Archive - Personal Records & Papers

Royal Navy Service Record of Robert (Bob) John Sharplin

Royal Navy Official Number: KX80024
Port Division: Chatham
Service Period: 8th July 1929 – 12th February 1953

Research by his son - Clive Sharplin.

Bob in his “Whites”
Photo: Sharplin family archive

Click on this link to view quality scanned images of original Admiralty documents detailing Bob’s career from his entering the Royal Navy on 8 July 1929 until his retirement and release on 12 February 1953.

View the gallery of images here.

Click on any image and then scroll through the gallery. Every image is accompanied by a descriptive caption beneath it.

Biography

Bob Sharplin

On 4th June 1929, a slim dark haired young man with a fresh complexion and green eyes stood in the Royal Navy recruiting post in the Medway Towns situated in the county of Kent. He was about 5’ 5” tall, a butcher’s boy who had probably propped his bicycle against the wall outside. He had just volunteered and committed himself to serve his King by signing on to join the Royal Navy for the next twelve years. Little did he know that world events would lengthen that to 23½ years and a major part of his life. It was his eighteenth birthday! Did he know of the strange coincidence in that his paternal Grandfather, John George Sharplin, had signed up two generations earlier on his eighteenth birthday to join the Royal Navy?

Bob - The New Recruit
July 1929, believed to be at his Gillingham home.
Photo: Sharplin family archive

Some four weeks later Bob entered the ornate main gate of HMS Pembroke, the Royal Navy Barracks in Chatham, to commence his training where he was rated as a Stoker 2nd Class. That young man, Robert John Sharplin known to everyone as Bob, was to become father to Clive, this author, and his sister Wendy.

Bob was born 4th June 1911 in Gillingham, Kent, into a family with strong ties with the Royal Navy. His elder brother Percy volunteered to spend an identical period of service in the Royal Navy. Their father, Percy Edwin had volunteered (Note 1) for the Royal Navy serving for over five years during World War I, while their half brother Phillip was to become an Admiralty Diver based in Chatham Naval Dockyard. Bob’s grandfather, John George Sharplin born 12th May 1843, volunteered and joined the Royal Navy in 1861 and was a crew member aboard HMS Challenger on her almost four year circumnavigation of the world exploring the floors of the oceans. This voyage of exploration (Note 2) is now regarded as the Apollo Mission of its day equal in scientific importance to that of Charles Darwin’s voyage in HMS Beagle which provided critical evidence for Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection. John was pensioned out of the service in May 1881. There is a record indicating that John’s paternal grandfather served in the Royal Navy under Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805 but this has yet to be proven.

It seems the Sharplin family home was not a particularly happy one. Bob’s mother Eliza (nee West), whose father was a labourer in the Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham, died of pernicious anaemia when Bob was eight. His father later married his second wife Rose (Note 3) who bore her husband a son, Philip. Bob gave the impression that he and his brother Percy never quite took to their step-mother while the extended family regarded her as being of an acrimonious disposition. Percy senior their father was a very strict disciplinarian whom Bob seldom spoke of apart from saying that he would thoroughly thrash his sons when he was the worse for drink which appears to have been a little too often. The emotional scar left on Bob was such that he never drank alcohol throughout his whole life, a difficult principle to abide by at times in the Navy.

Bob met his wife to be, Dorcas Hall, in Weymouth when his ship was anchored there for some now unknown naval event. Dorcas and her sister Rose were strolling around the sea front admiring the naval ships anchored in the bay. Bob’s son Clive remembers his mother describing it as “the fleet was in”. Dorcas, tall with long dark hair, very attractive in family photos of the time, nicknamed Darkie by her father, was there enjoying herself with her sister Rose. She was “in service” as it was called then as a house-maid to a Naval Commander and his family who lived somewhere nearby. The sisters came from a Dorset family named Hall. She had three brothers who were like peas-in-a-pod. All worked on the land, were all over 6ft tall, thin and wiry almost gangling in posture with long arms and very large hands but all softly spoken, gentle in nature and devoted family men. All three were to have large families themselves and thus the extended Hall family was then and still is  quite numerous around the Dorset / Wiltshire border region. The girls' maternal grandfather, Fred Dyer, was a railway engine driver obviously good at his job as he would drive the royal train on occasions in the West Country. Rose married one Oliver Nelson, also a regular Royal Navy man, a wireless operator who was destined to survive being sunk twice on the same voyage on one of the dreaded World War 2 convoys to Russia, firstly whilst being in an escort ship and secondly in the ship which had rescued him. He retired in the rank of Chief Petty Officer.



Bob & Dorcas’s Wedding 30 December 1933
Uniform of Mechanician 2^ndClass with 4 years Good Conduct chevron
Photo: Sharplin family archive

Dorcas and Bob married in Mere Parish Church in Wiltshire on 30 Dec 1933 then set up home in Gillingham in Kent where Bob was within cycling distance of the Royal Navy barracks, HMS Pembroke, situated next to the Chatham naval dockyard there. Their son Clive was born in the summer of 1936 followed by their daughter Wendy in the spring of 1943. A third child was lost by a miscarriage; Clive thinks that happened when he was aged about 10.

Dorcas hop picking in Kent
Thought to be 1933
Photo: Sharplin family archive

Both his children remember Bob as being away from home more often than he was there; Clive vividly remembers some aspects of life in England during World War 2 and some of his father’s absences as “very long”. Bob would rarely talk to anyone about his experiences at war, not even with his wife but Clive did learn much later that his father did unburden himself to an Aunt of his known to everyone as just “Aunt Doll (Lowdell)”. 

Describing himself as a “matelote” (from Old French meaning a sailor or from Old Norse a messmate) Bob became what in the Navy was called a “big ship man” serving virtually nearly all  of his sea time in cruisers and battleships. His earliest seagoing commission was in the world’s first ship to be purpose designed and built by any Navy as an aircraft carrier, HMS Hermes, in which he spent three years away from home in the Far East Fleet based on Hong Kong. During World War 2 he served in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and European theatres, being present at several of the key Royal Naval battles of that War such as the Malta Convoys, Matapan, Greece, Crete and D-Day. The post-war years saw him return to the Far East and venturing further to South Africa and Australia.

Like so many of his compatriots at the end of World War 2 he was offered a transfer into the Royal Australian Navy with a move to Sydney but eventually decided against it, a decision which Clive felt that Bob regretted later in life.



Bob in tropical kit. The back of this photo is marked "Bob. 1st commission overseas, HMS Hermes".
Hermes was based with the Far East Fleet based on Hong Kong.

Photo: Sharplin family archive



Bob as Petty Officer, rated Mechanician 1^st Class  with at least 8 years service denoted by two
Good Conduct chevrons.He would have worn this uniform upon joining HMS Ajax on 19 March 1940.
Taken at his Gillingham home.

Photo: Sharplin family archive

Bob was pensioned out of the Navy in February 1953 age 42 and soon after he and Dorcas together with Wendy moved to a house he bought on the Kentish coast at Deal. Employment over the next 19 years found him in the Boiler House of the Royal Marine School of Music and it’s associated training barracks in nearby Walmer. Clive stayed behind in the Medway towns to enter the Royal Naval Dockyard on a 5-year Admiralty apprenticeship while Wendy left the Deal home within a couple of years to serve in the Royal Air Force.

Bob the family manat his Deal (Kent) home with his wife Dorcas, daughter Wendy and son Clive
Standing behind are Bob's Aunt Doll and Uncle Arch (Lowdell)
Date thought to be Christmas 1953
Photo: Sharplin family archive



Bob the father
with his daughter Wendy
At Gillingham, probably July 1943
Photo: Sharplin family archive

Bob near retirement at his Deal home with “Spot”

Photo: Sharplin family archive

What social life Bob and Dorcas had in Deal was centred on their membership of the local Toc H Club, an international charity movement which had grown out of the First World War. Bob however was not a very sociable person, he found making friends difficult and tended to exhibit a degree of melancholy which many interpreted as being miserable although the occasional sudden fits of temper that his children had first noticed in their childhood whenever he was home became much more subdued. It was only very much later in Clive's life when he started the research for this website that he came to really understand his father much more than he ever had done when Bob was alive. He concluded that it was almost certainly the affect of Bob’s experiences during World War 2 that troubled him, some of which were absolutely horrendous. Now recognised in the armed forces as post traumatic stress disorder, it wasn’t recognised or even viewed as such back then so for all those years Bob had almost certainly suffered from that condition together with depression without diagnosis or medical support as was the lot of so many contemporary members of the armed forces.

Clive had emigrated to Perth in Western Australia in late 1971 with his family and Bob, then fully retired, with Dorcas decided to follow them. Their stay was short however as in 1976 they moved back to live in the Wiltshire town of Westbury close to Wendy and her family and settled down to a quiet retired life enjoying their grandchildren.

Late in 1978 Bob was diagnosed with cancer and died on June 3rd the following year, just one day before his 68th birthday and one day before the 50th anniversary of his visit to the Royal Navy recruiting office. Dorcas died in October 1992 from complications arising from pneumonia. Their ashes lie in Haycombe Cemetery on the outskirts of the west of England city of Bath in a peaceful memorial garden which always appears to be full of flowers.

Bob at home in his garden in Westbury, Wiltshire, late spring 1979. The Shields had been presented to him some years before. The Ajax Shield (incorrectly made with the Frigate's badge) displays the nine battle honours won by the Cruiser
Ajax. The right hand Shield displays the Admiralty Badge encased by small plaques bearing the names and dates of the
15 major ships he served in with their names and dates of his service in them. This photo is believed to be the last taken
of him shortly before his death.
Photo: Sharplin family archive

NOTES:
1. Bob’s father Percy was a Crane Attendant in the Chatham Naval Dockyard. He volunteered for the Royal Navy under what became known as “The Derby Scheme” in which he promised to accept being called up when required. The Dockyard authorities actually refused his release when he was called up in May 1916 but he was so determined to join up that he discharged himself from their employment abandoning all his pension entitlements etc. After discharge from his Naval service on 24 February 1919 he returned to employment in the Dockyard where he remained until his retirement. The Sharplin family archive holds a copy of a letter written by the commanding officer of Percy’s last ship, the then relatively new “R” Class destroyer HMS “Raider”, to the Admiral Superintendent of the Dockyard requesting that in view of Percy’s volunteering for war service that his full pension rights be restored. Unfortunately no record of the decision has yet been found.




2. This HMS Challenger was the fifth of the eight Royal Navy vessels to have borne that name and was specially fitted out for this unique voyage.  A wooden hulled warship originally rated as a 22-gun Corvette, this Challenger was of the age betwixt sail and steam having three fully rigged masts with an auxiliary steam engine driving a single propeller. Built at Woolwich Dockyard, launched on February 13, 1858, of just 2,306 tons (1,462bm), she had a length of 200ft and a 40.5ft beam. In the conversion to a survey ship for this voyage 18 of her guns were removed.

A Dinoflagellate,
a type of deep
ocean plankton.

The voyage commenced by leaving Portsmouth on December 21, 1872. with 270 souls aboard comprising 24 officers, 240 ratings and 6 civilian scientists (ibid - Bibliography “The Silent Landscape” P12-13). Among those were some of the best physicists, chemists, biologists, naturalists, oceanographers and scientific artists of their day to collaborate with the Navy’s expert navigators, all being charged to explore and map the seafloor while recording the marine life present.

It was the first ever sea voyage organized specifically to gather data on a wide range of ocean features, including ocean temperatures, seawater chemistry, currents, marine life, and the geology of the seafloor. It changed the course of scientific history, gave birth to modern oceanography and is now regarded as perhaps the greatest oceanographic mission of all time equal in scientific importance to the eminent discovery voyage of Charles Darwin in HMS Beagle. Quite apart from other Challenger results over 4,000 previously unknown species were discovered and recorded.



HMS Challenger

Over the next 3 ½ years Challenger visited every continent including the Antarctic. Samples of marine life and the sea bed were gathered in specimen bags tied to a towed thick rope which was trawled across the seafloor. John Sharplin as a Ropemaker was a key crew member in maintaining and caring for the ship’s trawled ropes, which were the essential tools for the collection of the specimens and geological samples. Some accounts describe Challenger as having had on board over 180 miles of this rope.

One of HMS Challenger's laboratories

The extreme climatic conditions experienced by HMS Challenger’s crew ranged from sweltering
tropical heat to the freezing Antarctic plus with so many people confined in such a relatively small ship made even more difficult with spaces dedicated for laboratories and research facilities life aboard must have been extraordinarily daunting.  This working environment combined with the sheer drudgery of constantly lowering and hauling ropes to and from the sea bed at such extreme depths together with taking the depth soundings saw fully a quarter of the ship’s crew desert at her various points of call. These desertions plus 7 who died, combined with 26 invalided out or put ashore sick at various ports and 6 landed in the Antarctic on an expedition made the crew seriously short handed and created much more work for those who remained. Included in the death toll was one of the scientists from a bacterial infection.

John Sharplin is recorded as having completed the voyage and went on to serve a further 5 years in the Royal Navy finally retiring on May 13, 1881. Having completed an unblemished 16 years service he earned the Royal Navy’s coveted Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

A Dinoflagellate,
a type of deep
ocean plankton

One of Challenger’s discoveries was the Marianas Trench in the Western Pacific, where the seafloor is almost 7 miles deep. The deepest part of the world’s oceans, named the “Challenger Deep” at the foot of the Marianas Trench was explored 138 years later by a National Geographic expedition on March 27, 2012, by James Cameron in a specially designed submersible named “Deepsea Challenger” at position 11d 31' 67" N, 14d 25' 00"E.  The depth at that point was found to be 35,787ft with the seabed there being described as barren, “a very soft almost gelatinous flat plain ...the bottom was completely featureless ....very lunar like”. The sediment on the ocean floor at these depths was found to be over 200 million years old. Over several dives 68 new species were discovered. 

Another discovery by HMS Challenger is now known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an undersea mountain range which stands at 25,453 ft tall compared to Mount Everest which is 29,035 ft.
Another first  to her credit was that she was the first machinery powered vessel to enter the Antarctic.

Challenger's voyage lasted 3 ½ years finally arriving back in England at Spithead on May 24, 1876, from where she proceeded to Sheerness to pay off on 12 June 1876 . The expedition’s ensuing report took 20 years to write covered 50 volumes in a total of 29,552 pages; a copy now resides in the Bodleian library of the University of Oxford. Other copies are held in the libraries of many learned institutions and research facilities around the world.

A Deep Sea Sponge

This voyage is today considered as being the NASA Apollo space mission of its day. NASA is on record that it “named its first space shuttle orbiter and the Apollo 17 lunar module after the British Naval research vessel HMS Challenger that sailed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the 1870s. Like its historic predecessor, (NASA’s) Challenger and her crews made significant scientific contributions to the spirit of exploration”.

Of particular personal interest to Bob's son Clive is that between late March and April 1874 Challenger conducted her research off Melbourne, Australia, in Port Phillip Bay; just short of one hundred years before he together with his wife Carol and children Nik and Joanne in 1978 moved back to Australia from England to settle in Melbourne. The family had previously lived in Perth, Western Australia.

As to the ship she was recommissioned on 26 June 1876 just two weeks after her arrival at Sheerness to become temporary guard ship of the 1st Reserve at Harwich until 26 April 1878 when she paid off. Two years later she was stripped down to a hulk and designated as a training ship then made a receiving ship followed in 1910 by being converted to an accommodation ship at Chatham. Finally she was sold on January 6, 1921, to J.B. Garnham at which point "British Warships in the Age of Sail 1817 - 1863 Page 193" records her as being broken up, whereas Colledge and Warlow in "Ships of the Royal Navy, Page 73" has no record after her sale. Either way it was the closure of one of history's most glorious maritime scientific expeditions by a ship which in various roles had given the Royal Navy some sixty years of service, given her name to a modern deep sea exploration vessel and to a NASA space shuttle and a lunar exploration craft.     

3. Rose (nee Peachy) was actually a cousin to Eliza. 

4. References:

• National Geographic
• NASA website
• The Challenger expedition

Bibliography

NOTE - Format of Book / Publication / Media entry is:

Name of Book with any subtitle, Journal or Website    

Author(s) name(s)

Publishers name and date of publication (if known)  
Country of publication

ISBN classification, only given where stated within that book. Some books were published prior to the introduction of ISBN classifications

“A Midshipman’s War: A Young Man in the Mediterranean Naval War, 1941-1943” 2nd Edition;  Frank Wade; Trafford Publishing 2013;  Canada;  ISBN 978-1-4120-7069-0(sc)

“A Sailor’s Odyssey”; The Autobiography of Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope;  Hutchinson 1951;  London

“A Year at Sea on HMS Implacable, 1909: The 1909 Diary of Albert ‘Ajax’ Adams”; Robert Adams;  Ajax Adams Press 2012;  England;  ISBN 978-0-9573729-0-0

“Admiral Lord Anson";  Captain S.W.C. Pack R.N.;  Cassell 1960;  London

“Anzac Fury, The Bloody Battle of Crete 1941”; Peter Thompson; William Heinemann 2011; Sydney Australia; ISBN 978 1 86471 131 8

“Australian & New Zealand Warships 1914-1945"; Ross Gillett; Double Day 1953; Australia

“Battle Honours of the Royal Navy”; Ben Warlow Lt Cdr R.N.; Maritime Books 2004; Liskeard England

“Battle Ships and Carriers”; Steve Crawford; Brown Books 1999; London; ISBN 1-897884-44-3

“Before the Tide Turned (The Mediterranean Experiences of a British Destroyer Officer in 1941)”; Hugh Hodgkinson Lt Cdr DSC R.N.; George G Harrap 1944; England

“Bletchley Park, Home of the Codebreakers” Guide Book; Bletchley Park Trust 2014; Bletchley;   England

“Blue Star”; Tony Atkinson & Kevin O'Donoghue; World Ship Society 1985; Kendall England;

     ISBN 0 90561737 1

“Blue Star Line”; Mike Dovey & Ken Bottoms; The TPO & Seapost Society 2014; England;

     ISBN 978-0-9569662-7-8

“Blue Star Line, A Fleet History"; Tony Atkinson, Ships in Focus Publications 2014; England;

     ISIBN 978-0-9928263-8-3   

“Blue Star Line At War 1939 - 1945”; Taffrail (Captain Taprell Dorling D.S.O. F.R.Hist.S., RN);

      W Foulsham 1973; England; ISBN 0-572-00849-X

Note - There is a further edition of this work, believed to have been an extremely limited private printing for Blue Star Line to distribute to a very selected few. One copy of this "private" edition was presented to Commodore Harwood** on 9th August 1949 (by then Admiral Sir Henry Harwood K.C.B.) with an accompanying letter from Blue Star Line’s Board of Directors**. This edition is bound in blue buckram embossed with gold lettering on the spine and front cover and printed on a heavier paper. The title page has "A Record of Service" added to the title, a Dedication Page has been added as have further pages each with a portrait of one of the company's two founders. There is no mention of the publisher or publication date.

** This copy is in the possession of this author.

“British Battleships of World War Two”; Alan Raven and John Roberts;
In UK - Arms & Armour Press 1976; England; ISBN 0-87021-817-4
In USA - The Naval Institute 1976; USA; ISBN 0-87021-817-4

Note - These two editions are identical in all respects apart from the inner Title Page bearing the name of the respective publisher.   

“British Cruisers of World War Two”; Alan Raven and John Roberts;
In UK - Arms & Armour Press 1980; England; ISBN 0-85368-304-2
In USA - The Naval Institute Press 1980; USA, ISBN 0-87021-922-7

Note - These two editions are identical in all respects apart from the inner Title Page bearing the name of the respective publisher.   

“British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714 ”; Rif Winfield; Seaforth Publishing Pen & Sword Books 2009; England; ISBN 978-I-84832-040-6

“British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792”; Rif Winfield; Seaforth Publishing Pen & Sword Books 2014; England; ISBN 978-I-84415-700-6

“British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817”; Rif Winfield; Seaforth Publishing Pen & Sword Books 2014; England; ISBN 978-I-84415-717-4

“British Warships in the Age of Sail 1817-1863”; Rif Winfield; Seaforth Publishing Pen & Sword Books 2014; England, ISBN 978-I-84832-169-4

“Broadsides, The Age of Fighting Sail, 1775 - 1815”; Nathan Miller; John Wiley & Sons 2000; USA;

ISBN 0-471-07835-2 (paper)

“Chatham Dockyard, The Rise and Fall of a Military Industrial Complex"; Philip MacDougall; The History Press 2012; England; ISBN 978 0 7524 6212 7

“Chatham Naval Dockyard & Barracks”; David T Hughes; Tempus Publishing 2004; England;

ISBN 0 7524 3248 6

“Cochrane, Britannia's Sea Wolf”; Donald Thomas; Cassell Military Paperbacks 1978; England;

ISIBN 0-304-35659-X   

“Crete 1941, The Battle At Sea”; David A Thomas; Cassell Military Paperbacks 2003’ England

ISIBN 0-304-36400-2  / Greek (English language) Edition – A Efstathiadis Group 1980; Greece;

ISBN 960-226-085-8

“Cruiser, The life and loss of HMAS Perth and her Crew”; Mike Carlton; William Heinemann 2010;

Australia; ISBN 978 1 86471 133 2

“Cruisers of World War Two, An International Encyclopaedia”; M J Whitley; Arms and Armour Press 1995; England; ISBN 1 86019 8740

“East of Malta, West of Suez, The Official Admiralty Account of the Mediterranean Fleet 1939-1943”;  “Bartimeus” (Paymaster Captain Ritchie R.N.); Little Brown 1944; USA

“Fifty Years of Naval Tugs"; Bill Hannon; Maritime Books – publication date not known; Liskeard; England

“Harwood and the Battle of the River Plate”; Henry & Stephen Harwood; Published privately -

jppharwood@outlook.com 2014; England

                                                              

“Haul Down Ceremony 30 September 1983" (Official programme for the closure of HM Dockyard Chatham, HMS Pembroke, The Flag Officer Medway and Port Admiral Chatham); David Hunter (Part) 1983; The Admiralty; England

 “HMS Ajax 1935-1949”; Jeff Stevens; Self Published 2014; UK

“HMS Ajax, The British Light Cruiser HMS Ajax (1941-1942)”; Slawomir Brzezíński; Profile Morskie Series - Firma Wydawniczo-Handlown 2006; Poland; ISBN 83-87918-79-2

 Note -Designed and published for modellers

“I Was Graf Spee's Prisoner”; Captain Patrick Dove*; Cheery Tree Books 1940; England

* Master - S.S. "Doric Star", of Blue Star Line, captured and sunk by Graf Spee on 2 December 1939.

“Lost Voices Of The Royal Navy”; Max Arthur; Hodder & Stoughton Ltd 2005; England;

ISBN 978 0 340 83814 3

“Maritime History of Britain and Ireland”; Ian Fiel; The British Museum Press 2003; England;

ISBN 0 7141 27183

“Navy News, January 2010, Ajax Supplement” (Magazine); A special double page spread of fully sectioned ship drawings; Navy News HMS Nelson; England

“Nelson's Navy - The Ships, Men & Organisation 1793-1815”; Brian Lavery; Conway Mainline Press 1992 reprint; England; ISBN 0-85177-521-7

“Nelson’s Trafalgar, The Battle That Changed the World”; Roy Adkins; Viking 2004; England;

ISBN 0-670-03448-7

“Pasha”; Julian Stockwin; Hodder & Stoughton Ltd 2014; England; ISBN 978 1 444 78539 5

“Ray Parkins Odyssey”; Pattie Wright; MacMillan Australia 2012; Australia; ISBN 0-9781405039970

“Sea War, Great Naval Battles of World War II”; Frank Pearce; Robert Hale 1990; England;

ISBN 0-7090-4013-X

“Ships Monthly" Magazine; various issues, Kelsey Media; England

“Ships of the Royal Navy, The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy”; J J  Colledge & Ben Warlow;

In USA - Casemate 2010; ISBN 978-1-935149-07-1

In UK – Casemate 2010; England; ISBN 978-1-935149-07-1

“Ships of the Royal Navy: Vol 2, Navy-Built Trawlers, Drifters, Tugs& Requisitioned Ships”; J.J. Colledge; Lionel Leventhal, 2nd Edition 1989; England; ISBN 1-85367-028-6

“Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy, A  List of Static Ships and Establishments”; Lt. Cdr. Ben Warlow R.N. Retd; Maritime Books, Second Edition 2000; England; ISBN 0 907771 73 4

Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogues  “British Commonwealth Part 1”&  “Simplified World Catalogue”; Stanley Gibbons Publications; England,

“Struggle for the Middle Sea, The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean 1940-1945"; Vincent O'Hara;

In UK – Conway 2009; England: ISBN 978-1-84486-102-6

In USA - Naval Institute Press 2009; USA; ISBN 978-1-84486-102-6

"Stukas over the Mediterranean, 1940-1945” (Part of the Series “Luftwaffe at War”); Peter C Smith; Green Hill Books 1999; England; ISIBN 1-85367-376-5

                                           

“Task Force, The inside Story of the Ships and Heroes of the Royal Navy”; John Parker; Bounty Books 2005; England; ISBN-13: 9780753712962

“The A to Z of Royal Naval Ship’s Badges, 1919-1989, Vol 1”; B. Wilkinson, T.P. Stopford & D. Taylor; Neptune Books 1987; England; ISBN 1 8709842 00 X  

“The A to Z of Royal Naval Ship’s Badges, 1919-1989, Vol 2”; B. Wilkinson, T.P. Stopford & D. Taylor; Neptune Books 1988; England; ISBN 1 870842 02 2    

“The Battle for Crete”; Capt S.W.C. Pack RN; Ian Allan 1973; England

“The Battle for the Mediterranean”; Donald Macintyre; B.T. Batsford Ltd 1964; England

“The Battle of the River Plate” Republished in “Great War Stories” P479; Octopus Books 1978; England; ISBN 0 7064 0926 4  

“The Battle of the Atlantic, How the allies won the war”; Jonathan Dimbleby; Viking 2015; England; IBN 978 0 241 18661 9

“The Battle of the River Plate, a Grand Delusion”; Richard Woodman; Pen & Sword Military 2008; England; IBN 978 184415 689 4

“The Complete Encyclopaedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers”; Tony Gibbons; Salamander Books 1983; England; ISBN 0 86101 142 2

“The Fall Of Crete”; Alan Clark; Cassell Military Paperbacks, 2004 Reprint; England; ISBN 978 0 3043 5348 4

“The Historic Dockyard Chatham Guide Book”; The Historic Dockyard 2006; England

“The King’s Cruisers”; Gordon Holman; Hodder and Stoughton 1947; England,

“The Med, The Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, 1939-45”; Rowland Langmaid; The Batchworth Press 1948;  England

“The Mediterranean Fleet, Greece to Tripoli. The Admiralty Account of Naval Operations: April 1941 to January 1943”; The Admiralty through The Ministry of Information; His Majesty’s Stationary Office 1944; England 

    

"The Naval Side of British History 1485-1945"; Sir Geoffrey Callender & F H Hinsley; Christophers, 1952; England

“The Nelson Encyclopaedia”; Colin White;

In UK - Chatham Publishing 2002; England

In USA - Stackpole Books 2005; USA

“The Royal Navy in World War Two: An Annotated Bibliography”; Derek G Law; Greenhill Books 1988; England; ISBN 1-85367-002-2

“The Royal Navy, An Illustrated Social History 1870 - 1982” ; Capt John Wells, RN; Wrens Park Publishing & Alan Sutton Publishing 1999; England: ISBN 0-905-778-308

“The Second World War"; Anton Beevor; Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2012; England; ISBN 978 0 297 844 97 6

“The Silent Landscape. Discovering the world of the oceans in the wake of HMS Challenger’s epic 1872 mission to explore the seabed”; Richard Corfield;  John Murray (Publishers) Ltd 2005; England; ISBN 0 7195 6531 6

“The Struggle for the Middle Sea – The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean 1940-1945”; Vincent O’Hara

In UK - Conway Books; 2009; England; ISBN 978-1-84486-102-6

In USA - Naval Institute Press 2009; USA

“The Voyage of the Challenger”; Eric Linklater; John Murray (Publishers) Ltd 1972; England; ISBN 0 7195 2626

“Trafalgar, The Men, The Battle, The Storm"; Tim Clayton & Phil Craig; Hodder & Stoughton 2005; England; ISBN 0 340 83028 x 

“Underwater Warriors”; Paul Kemp; Brockhampton Press 1999; England; ISBN 1 86019 991 7

“Warships of World War II”; H.T. Lenton & J.J. Colledge; Ian Allan 1964; England.

 World Ship Society; England; 1985;  ISBN 0 90561737 1

“World At War”, (Magazine) Issue #41 May-June 2015, P6-23 "Mare Nostrum: War in the Mediterranean"; Joseph Miranda; Strategy & Tactics Press 2015; USA.

Wikipedia - While this is a wonderful reference and research source with much respected ethical objectives which assists me greatly in the course of this project, the very manner in which information is collected may occasionally allow unauthenticated entries to be made. Care should therefore be taken if using this as the single unqualified source. 

Links

Ajax – Town, Canada
College of Arms
HMS Pembroke & H.M. Dockyard Chatham
HMS Ajax & River Plate & Veterans Association website
HMS Ajax – British Pathe Cinema News Reel 1949. Her last trip, to the breakers yard
Lofts, Graeme Our Consulting Editor
Pickering-Ajax Digital Archive
Royal Navy News & Events
Rudel, Hans Ulrich - German Stuka Pilot (Officer)
The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Other Resources

Eden Camp
                    Historical Theme and Military Museum. (Britain at War in World War II).  
                        Malton, Ryedale, North Yorkshire, YO17 6RT, England
                  

Ships & Shore Establishments Served In

This chronicle is intended to be a complete record of Bob’s 23½ years service by each appointment, either afloat to a ship in commission or to a shore establishment. During this period he served as a crew member aboard 16 different ships with temporary assignments to 9 others. These ranged from battleships, through aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers to ocean going tugs, for periods of from one day through to almost three years. The notes attached to each appointment include information describing each ship or shore establishment, plus through my own research other noteworthy items of interest particularly major actions at which he was present and a part of. This chronicle is very much the subject of ongoing research with data and images yet to be found.

For “Battle Honours” only those awarded to the ship while Bob was serving in her are noted. The prime source for these is Ben Warlow’s “Battle Honours of the Royal Navy”, (ibid - Bibliography).

My prime sources for information on each ship or shore establishment are “Ships of the Royal Navy Volumes 1 & 2”, J J Colledge & Ben Warlow. (ibid - Bibliography) and “Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy” Lt. Cdr. B Warlow (ibid - Bibliography). Where Cruisers are involved information on them sourced from the authorative “British Cruisers of World War Two” by Raven & Roberts (ibid - Bibliography) is given pre-eminence.

In regard to images I have attempted to include images of the various ships listed here that are as near as possible to the same time period as Bob’s service in them.

See general footnotes at the conclusion of this chronicle for definitions of tonnages such as “Displacement”

1) HMS Pembroke

08/07/1929 – 31/12/1929
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. (Note 1) 



HMS Pembroke
Badge of the Royal Naval establishment
at  Chatham, Kent

Opened 30th April 1903, HMS Pembroke was built adjacent to the Chatham Royal Naval Dockyard to accommodate the Royal Navy Barracks after previously being accommodated in three hulks moored in the River Medway.

By the outbreak of the First World War Chatham had become one of the Royal Navy's three ‘manning ports' with over a third of the navy, some 205 ships, manned by men allocated to the Chatham Division, a role that continued until the advent of central manning in 1956. The cruiser HMS Ajax, the seventh of her name and one of the two subjects of this website, was a Chatham manned ship. The other subject, Robert (Bob) Sharplin, was a Chatham based sailor hence his service in her.

Government expenditure cuts forced the closure of the Barracks on 29th October 1983.
(Refer Notes 1, 2, 3 & 4 to Entry # 32)

 

2) HMS Marlborough      

01/01/1930 – 22/08/1930
Shore establishment (Note <a>).
HMS Marlborough was a Torpedo Training School and a Stokers Training School establishment in Eastbourne at both Eastbourne College in College Road and at Chelmsford Hall close by in Grange Road.
Bob’s Training Class Certificate states “Pass Rate of 87.9%”, remarks “Very Creditable”
No image of the establishment has yet been found.

Notes:
a.    Six  ships have borne this name between 1706 and 2005 and one "non warship", a trawler hired
       as a Boom Defence Vessel between 1916 - 1919, It was hired again between November 1939
       -  3rd January 1940 as an Auxiliary Patrol Vessel and for a third time between 1945 - June 1946
       (role undefined).
       The name was used twice for this shore establishment, firstly including the above period but its
       opening and closing dates have yet to be found. Opened again during WW 2 between December
       1941 and 30th June 1947.

3) HMS Pembroke

23/08/1930 – 02/10/1930
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.


HMS Pembroke
Royal Naval Barracks, Main Gate

4) HMS Hermes

 03/10/1930 – 06/09/1933
Aircraft Carrier. (9th of her name)

HMS Hermes
Off Yantai, China, 1931

This vessel was a world first by any Navy in being designed and built as an aircraft carrier. Originally designed for 15 aircraft this was eventually increased  reaching 20 by 1938.  

Over this period was part of the Far East Fleet based on Hong Kong & Shanghai

HMS Hermes
Scapa Flow, 1925

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick
      Ordered: July 1917      
      Laid down: 15th January 1918
      Launched: 11th September 1919, work suspended and towed to HM Dockyard, Devonport for
                         completion
      Commissioned: 18th February 1924
      Displacement: 10,950 tons, full load approx. 12,900 tons
      Particulars:  Length 598ft
                          Beam 70ft 9ins (outside bilges)
                          Mean draught 18ft 9ins.
      Machinery: Steam. Geared turbines, Shaft HP 40,000 with 2 shafts. Speed 25 knots.    
      Pennant No. 95 
      Fate: Sunk by Japanese aircraft 9th April 1942 off Ceylon. Reports state that she had no  
               serviceable aircraft due to enemy bombing raids the previous day and that she sank after
               suffering some 40 hits by 250lb bombs. 306 of her 1,575 crew were lost.   

5) HMS Pembroke

07/09/1933 – 15/10/1935
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. (See entry # 1.)

HMS Pembroke
 Stand Easy, Parade Ground

6) HMS Ramillies 

16/10/1935 - 31/12/1936

"Royal Sovereign" Class Battleship, 8 x 15" guns in four twin turrets (5th of her name - Note <a>)

HMS Ramillies
After 1932 -1933 refit

 

Ship’s details:

      Builder: William Beardmore & Co., Dalmuir, Scotland  
      Ordered: 1913     
      Laid down:12th November 1913
      Launched: 12th June 1916
      Commissioned: 1st September 1917
      Displacement: 25,750 tons, loaded 29,150tons   
      Particulars: Length 620.8ft o/a, 580ft pp.
                         Beam 88.5ft
      Pennant No. 07

On the night of 11/12/October 1940 Ramillies as part of the screening force, which also included Ajax (with Bob Sharplin on board), covering two Convoys, MF-3 from Egypt to Malta and AS4 from Greece plus Operation MB6, an air attack on Leros, when this screen was attacked by the 1st Italian Torpedo Boat Flotilla. In the resulting action,  Ajax sank the Italian ships Airone and Alcione and a little later when the Italian 11th Destroyer joined the fray the destroyer Artiglere was heavily damaged by radar directed gunfire from Ajax then later sunk by gunfire by the British Cruiser York. During this action Ajax received 7 hits. The Italians refer to this actioin as the Battle of Cape Passero.

      Fate: Last employment was as an Accommodation Ship and for training April to August 1945.
               Decommissioned 1946. Sold 20 February 1948 for breaking up. Arrived 23 April under tow
               at Cairn Ryan where de-equipped and hulk towed to Troon October 1948 where broken up.  

Notes:
a.     Prior to Ramillies V commissioning this name was used between 3rd August 1914 - 30th August
        1916 for a 2,935 ton vessel hired into service and fitted out as a Mine Carrier. It was not
        included  by the Admiralty as a member of the Ramillies naming lineage.
       

7) HMS Pembroke 

01/01/1937 (One day) 
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. (See entry # 1.)

HMS Pembroke
Rum being unshipped in Chatham Dockyard
 for the Pembroke Royal Naval Barracks

8) HMS Drake

02/01/1937 – 09/12/1938
Royal Navy Barracks, Devonport. (See Note <a>)

Formerly HMS Vivid, the building of which was completed in 1886 but not opened until 4 June 1889.
Renamed HMS Drake 1st January 1934.




HMS Drake
Royal Naval Barracks

Notes:
a. This is one of the oldest Ships names in Royal Navy, the first being a 16-gun 146bm vessel in
    service between 1653 and 1691. A total of 20 ships have borne this name.

 9) HMS Pembroke

HMS Pembroke
Barrack Room

10/12/1938 – 14/03/1939
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.


10) HMS Cornwall  

15/03/1939 – 09/02/1940
“Kent” Subclass of County Class Heavy Cruiser, 8-inch guns in four twin turrets. (7th of her name).




HMS Cornwall

Declaration of war found her deployed as Flagship of 5th Cruiser Squadron, China Station with cruisers Kent, Dorsetshire and Birmingham.

Docked in Colombo for repairs October 6th - 11th. Participated in search for the German raider Admiral Graf Spee to south of Ceylon. December transfered to South Atlantic Station for patrol  duties from Capetown and Freetown.  Bob drafted out of her in Freetown from where he was probably taken by a passing troop ship back to England .


Ship’s details:

      Builder: Royal Naval Dockyard, Devonport, Devon
      Ordered: 2nd June 1924
      Laid down:9th October 1924
      Launched: 11th March 1926
      Commissioned: 8th May 1928
      Displacement – As built: 9,750 tons
      Fully loaded: 13,400 tons
      Particulars: Length 630ft o/a, 590ft pp
                         Beam: 68.5ft
      Machinery: Steam. Parsons geared turbines, four shafts 80,000 Shaft HP = 31.5 knots.
                          Eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers, max working pressure 250psi
      Pennant No.

      Fate: Heavily bombed 5th April 1942 by Japanese aircraft operating from carriers Akagi, Soryu
               and Hiryu west of Ceylon. Sank within 15 minutes of being hit, 190 crew listed as dead or   
               missing.  Accompanying Cruiser Dorsetshire was sunk 6 minutes later by similar attacks.

11) HMS Pembroke

10/02/1940 – 18/03/1940
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.



HMS Pembroke
HM King George VI making a then “secret’ wartime visit to the Barracks on 16 April 1942
inspecting ratings on the parade ground accompanied by Commodore Nicholson RN 

12) HMS Ajax

19/03/1940 – 30/09/1941
“Leander” Class Light Cruiser, 8 x 6-inch guns in four twin turrets. Pennant No. 22.
(7th of her name -  Note 3)



HMS Ajax
In a Mediterranean Gale

Bob joined her at Chatham Dockyard where she was completing seven months of repairs following heavy damage inflicted by “Admiral Graf Spee” at the Battle of the River Plate bringing Ajax to global attention thus becoming one of the modern Royal Navy’s most well known ships (Note 1).

Sailed 21st August 1940 as part escort of a convoy bound for Middle East via South Africa. He saw service in Ajax when as part of the Mediterranean Fleet’s 7th Cruiser Squadron. She participated in the Malta Convoys, the Battles of Matapan & Crete and the North African Campaign where Ajax was seriously damaged.

Bob spoke of their experience when on earlier convoy protection duty (12th October 1940) Ajax had found herself in a melee with a small force of Italian destroyers which had been sent out to deliver a night attack on the convoy (MF4). In the lively action which followed Ajax had acquitted herself well by sinking two of the destroyers, Airone and Ariel and damaging a third, the Artigliere. Ajax suffered seven shell hits resulting in 35 casualties including 13 killed. The Artigliere was subsequently sunk by the Cruiser HMS York as the Italians attempted to tow her away. (Note 2)

He was also greatly moved by a night action during the German sea borne invasion stage of the Battle of Crete where orders were given to conserve ammunition and sink native caiques that were being used to transport German troops to Crete by ramming them. One he recalls imbedded itself in Ajax’s bow such that she arrived back in Alexandria still wearing the wreckage.

The night-time “Battle of Matapan “where the Royal Navy blew three Italian cruisers and two destroyers out of the water without any loss, Bob described as “having caught the Italian fleet by such surprise they reacted like startled rabbits trapped in a car’s headlights”.

The subject of the Painting, which is the feature of this website, the action of 21st May 1941, is fully described under the Tab “The Painting and The Action”.

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Vickers Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness. Yard No. 682
      Ordered: 1st Oct 1932
      Laid down: 7th Feb 1933
      Launched: 1st Mar 1934 Sponsor at launching Ceremony was Lady Chatfield, Wife of the First    
                        Sea Lord Admiral Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield.
      Completed: 12th Apr 1935
      Commissioned: 15th Apr 1935
      Displacement – As built: 7,259 tons
      Fully loaded: 9,653 tons (Oct 1942)
      Pennant No. 22
      Fate: De commissioned at Chatham 16 Feb 1948. Placed on Disposal List. Laid up in River Fal. 
               After frustrated sale to Chile, towed from River Fal 8 Nov 1949 to Cashmore’s, Newport
               (Mon) Yard, where she arrived on 18th to be broken up. 

BATTLE HONOURS WON BY HMS AJAX WHILE BOB WAS SERVING IN HER:

Mediterranean 1940-41

Matapan 1941

Greece 1941

Crete 1941

Malta Convoys 1941

Note:
1. During this period in Chatham Dockyard the following modifications were made:
      a. 46ft catapult replaced by 56ft. Walrus aircraft mounted
      b. Type 279 radar fitted
      c. Masts replaced with tripod design
      d. Zarebas fitted to 4” guns
2. Ibid - “Daily War Diary for Ajax”, 12th October 1940, Convoy MF4 to Alexandria. 
3. Two other vessels of this name appear in the Navy list, neither rated as warships:
          - A tug hired between July 1914 - 7th August 1914
          - A drifter (Ajax II) hired 1914, sunk by German torpedo 27th October 1916

13) HMS Valiant

01/10/1941 – 16/05/1942
“Queen Elizabeth” Class Battleship, 8 x15-inch guns. (5th of her name - Note 4)



HMS Valiant

During this period Valiant was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet. She was seriously damaged on 19 December 1941 while in Alexandria harbour by Italian manned torpedoes. This action (Note 1) by the Italian Navy's 10th Light Flotilla resulted in a dramatic shift in the balance of naval power in the Mediterranean away from the Royal Navy.

At 2047 that evening about one mile off of Alexandria the Italian submarine “Sciré”, commanded by Prince Julio Borghese, dropped three manned slow moving torpedoes (Siluro Lenta Corsa = SLC) known as “Maiales" or "sea pigs" by their crews because of their difficulty to handle, each had a two-man crew. One of them, SLC 221, piloted by Lieutenant Commander De la Penne was targeted for the Valiant. All three penetrated the harbour defences by fortuitously arriving just in time to catch the boom net defences being opened to allow some Royal Navy cruisers and destroyers to enter the harbour. These ships had actually been attached to Admiral Vian’s 15th Cruiser Squadron and were returning from escorting the supply ship Breconshire to Malta.

De la Penne arrived safely at the Valiant but had trouble in submerging losing his diver, Petty Officer Bianchi, and control in the process finishing up with his SLC stuck in the mud on the harbour bottom. Single-handed he managed to pull the torpedo's 270kg warhead filled with TNT underneath the Valiant some 5ft beneath the ship’s hull then surfaced to find Bianchi clinging to a nearby buoy, both were spotted at 0325hrs from the Valiant and taken aboard as prisoners. Having refused to reveal their mission they finished up imprisoned below while Valiant, suspecting their intent, cleared all crew from the lower decks. The order was given “Close all X and Y doors” followed by “All hands on deck”.

Bob reminisced that there was no time to evacuate the ship so he stood among the crew on the main deck after all hands had been cleared from lower decks, waiting for the explosions. Their suspicions proved correct when at 0547hrs a terrific nearby explosion blew the stern of another of the Italian target’s, the 7,554 ton fleet oil tanker Sagona, badly damaging the destroyer Jervis lying alongside her. This was closely followed at 0606hrs  by another such explosion under their own ship which shuddered then slowly sank onto the bottom. Fortunately the depth below the keel was only a few feet so the ship settled upright on her keel and no crew were recorded as injured. The explosion occurred under the port bulge near “A” turret tearing a 60ft by 30ft hole in the bulge causing considerable internal damage. De la Penne had been brought up to the main deck to the sounds of a third explosion at 0610hrs from under the fleet flagship, the battleship Queen Elizabeth which initially took a heavy list to starboard and settled on the bottom, like the Valiant in just a few feet of water and on her keel.  All three Italian Chariot crews had successfully accomplished their mission but all were captured.

Later that morning Valiant was towed into the Admiralty Floating Dock AFD 5 to commence  temporary repairs before sailing on April 8th to Durban for further repairs. All in all she was disabled for five months.

The damage to Queen Elizabeth was much more severe. 11,000 square feet of her hull was damaged, “A”, “B” and “Y” boiler rooms were flooded to main deck level with extensive damage to machinery. After temporary repairs in Alexandria’s floating dock she was sent to the Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia and was out of action for nearly eighteen months.

This attack dramatically turned the strategic naval balance of power in favour of the Italians as suddenly Admiral Cunningham, as Commander -in-Chief Mediterranean, found his fleet had been reduced to Admiral Vian’s 15th Cruiser squadron, Naiad, Euryalus and Dido, the anti-aircraft cruiser Carlisle, the cruisers Penelope and Ajax in Malta with the latter out of action for repairs, plus some destroyers. The attack could not have come at a worse time for Britain. On every front the news was bad. Cunningham wrote that his fleet now "should have to leave it to the Royal Air Force to try if they could dispute the control of the Central Mediterranean with the enemy's fleet". Thus it looked as if the Royal Navy could no longer operate in the central Mediterranean. He wrote to the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, “We are having shock after shock out here. The damage to the battleships at this time is a disaster”.

Even Churchill was moved to praise this Italian operation as an example of "extraordinary courage and ingenuity" then summed up the resulting strategic situation in saying "Six Italians, dressed in rather unusual diving suits and equipped with materials of laughably little cost, have swung the balance of power in the Mediterranean in favour of the Axis".

The critical saving grace was that the British managed to conceal the fact that so much damage had been inflicted on both ships and as all of the Italian Crews had been captured neither the Italians or the Germans became aware of just how tenuous the tactical situation had suddenly become for the Royal Navy.

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Fairfields
      Laid down: 31st January 1913
      Launched: 4th November 1914
      Commissioned: 19th February 1916
      Displacement: 27,500 tons
      Pennant No: 02
      Fate: Decommissioned July 1945. Sold 19th March 1948 for scrap, arrived under tow 16 August
               1948 at Arnott Young, Cairnryan. Hulk taken to Troon March 1950.

Notes:
1.    “The Battle for the Mediterranean”, Donald Macintyre, P33-34, Ibid - Bibliography.
       "Task Force", John Parker, P188,  Ibid -  Bibliography.
       “Underwater Warriors”, Paul Kemp, P29-33, Ibid - Bibliography.
        HMS Valiant's War Diary.     
2.    “The Battle for the Mediterranean” Donald Macintyre, P121-123, Ibid -bibliography.
3.     Bob’s original hand written Service Record shows that on 16 May 1942 he was in the Valiant
        and the following day was at HMS Pembroke, the Royal naval Barracks at Chatham, Kent
        prompting a non Naval reader to question how could this be so? Quite simply it is a matter of
        how the Royal Navy maintained its personnel’s records. Moving from one ship or establishment
        to another was called a “draft”. It could be as quick as if in dock walking from one ship to the
        next or, as in this case, travelling halfway around the world. When “drafted” the record shows
        the date on which you left your ship or establishment. The next day it will show the name of the
        ship or establishment which you are to join (drafted to) irrespective as to how long it may take
        you to reach it. 
        Following the temporary repairs necessitated by the 19 December attack on her, Valiant
        according to her War Diary, sailed from Alexandria on 8 April 1942. She called at Aden on the
       13 April possibly to refuel and reached Durban in South Africa on 21 April where she “was
        taken in hand for repair and refit”. A change in her commanding officer took place on 7 May
        when Captain Leslie Haliburton Ashmore RN took over. Bob left her on 16 May conceivably
        following a decision to reduce her crew to a minimum whilst the ship underwent lengthy major
        repairs. There is no apparent record as to how Bob got back to England. Presumably he together
        with other ex Valiant crew members were transported back by one of the regular troop ships
        running through the Cape at that period. Valiant did not emerge from repairs until three months
        later in mid July destined to join the 3rd Battle Squadron on the East African coast.
4.     Two other vessels of this name appear in the Navy list prior to this ship but neither rated as
        warships:
              - A lugger hired into service between 1794 - 1801.
              - A yacht (Valiant II) hired into service as an Auxiliary Patrol Vessel between 18th 
                 November  1914 - 6th February 1919 and fitted with 4 - 12 Pndr guns.

14) HMS Pembroke

17/05/1942 – 18/04/1944
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.
Refer to Note 3 under HMS Valiant, entry # 13 above regarding Bob's drafting from the Valiant to Pembroke Naval Barracks. 

a) Lent to HMS Ajax 25/08/1942 (One day) which was in Chatham Dockyard for repair & refit.
b) Over the period of her repair and refit from 27 May – 24 Oct 1942 the following modifications were made:
      I. 3 single 20mm guns added. 0.5” Machine guns removed
      II. 2 quadruple pom-pom guns fitted
      III. The quadruple pom-pom guns formerly fitted in what had been the catapult’s position    
             removed
      IV. 2 HACS directors fitted, one on each side of bridge
      V. Types 272, 284, and 285 radar fitted

Ship’s details: - Previously recorded at entry # 12 q.v.

 

HMS Ajax
Date unknown – camouflage pattern is not that of 1941 or 1942

c) Lent to HMS Ajax 01/10/1942 – 13/10/1942
See above entry

Ship’s details: - Previously recorded at entry # 12 q.v. 

 

HMS Ajax
Date unknown, possibly off breakers yard

d) Lent to HMS Purnbell 01/04/1944 – 10/04/1945
No record yet found of this vessel. Anyone with details or information is invited to contact me.

15) HMS Mauritius

19/04/1944 – 13/03/1945
“Fiji” Class Heavy Cruiser, 12 x 6-inch guns in four triple turrets. (1st of her name)

HMS Mauritius

Bob joined her while she was in Chatham dockyard for repair and refit (between 14 April and 10 May 1944) during which the following modifications were made:      
      I.     Port side aircraft crane removed
      II.    Type 650 missile jamming gear fitted
      III.  Type 273 Surface warning radar fitted
      IV.  Type 289 Aircraft warning radar replaced by Type 281

At June “D-Day” Normandy invasion (June 1944) as part of Force D off Sword Beach where she was slightly damaged by German shore batteries then carried out offensive patrols off the Brittany coast in August to mop up remnants of German shipping in the area. Sank a German minesweeper off Ile
de Yeux on 15 August.  Operating with destroyers HMS Ursa and HMCS Iroquois she sank Sperrbrecher 157 and five Vorpostenboote (Patrol Boats), V702, V717, V720, V729 and V730 on 25 August. Returned to Home Fleet and covered raids by aircraft carriers along the Norwegian coast making anti-shipping strikes herself. In January 1945 in company with the cruiser Diadem she fought an action with German destroyers in which the German Z31 was badly damaged and in return received one hit.

Following this action she was refitted at Cammell-Laird’s between 25 February 1945 and March 1946.
Bob left her at Cammell-Laird’s, Birkenhead, on 13 March 1945

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Swan Hunter, Tyne & Weir
      Laid down: 31st March 1938
      Launched: 19th July 1939
      Commissioned: 1st April 1940
      Displacement- As built: 8,256 tons
      Fully loaded: 10,736 tons
      Pennant No. 80
      Fate: Decommissioned 1952 went into a refit for several months then placed in Reserve. The    
               expense of the unnecessary refit suffered criticism from a Parliamentary Select Committee. 
               Placed on Disposal List and sold to BISCO, arrived 27 March 1965 T.W. Ward      
               Ltd, Inverkeithing and broken up. 

   BATTLE HONOURS WON BY HMS MAURITIUS WHILE BOB WAS SERVING IN HER:

Normandy 1944

16) HMS Pembroke

14/03/1945 – 09/08/1945
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.

a) Lent to HMS Stoymer
19/03/1945 – 25/03/1945
No record yet found of this vessel. Anyone with details or information is invited to contact me.

b) Lent to HMS Holderness
04/04/1945 – 07/04/1945
“Type 1 Hunt” Class Escort Destroyer. (3rd of her name)

      I.   Built under the 1939 Programme with 9 other Type 1 destroyers.
      II.  The ship was adopted by the civil community of Amman Valley, Wales after a National  
            Savings Warship Week campaign in March 1942.
      III. Remained in commission after VJ Day, continued service in Chatham Local Flotilla until
            1946 when Paid-Off and reduced to Reserve status. Laid-up at Harwich. 1953 transferred to 
            Barrow for armament and other equipment to be preserved. Placed on Disposal List 1956.
            Sold to BISCO for demolition.



HMS Holderness
1944

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend on Tyne
      Laid down: 29 June 1939
      Launched: 8 February 1940
      Commissioned: 10 August 1940 (?)
      Displacement – As built: 1,000 tons
      Fully loaded:
      Pennant No. F148
      Fate: Arrived Ward, Preston, 20 November 1956 where broken up

c) Lent to HMS Brocklesby 09/04/1945 – 17/04 /1945
“Type 2 Hunt” Class Destroyer. (1st of her name)

      I.    Ordered 4 September 1939 under the War Emergency Programs
      II.  March 1942 after successful Warship Week National Savings campaign was adopted by civil
            community of Belper, Derbyshire
      III. Paid off Portsmouth 1 May 1946. Laid up until 1951 when refitted and converted to a sonar
            trials ship. Paid off June 1968.

HMS Brocklesby
1942

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, Job 3561
      Laid down: 18 November 1939
      Launched: 30 September 1940
      Completed: 9 April 1941
      Commissioned: 9 May 1941
      Displacement: 1,000 tons
      Pennant No. L42
      Fate: Paid off June 1968. Arrived Faslane, River Clyde, 28 October 1968 where broken up. She
                was the last of the Hunt Class to be scrapped.

d) Lent to HMS Jacinta 27/04/1945 (one day).
    In Bob's record this misspelt and stated as Jacinter.
    Armed Trawler. (1st of her name)  

      I.   Hired into service as Admiralty Trawler 1915-19. Fitted with one 6 pounder gun.
      II.  Requisitioned May 1940 as Auxiliary Patrol Trawler, fitted with one 12 pounder gun. Later
            purchased (date not known).
      III. March 1942 converted to Mine Sweeper.
      IV. January 1944 assigned to Wreck Dispersal
      V. May 1946 sold




HMS Jacinta

 

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Not known
      Laid down: Not known
      Launched: 1915
      Commissioned: Not known
      Displacement – As built: 290 tons
      Fully loaded: ? tons
      Pennant No. 4.138
      Fate: Sold May 1946.

e) Lent to HMS Co Deila 11/05/1945 (One day)
No record yet found of this vessel. Anyone with details or information is invited to contact me.

f) Lent to HMS Caicos
17/05/1945 – 18/05/1945
“Colony” Class Frigate K505, (1st of her name)

The only aircraft direction detection frigate of WW2, patrolled North Sea to detect Nazi V-1 Buzz Bombs (early cruise missiles). This Class comprised 21 frigates of the Royal Navy, constructed between 1943 and 1944 in the USA. Delivered and renamed under the provisions of the Lend-Lease agreement under which the USA supplied the United Kingdom and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945.

HMS Caicos

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Walsh Kaiser Yard, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
      Laid down: 23 April 1943
      Launched: 6 September as USS Hannam, delivered (and renamed) to the U.K. 1943.
      Commissioned:
      Displacement: 1,318 tons
      Pennant No. K505
      Fate: Returned to the US Navy 12 December 1943. Transferred1947 to the Argentine Navy as
               “Santissima Trinidad” and converted to a survey ship. Renamed 1963 as “Comodoro 
               Augusto Laserre”. Broken up 1970.

g) Lent to HMS Torrington 14/06/1945 – 24/06/1945
TE (Turbo Electric) “Captain” Class Frigate. (4th of her name)

This Class comprised 46 frigates of the Royal Navy, constructed in the USA,
Delivered to the United Kingdom under the provisions of the Lend Lease agreement under which the USA supplied the United Kingdom and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945.

HMS Torrington

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Bethlehem Steel, Hingham, USA
      Laid down:
      Launched: 27 November 1943, delivered (and renamed) to the U.K. 31 December 1943.
      Commissioned: either 31 December 1943 or 2 January 1944
      Displacement: 1300 tons
      Pennant No. ?577
      Fate: Returned to US Navy, 1946

17) HMS Liverpool

10/08/1945 – 09/10/1945
“Southampton” (“Town”) Class Cruiser, 12 x 6” guns in four triple turrets. (7th of her name)

HMS Liverpool in drydock
Rosyth, 1943

Bob was drafted to this ship when she was in the last two months of a long repair and refit. She had been torpedoed and seriously damaged in attacks on 14 June 1942 by aircraft and Italian ships when part of Force W escorting a Malta convoy. 15 of her crew were killed and 22 wounded. Crippled she was towed by the destroyer Antelope to Gibraltar for temporary repairs arriving back in Britain in August for drydocking at Rosyth.

Those repairs were completed in July 1943 and extended into an extensive refit and maintenance period. As part of this her anti aircraft defensive capability was greatly increased to 28 pom-poms in six quadruple and four single mountings, 7 Bofors 40mm guns in single mountings and 5 more 20mmm Oerlikon guns. The Royal Navy had certainly learnt a lesson in anti aircraft defence since the Battle for Crete in May 1941. However she was prevented from re-entering service until October 1945 as insufficient crew were available.

Recommissioned, but without Bob, in that month to join the 15th Cruiser Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet.

HMS Liverpool
October 1941

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, Govan, Scotland
      Ordered: 11 November 1935
      Laid down: 17 February 1936
      Launched: 24 March 1937
      Commissioned: 2 November 1938
      Displacement - As built 9,252 tons (15 Oct 1938)
      Fully Loaded: 12,675 (16 Jul 1945)
      Pennant No: C11
      Fate: Decommissioned 1952, placed into reserve. Placed on Disposal List 1957. Sold to BISCO,   
               arrived 2 July 1958 McLellan, Bo’ness for breaking up.

18) HMS Pembroke

10/10/1945 – 17/11/1945
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.

HMS Pembroke
Figureheads in the grounds of the Barracks from early Royal Navy “Days of Sail” warships

19) HMS Suffolk

18/11/1945 – 25/04/1946
“Kent” Subclass of “County” Class Heavy Cruiser, 8 x 8-inch guns in four twin turrets. (6th of her name)

After World War 2, HMS Suffolk was used to bring repatriated military and civil personnel from Australia and sailed for her first trip on 26th August 1945. On return in November she underwent repair at HM Dockyard Chatham where Bob joined her on 18 November. With repairs completed in January 1946 she then made a second trooping trip to Australia and returned in April when Bob was drafted out of her on the 25th.

HMS Suffolk

Ship’s details:

      Builder: HM Dockyard, Portsmouth
      Laid down: 30 September 1924
      Launched: 16 February 1926
      Completed: 7 Feb 1928
      Commissioned: 31 May 1928
      Displacement – As built: 9,495 tons
      Fully loaded: 13,450 tons
      Pennant No. 55
      Fate: Sold for breaking up 25 Mar 1948. Broken up June 1948 Cashmore’s, Newport (Mon) Yard

20) HMS Pembroke

26/04/1946 – 30/9/1946
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.

HMS Pembroke
The Drill Shed, flanking northern side of parade ground

21) HMS Sussex

01/10/1946 – 16/07/1948
“London” Subclass of “County” Class Heavy Cruiser, 8 x 8-inch gun in four triple turrets. (4th of her name) Eastern Fleet.

Bob’s Personal “Employment & Ability Record” record variously reads “Supervision / In Charge – boiler room and engine room machinery”



HMS Sussex
As Built

The end of World War 2 found Sussex in Singapore accepting the formal Japanese surrender followed by involvement in supporting the military operations against insurgents in Indonesia at Surabaya. In March 1946 she returned for fitting out at Chatham Dockyard as a troop ship. Bob joined her there on 1 October 1946 the ship then leaving that month for the Far East to retrieve personnel.

That task completed she paid off at Devonport to undergo a refit. She was re-commissioned in April 1947 for service with the 5th Cruiser Squadron, British Pacific Fleet joining the Fleet in the Far East as Flagship. The historical record then shows her as being replaced by the cruiser Belfast and returning to Portsmouth at the end of 1948 to pay off and go into reserve.

Bob’s record shows him as leaving Sussex on 16 July 1948 joining his next ship Encore a Fleet Tug next day, both ships being on the Far East station (presumed to be Hong Kong) at that time.

HMS Sussex
After World War II

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Hawthorn Leslie & Co, Hebburn- on-Tyne
      Laid down: 1 Feb 1926
      Launched: 22 Feb 1928
      Commissioned: 19 Mar 1929
      Displacement – As built: 9,500 tons
      Fully loaded: 13,290 tons
      Pennant No. 96
      Fate: Decommissioned (paid off) 3 Jan 1949. De-equipped February 1949 and placed on Disposal
               List . Sold for breaking up 3 January 1950 to BISCO. Arrived under tow 23 February 1950
               at Arnott Young, Dalmuir, arrived Troon July 1950.

22) HMS Encore

17/07/1948 – 25/12/1948
“Envoy” Class Armed Fleet Tug. (2nd of her name)

This class of armed Rescue Tugs consisting of six vessels Enchanter, Encore, Enforcer, Enigma, Enticer and Envoy, were built and completed in 1944 by Cochrane of Selby, North Yorkshire. They were each fitted with one 3”deck gun, two Oerlikon guns and two Colt machine guns for defence when on escort or rescue duty. After the war they were all sold into commercial service.

Bob’s records show him as leaving Encore on 25 December and four days later joining Sussex for one day, both ships being on the Far East station (presumed to be Hong Kong) at that time.



HMS Encore

Model of an “Envoy” Class armed fleet tug

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Cochrane & Sons, Selby, North Yorkshire
      Laid down:
      Launched: 2 Dec 1944
      Commissioned: 11 May 1945
      Displacement: 868 tons
      Pennant No: W179.
      Fate: On sale list 1967, believed sold into private hands.

23) HMS Sussex

29/12/1948 – 30/12/1948
For ship’s details see entry # 21

24) HMS Belfast

31/12/1948 – 17/04/1949
“Modified Town” Class Light Cruiser, 12 x 6-inch guns in four triple turrets. (1st of her name)
Part of 5th Cruiser Squadron Far East during Malaysian communist uprising.



HMS Belfast
Post 1945

Bob’s Personal “Employment & Ability Record” record reads “Chief of engine room watch at sea”.
Bob’s record show him as leaving Sussex on 30 December and joining Belfast next day. Belfast had just arrived to relieve Sussex as Flagship 5th Cruiser Squadron, British Pacific Fleet.

On 17 April 1949 Bob was drafted to HMS Pembroke at Chatham but there is no record as to how he was moved from the Belfast in Hong Kong to Chatham or as to how long that took.

(Refer to Note 3 re “drafted” under Item 13 “HMS Valiant”)



HMS Belfast
As a Museum Ship at Tower Bridge, London

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Harland & Wolff, Belfast
      Laid down: 10 Dec 1936
      Launched: 17 Mar 1938
      Completed 3 Aug 1939:
      Commissioned: 5 Aug 1939 (Captain G.A. Scott RN DSC)
      Displacement – As built: 10,300 tons
      Fully loaded: 13,285 tons
      Pennant No. C35
      Fate: Decommissioned 24 August 1963 Devonport and paid off into reserve. From May 1966 to
               1970 she was an accommodation ship, moored in Fareham Creek, for the Reserve Division
               at Portsmouth. On 4 May 1971 Belfast was 'reduced to disposal' to await being broken up
               but was then transferred in July 1971 to the HMS Belfast Trust. The Trust had been formed
               jointly by the Imperial War Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the Ministry of     
               Defence, who then preserved her as a Museum Ship at Tower Bridge, River Thames,
               London, opened to the public 21 October 1971. 

25) HMS Pembroke

18/04/1949 – 18/08/1949
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.

St George’s Centre, Chatham, Kent in 2012. Formerly HMS Pembroke’s Barracks Church.
On its walls are the names of all personnel of the Royal Navy Chatham Port Division
who lost their lives in both World Wars   

26) HMS Steepholm

18/08/1949 – 29/09/1950
“Isles” Class Minesweeper. (1st of her name)
Converted 1946 to a Wreck Disposal Vessel (DV17).

HMS Steepholm
Post 1946

Ship’s details:

      Builder: John Lewis & Sons
      Laid down:
      Launched: 15 July 1943
      Completed :
      Commissioned:
      Displacement – As built:
      Fully loaded:
      Pennant No. DV17, (1946)
      Fate: Arrived Antwerp 18 June1960 for breaking up.

27) HMS Pembroke

30/09/1950 – 12/10/1950
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.

Parades. All “spit and polish”.

28) HMS Neptune

13/10/1950 – 14/01/1952 (Pensioned No. 29299, 07/07/1951)
Shore Base. Chatham Reserve Fleet Division.
Nominal Depot Ship: Motor Mine Sweeper 1775 (ex 275).

The name “Neptune” was carried forward on 1 July 1950 for the Chatham Reserve Fleet Division having previously been held by the Leander Class Cruiser and sister ship to Ajax tragically sunk in an unmarked minefield off Tripoli on 19 December 1941 with only one survivor, Midshipman Frank Wade (refer Bibliography “A Midshipman’s War…”). The name was used at Chatham until paid off 11 May 1960.

Later, on 10 August 1967 the name was given to a shore based facility at Faslane which appears to have been open since 30 June 1966 with responsibility for accommodation, food supplies etc at the Clyde Submarine Base, HMNB Clyde. The future** of this base is now open to question being dependant upon the result of the Scottish Referendum to be held on 18 September 2014 to determine if Scotland will remain part of the United Kingdom. (** Source - "Daily Record and Sunday Mail", 3 March 2014)

      a. Lent to HMS Gillingham Group 13/10/1950 – 30/09/1951
      b. Lent to HMS Cambrian 01/10/1951 – 14/01/1952. Refitting at private yard. (5th of her name)
          “C” Class Destroyer (R85).  
           Originally laid down as HMS Spitfire. 1 of 32 ordered 1942, plus 8 (only 2 named) ordered in
           1943 but redesignated as “Weapon” Class.  



HMS Cambrian

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Scotts, Greenock, Scotland
      Ordered: 24 Mar 1942
      Laid down: 14 Aug 1942
      Launched: 10 Dec 1943
      Completed:
      Commissioned: 17 July 1944 by Messrs John Brown
      Displacement – As built: 1,710 tons
      Fully loaded: tons
      Pennant No. R85
      Fate: Paid off Dec 1968. Sold to Ward. Arrived Briton Ferry 3 September 1971 for breaking up.

29) HMS Superb

15/01/1952 – 02/06/1952
“Swiftsure (Minotaur)” Class Light Cruiser, 9 x 6 inch guns in three triple turrets. (10th of her name).
Commissioned into service 17 July 1944 at the aftermath of World War 2 she led a somewhat unremarkable and short life.

Her only taste of conflict came in the Corfu Channel Incident of 15 May 1946 when Superb and the Light Cruiser Orion came under fire from Albanian fortifications while crossing the channel but without any damage. Another later incident in October saw two destroyers, Saumarez and Volage hitting mines each incurring serious damage with 44 crew killed and another 44 injured.

There were plans for Superb to undergo a modernisation but when the parsimonious Conservative Government of the time released "Duncan Sands1957 Defence Review" it cancelled all Cruiser modernisations in favour of new guided missile ships. Superb was thus placed into reserve in August 1957 to be scrapped just three years later.

HMS Superb

Ship’s details:

      Builder: Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend
      Laid down: 23 June 1942
      Launched: 31 August 1943
      Completed: 16 November 1945
      Commissioned: 16 November 1945
      Displacement – As built: 9,066 tons
      Fully loaded: 11,851 tons (Oct 1950)
      Pennant No.C 25
      Fate: Decommissioned August 1957and placed into Reserve. Sold for scrap, scrapped at Dalmuir
               by Arnott Young, arriving there on 8 August 1960.

30) HMS Pembroke

03/06/1952 – 23/07/1952
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.

HMS Pembroke
Divisions

31) HMS Mars

24/07/1952 – 06/11/1952
Aircraft Maintenance & Repair Carrier. (8th of her "Mars" name).
Ordered as Ethalion, laid down as Pioneer, name changed (1942) to Mars.

One of 16 ships ordered as Colossus Class Light Fleet Aircraft Carriers, all were laid down of which  only eight were built with just four entering service before the end of WW2. Final two  (Perseus and Pioneer (Mars) ) were fitted out as Aircraft Maintenance & Repair Carriers being without aircraft catapaults or landing arrestor gear.

The design of the remaining six was modified to become the Majestic sub-class and sold to foreign navies one being Australia who named their ship HMAS Sydney and became their fleet flagship.

Non saw action in WW2.

Ship’s details:
      Builder: Vickers Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness.
                    Originally to be named “Ethalion”, renamed and laid down as Pioneer, renamed Mars   
                    in 1942
      Ordered: 7 August 1942 as Ethalion    
      Laid down: 2 December 1942 as Pioneer
      Launched: 20 May 1944 as Mars (renamed 1942)
      Completed: 8 February 1945
      Commissioned: 1July 1950
      Displacement : 12,265 tons standard
                                16,500 tons deep loading
      Length: 695ft
      Beam: 80ft
      Pennant No.R76 
      Placed early to mid 1946 in Reserve Fleet, Harwich, Essex.
      Commissioned: As Depot Ship 1 July 1950
      Reserve Fleet closed 28 March 1954
      Paid Off and decommissioned: 31 March 1954
      Fate: Arrived September 1954 at Ward, Inverkeithing, presumed for breaking up .

32) HMS Pembroke

07/11/1952 – 12/02/1953
Royal Navy Barracks. Chatham Division Depot. See entry # 1.



HMS Pembroke
Haul Down Ceremony upon final closure
(Notes 1 & 2)

Notes:
1.  HMS Pembroke has been a much used name by the Royal Navy having been given to 11 warships
     since 1655, the most recent being a Batch 2 "Sandown" Class Minehunter launched in 1997,
     commissioned 6 October 1998. The name has also been used for 9 shore establishments as
     supplementaries to the 1903 Barracks and Depot and once for a Royal Naval Air Station at
     Eastchurch between 1913 and 1918.
     This HMS Pembroke was first commissioned on 1 April 1873 as a Royal Navy Depot being
     accommodated in three hulks, the Pembroke, Royal Adelaide and Forte. The building of the
     Barracks on shore commenced in May 1897, the first messes being actually taken over on
     26 March 1902 with the official opening on 30 April 1903. It was closed on 29 October 1983 as a
     result of government expenditure cuts. Those same cuts had forced the closure of the adjacent HM
     Dockyard Chatham just a month before on 30 September ending 436 years of service to the Royal
     Navy, an industrial complex that had at one time been the world’s largest.
     The official closure of Chatham Dockyard together with that of the Chatham Naval Base, the        
     abolition of the joint Command of Naval  Flag Officer Medway and Port Admiral
     Chatham, were all celebrated in a single public (Flag) Haul Down Ceremony on 30 September
     1983 attended by its Flag Officer Rear Admiral W A Higgins CBE. (See Note 2).
     (Ibid - Bibliography ,"Haul Down Ceremony").
     Other datelines ** were:
           - May 1983, The Royal Marine "Fleet Band" under Captain Ted Whealing RM moved to
              Northolt.
           - 3 June 1983, the Band returned for the Barracks final Ceremonial Divisions.
           - 8 August 1983, last service held in St. Georges Church.
           - 29 October 1983, last Barracks Commanding Officer, Captain Paddy Sheehan RN left  
              his post.
           - 18 February 1984, the "Closure Party" under Commander R Wilson RN gathered outside   
               the Wardroom and the White Ensign was lowered for the last time. (See Note 2).
               (** Sources - "Kent's Historical Sites" & Mr Eddie Lane, Gillingham, Kent)
     Following the closures the combined Dockyard and Barracks sites were broken into three
     zones. One which included most of the former Dockyard was handed to the then newly formed
     Chatham Dockyard Historic Trust, the second zone disposed of for private and commercial
     development including private housing and the third including most of the Barracks buildings
     was taken over by the Universities of Greenwich and Kent with some since having been
     demolished and other new buildings erected.
2.  Other facilities at Pembroke continued to operate for some time after the Barracks 1983
     "closure". These included the Supply & Secretariat's Branch School and the Royal Naval Cookery
     School. The latter had baked the wedding cake for the marriage in 1981 of Prince Charles to Lady
     Diana Spencer, a task which comprised three cakes, two being spares in the event of any damage,
     and which occupied fourteen weeks.
3.  The frame of the establishment's Badge had earlier been changed to a diamond (date of change
     not known) before its closure.
4.  HM Dockyard Chatham was founded in 1547 when the Admiralty rented a storehouse on
     "Jillyingham (now Gillingham) Water". The Royal Navy's connections with Chatham actually 
     started much earlier in 1488 when the Grace Dieu was built there, even then she was the fourth
     Naval ship to bear that name. With a tonnage of 600/1,000 bm she was the first two-decker built
     for the Navy and fitted out with 100 guns. By 1550 Chatham was in regular use by Naval
     ships. The first ship to be actually built in Chatham Dockyard was the pinnace "Marlyne" ** of
     50bm in 1579, her name was later changed in 1603 to "Merlin".
     (** Source - Chatham Dockyard Historical Society notice, February 2014. There is however a
     contradiction to this in Colledge & Warlow's "Ships of the Royal Navy" P256 which refers to it
     only as Merlin and states that this ship was not listed after 1601 and ).
5.  There are thought to be several more than the 9 listed in his official service papers.


Bob Sharplin Released (retired) from Service 
12/02/1953 

Length of service: 23 years, 7 months and 4 days.

Proposed Admiralty Anchor.
A design submitted by Captain Rodgers R.N.
to the Admiralty 1852 Committee on Anchor Designs

__________________________________________________________________________

General Notes:
Displacement tonnages.
a) Standard displacement, also known as Washington Displacement, is a term defined by the  
    Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. It is defined as the displacement of the ship complete, fully
    manned, engined, and equipped ready for sea, including all armament and ammunition, equipment,
    outfit, provisions and fresh water for crew, miscellaneous stores, and implements of every
    description that are intended to be carried in war, but without fuel or reserve boiler feed water on
    board.  The omission of fuel and water was to avoid penalizing the British, who had great global
    commitments and required greater fuel loads, and especially the United States, which had global 
    commitments almost as great but with fewer bases to provide fuelling than the Royal Navy.
        Source: Wikipedia
b) Displacement tonnage is the weight of the water that a ship displaces when it is floating; the term
    is ordinarily defined such that the ship's fuel tanks are full and all stores are aboard. The term is
    usually applied to naval vessels. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight,
    such as loaded displacement, full load displacement and designated displacement. As a
    measurement of weight, displacement should not be confused with similarly named measurements
    of volume or capacity such as net tonnage or gross tonnage.