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I have received a copy of my Grandfather's World War I naval record. Under the column "Ship &c. Served in" one of the entries states, Egmont ("Duke"). Another one states, Egmont ("Duke" Port Said) and a third says, Duke (Port Said). Can anyone tell me what "Duke" might mean? I thought that perhaps he was servicing on the Egmont and was temporarily assigned to a ship named Duke of -------. were there numerous Duke of ---------'s in service in WWI? These entries cover the time from 25th April 1917 to 16th April 1919.

Best Wishes,

Keith.

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Welcome to the forum!

Duke (ex Duke of Devonshire) was a paddle steamer of 250 tons armed with 2 6pdrs, hired in 1916 and used as an auxiliary patrol vessel in the war and a mine sweeper post war. Egmont is the naval base at Malta, kept simple (there are several threads discussing accounting bases) that was where he drew his pay.

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I have received a copy of my Grandfather's World War I naval record. Under the column "Ship &c. Served in" one of the entries states, Egmont ("Duke"). Another one states, Egmont ("Duke" Port Said) and a third says, Duke (Port Said). Can anyone tell me what "Duke" might mean? I thought that perhaps he was servicing on the Egmont and was temporarily assigned to a ship named Duke of -------. were there numerous Duke of ---------'s in service in WWI? These entries cover the time from 25th April 1917 to 16th April 1919.

EGMONT was the base ship at Malta and DUKE the depot ship at Port Said. EGMONT II was the accounting base at Malta for vessels at Port Said until relieved of this function by DUKE at Port Said in 1918.

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  • 2 years later...

Can any naval sage provide a key to what these initials mean? They are given on a memorial which includes names and ships/units.

The sailor's name was Griffiths and he died at Port Said, 22/10/1918.

All clues welcome.

Daggers

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Name: GRIFFITHS, ALBERT VICTOR

Rank: Second Hand

Regiment/Service: Royal Naval Reserve

Unit Text: His Majesty's Paddle Mine Sweeper Duke

Age: 27

Date of Death: 22/10/1918

Service No: 802SA

Additional information: Son of Elizabeth and the late Thomas Griffiths, of 66, Cotswold St., Holt Rd., Kensington, Liverpool.

Royal Naval Reserve service cards are held on microfiche at Kew in BT 377/7 (service no. order); the originals are held at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, but I understand that they have closed their email and postal research service.

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Rapid response team at work - many thanks. I had not thought of a paddle steamer!

I heard from The FAA Museum last week that their research service had been withdrawn - this after so long I found it hard to remember what I had asked for. [it was not this query].

Thanks again

Daggers

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Glad to be of help.

Thank you for confirming the report about FAAM. Unfortunately, I believe that forums such as this have had a lot to do with overloading their resources by generating more enquiries than they could budget for.

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Daggers, your man died from an illness.

It is worth noting that Dittmar & Colledge do not include DUKE in their listing of Paddle Minesweepers, but under the heading of Patrol Paddle Vessels.

Bestwishes

David

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Hi

An out of timescale addition but in late 1930s and throughout WW2 HMS Duke was a Shore Establishment at Great Malvern later to become TRE, Telecommunications Research Establishment. Lors Haw Haw claimed it as sunk at one point

Peter

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Duke (ex Duke of Devonshire) has featured on the forum before: she was a paddle steamer of 250 tons, launched 1896 armed with 2 X 6pdrs, hired in 1916 and used as an auxiliary patrol vessel in the war and a mine sweeper post war. JJ Colledge 'Ships of the Royal Navy,' vol. 2.

 

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