Adam Shaw Posted 24 September , 2006 Share Posted 24 September , 2006 Im aware that there have ben threads on Mystery Ships but while researching some other stuff I came across an article in the "Ayrshire Post" of 25th October 1929 and tyhought it might be of interest. I hope this is accurate as I hurriedly scribbled it down. It is apparnetly from a talk given by Rear Admiral Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Shaw Posted 24 September , 2006 Author Share Posted 24 September , 2006 Sorry about that I must have hit something by mistake...as I was saying this is apparently from a talk given by Rear Admiral Gordon Campbell in Prestwick. "the Mystery Ship began as an attempt to do away with submarine warfare. The function of the Mystery Ship was to decoy the submarine to lose its invisibility so that once visible ity could be destroyed.. Mystery Ships were made to be like merchgant ships, to all outward appearances liners tramps and all kinds of steamers were employed. In the typical Mystery Ship the steering house at the stern housed a 12 pounder, a 6 pounder was hidden in the bridge, another 12 pounder almost below and a hen coop behind the funnel hid a Maxim.The crews were not specially picked men. Most of them were taken from the RNR and had to be trained. They could not wear uniform for they had to be dressed like ordinary seamen. The government allowed each officer 30 shillings and each man 15 shillings. The gun crews were hidden near their guns and walked about deck smokingh and chatting." The article goesd on to say how he spoke of his manoeuvres in the first of the Mystery Ships in the Atlantic in the winter of 1915-16. One of the commands he gacve was "torpedo missed" which signalled to the crew to carry on as normal. However if he gave the command " torpedo hit" the crew would abandon ship to cause the submarine to surface thinking they had a succesful strike...as it surfaced the crew would get back on board, unvover their guns and attack the sub. It seems he was awarded his VC for an action in which he sunk submarine M83. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc2 Posted 26 September , 2006 Share Posted 26 September , 2006 Fascinating, as I have not heard the term "mystery ship" before. Is this what we frequently refer to as a "Q" boat? Doc2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 26 September , 2006 Share Posted 26 September , 2006 (edited) Campbell won his VC for the action in which his Q-ship Farnborough sank U83 in 1917. Ships equipped to lure submarines into surfacing to attack them were known by various names: special service ships, mystery ships, decoy ships, Q-ships. The origin of the name 'Q-ship' is not entirely certain, but is often attributed to the fact that many of these ships operated out of the port of Queenstown (today Cobh) in Ireland. Mick Edited 26 September , 2006 by Siege Gunner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph Posted 26 September , 2006 Share Posted 26 September , 2006 ADMIRAL GORDON CAMPBELL MY MYSTERY SHIPS (ISBN: 1904381073) Worth a read. Regards Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 6 October , 2006 Share Posted 6 October , 2006 Alickie Just in case you haven't seen the thread concerning "Mystery Ship" NETLEY (HYDERABAD) that is a similar case. Sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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