th Minesweeping Flotilla was sunk at 1800 by German bombing at Dunkirk. Some three hundred and sixty crew and passengers were lost in the minesweeper. French destroyer CYCLONE, auxiliary anti-air craft ship GOLDEN EAGLE, a tug, two drifters picked up the survivors. Dunkirk evacuation May 1940
Hi Mark My father was on HMS Golden Eagle as his first ship after joining up in Sept 1939. After his initial training he was posted to the ship, so would have been on it in April 1940. As far as I am aware it was at station in the River Thames estuary off Skegness. My father wrote some memoirs, but dates are a bit sketchy. He mentions Barrow Deep and Edinburgh Channel as two locations, as these were places he said the Germans were dropping parachute mines. He also mentions that the Nore Lightship was hit and they had to act as a temporary light for one night and ordered not to engage unless attacked. Hope this gives you a little more detail about the time and places. Regards Tony
Er, Anthony, I think you mean SHEERNESS, Not SKEGNESS, as the Golden Eagle, Waverley and Crested Eagle were Thames pleasure cruise paddle steamers, as was the Royal Daffodil, which I can remember post War still cruising from London, Southend, Margate and Ramsgate. So I'd have expected her to have be requisitioned either at Tower Bridge, Southend or Margate. Probably Sheerness has better shelter and close to Chatham for any naval armament and equipment to be fitted. EDIT to add: For commercial shipping approaching the Nore and thus London, main deep-water routes were the Princes Channel, the Queens Channel and the South Channel to the south, to a lesser extent the Kings Channel and the Swin to the north. The Swin was used by barges and leisure craft from the Essex rivers, and coasters and colliers from the north east. These channels were made up of natural troughs; Yantlet Channel (Sea Reach), Oaze Deep, Knock John Channel, Black Deep Channel which have been extensively marked. These are separated by slow moving sandbanks with names such as the East and West Barrows, the Nob, the Knock, the John, the Sunk, the Girdler, and the Long Sands. The shallow bottomed barges and coasters would navigate the swatchways at flood tide, an would cross the sand banks at spitways, points where the water was least shallow, and just deep enough at that point of the tide. If they missed the moment they would heave to and wait for the next tide. Recreational craft are expected use channels most suited to the size of their vessel. When navigating to or from the north they should use the Middle Deep, Swin and Warp. Barrow Deep and Warp. When navigating to or from the south, they should use the Horse and Gore and Four Fathom Channels. To cross the estuary large vessels used Fisherman's Gat, and small vessels to were expected to use Foulger's Gat
The Admiralty jargon for what Mark was seeking is “report of proceedings” or just simply “proceedings”. Mark hasn’t been on the site for a couple of years but for those interested in HMS Golden Eagle the following files held at TNA may be worth a look: the first is a record card which has an obscured preview available and can be downloaded for £3.50. BT 389/14/70 Ship Name: Golden Eagle Gross Tonnage: 793 BT 110/1396/4 Ship: Golden Eagle, Official Number: 129003. When built: 1909. Registry closed: 1952. AVIA 7/3268 GL installation in HMS Royal Eagle, HMS Crested Eagle and HMS Golden Eagle If you search for ‘Nore’ you will find a number of records including war diaries that may be of interest as well. She also received a mention in the War Cabinet’s Weekly Resume (No.55), CAB 66/12/11: "On the 15th [September 1940] two of H.M. Trawlers in the Thames Estuary hit an enemy aircraft, probably a mine-layer, which exploded in mid-air, and on the same day S.S. Port Auckland shot down an enemy bomber in Barking Reach. Later in the week another enemy aircraft which was about to lay mines in the Thames Estuary was hit and blown up by H.M. Minesweeper Golden Eagle." IWM also have a model: HMS Golden Eagle
Mine laying in the Thames Estuary appears to have been a fairly hazardous occupation. Presumably because the air craft had to fly low and relatively slowly in a predictable direction. Laying in more open waters must have been easier