HMS ALERT

[kin47]

Hello

Can anyone fill me in on the activities of HMS ALERT in Mesopotamia in 1916? She has a number of deaths through the second half of the year. Some are as Turkish POWs and others from sunstroke which may have been sustained as POWs.

I know ALERT was not lost during the war, so I am at a bit of a loss why so many men fell into Turkish hands.

Any illumination would be appreciated.

All best

don

[nhclark]

Hello

Can anyone fill me in on the activities of HMS ALERT in Mesopotamia in 1916? She has a number of deaths through the second half of the year. Some are as Turkish POWs and others from sunstroke which may have been sustained as POWs.

I know ALERT was not lost during the war, so I am at a bit of a loss why so many men fell into Turkish hands.

Any illumination would be appreciated.

All best

don

[nhclark]

Whoops, Don, I'll learn how this site works in due course. Sorry about the "blank" message.

See http://fwaterfield.tripod.com/hmsalert/alert.html

It seems that the vessel to which you refer was the eighth HMS Alert, and that she was engaged in the suppression of gun-running activities in the Persion Gulf from about 1910 onwards.

Perhaps the owner of the web-site I've given above might be able to give you a lot more information. I'm a mere landlubber!

[ionia]

In 1915 the sloop ALERT was fitted out at Bombay for service as a base ship for the Naval rivercraft on the Shat-el-Arab. She seems to have spent 1916 at Abadan being involved with the manning, storing and fitting out of newly-built gunboats, moving to Basra in 1917.