RA War Diary language

Discussion in 'Royal Artillery' started by chingoo, Sep 15, 2013.

  1. chingoo

    chingoo Active Member

    Hello,

    I'm going through a War Diary at the moment and was wandering what "MTS" stands for. I'll give a sentence to put it in context -

    "RHQ R embark on MTS/30. 357 Bty A Gp embark on MTS/T.16"

    Thanks,

    Ian
     
  2. RemeDesertRat

    RemeDesertRat Very Senior Member

    Motor transport ship. What diary is it from?
     
  3. Trux

    Trux 21 AG

    MTS 16 was SS William Phips. MTS 30 was SS Robert Henri. Both Liberty ships.

    Presumably a D Day diary.

    Mike
     
  4. chingoo

    chingoo Active Member

    Thanks,

    yes it's the diary for 109 (Royal Sussex) LAA Regt. Doing research into my grandfather's history.

    Are there any records of where they sailed from/to? Having difficulty tracking down the exact day of landing and location in Normandy.

    Ian
     
  5. Trux

    Trux 21 AG

    Ian,

    I think this is the convoy.

    Tilbury MT Preloaders.
    This list dated 10th May 1944.
    25 MT Ships to sail with Convoy ETM2. (Second (2) Motor Transport (M) Convoy leaving England (E) from the Thames (T).

    First Flight.
    These nine ships will complete loading of vehicles and then proceed to anchorages in the river. Drivers of vehicles will deliver vehicles to the loading berth and then return to the marshalling area. A small maintenance party will remain on board. Personnel will be embarked by tender in the river later.
    John E Ward. MT31 Main Dock Berth 31 Liberty
    Fort Dearborn MT36 Main Dock Berth 31A Fort
    Fort Kaskaskia MT37 Main Dock Berth 32 Fort
    Henry Austin MT20 Main Dock Berth 33 Liberty
    William A Jones MT21 Main Dock Berth 34 Liberty
    Fort Crevecoeur MT35 East Branch Berth 20 Fort
    William Phips MT16 East Branch Berth 22 Liberty
    Fort Biloxi MT33 Centre Branch Berth 13 Fort
    Lee S Overman MT15 West Branch Berth 5 Liberty Mined and lost off Le Havre

    You should be able to find more on the convoyweb site. Put ETM2 into the search box.

    Mike

    PS.I looked on the convoyweb site. It simply says Convoy ETM2 sailed from Southend 7 June and arrived Seine Bay 8 June. The arrivals I have only go up to 7 June so I cannot tell more at the moment.

    Mike
     
    Owen likes this.
  6. jimintoronto

    jimintoronto Junior Member

    Just a point .

    During WW2 any transport ship with either "Park " or "Fort " in it's name was built in Canada, as a part of our war effort.

    Jim B.

    Toronto.
     
    Owen likes this.
  7. chingoo

    chingoo Active Member

    That's brilliant, thanks Mike.
     

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