An uncle of mine was a stoker Rating on H.M.S. Wryneck, a "w" class destroyer (built in about 1918 i think) which was sunk by dive bombers and M.E. 109,s just north of Crete April 1941. Now uncle either survived the occasion, or was no longer aboard her. Cant ask him as he passed on in the 80,s, long before we had access to all the info we now have, and great sites like this one, also when he was alive, like lots of W.W.2. survivors he never said much about the experience. Anyone know how i... H.M.S. Wryneck ..read more

Any one got stories or pictures of this ship? She was a BI Liner converted to Royal Navy Hospital Ship for WWII. My father sailed on her working in the operating theatre. Amongst other exploits, she was involved in the Sicilly and Italian Landings. She also spent time in the Indian Ocean. She was unusual in that most Hospital ships came under the Royal Army Medical Corp. The medical staff like my father and surgeons were all RN, the Captain & other officers were mostly MN. Best wishes Alan... "Vita" Royal Navy Hospital Ship ..read more

I'll be starting some new paintings in a couple of weeks depicting cargo ships at Aden in the 1960/70s. For authenticity, I want to include in the background some RN vessels which would have been at Aden during those years. Anyone know any frigates/destroyers/ aircraft carriers or whatever which were there? Did they lie at buoys/anchor/alongside? Douglas ..read more

I understand "line ahead" and "line astern" mean the same. However, I also understand they aren't used interchangably, and RN uses one, while USN uses the other. Except I can't recall who uses which... Does anybody know ..read more

Hello, I am a retired Master Mariner after over 51 years in British and Australian Merchant Navies. I was reading recently the book "An Agony of Collisions" by the late Peter Padfield where he describes the disaster when the RMT Queen Mary ran down and cut in half the Anti Aircraft Cruiser "HMS CURACOA" on 2nd October 1942 and was appalled to see that despite his obviously extensive research he has spelt the ship's name incorrectly as CURACAO. (Could this be a USA variation?)... Collision RMT Queen Mary-HMS CURACOA ..read more

Hi I am past MN seaman, and had a younger life in yorkshire [leeds area]. Now then do any of you within the catering corp remember the RN Catering training ship based in Wetherby in the 1950/s early 60,s. I am at a memory loss and cannot remember its name/title???? any takers ..read more

In the post-WW2 RN fleet, the new anti-submarine force was comprised of a blend of “first rate” Whitby-class, and “second rate” Blackwood-class frigates. The former was larger and carried more armament, and also featured twin-screw propulsion, against single-screw for the latter. The IN, alone among other Commonwealth navies, also had several of each. For all the usual reasons, both classes used common armament and machinery, so far as practicable. Where propulsion was concerned, the... Blackwood-class Frigate Propulsion Machinery ..read more

Is there any members out there who did training on the Marr Hull trawler Northern Horizon, was it navigation only? the R.N. charterd her for a few years in the 90s. I think she used to head to Gib and back to Portsmouth weekly, my Dad was chief on her at that time but he worked for Marr. Dad also said that they also took Royal Marines with them and they had to run up the rock of Gibralrer before breakfast! ........before being called Horizon she was called Marbella and owned by Marr ..read more

Was trawling the net for photies of RMAS vessels and came across this one. Does anyone know of this ship? In my time with RMAS/Serco Denholm (1991-2000) I hadn't heard of it. There is a photo here. http://www.river-clyde.org.uk/rmas_vessels.html ..read more

Fast Patrol Boat HMS SABRE (P275) seen at Portland ..read more