Chris_Baker Posted 9 December , 2003 Share Posted 9 December , 2003 I am interested in identifying a Royal Navy minesweeper lost off the Tripoli coast in May 1916. Can anyone offer any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 9 December , 2003 Share Posted 9 December , 2003 Only RN ship listed as lost in the Med in May 1916 was the monitor M.30 sunk in action 13.05.16 in the Gulf of Smyrna. "British Vessels Lost at Sea 14-18 & 39-45" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pete Wood Posted 9 December , 2003 Share Posted 9 December , 2003 These minewseepers are those listed by Janes (1919) as being lost, though none have the same dates/location you are offering. HMS Clacton would appear, to me, to be the closest match.... ROEDEAN (ex ROEBUCK) (1897). S. 1094 tons (gross). Sunk at Longhope, 13th January, 1915. ST. SEIRIOL (1914). P. 928 tons (gross). Mined off the Shipwash Light Vessel 25th April 1918. NEWMARKET (1907). S. 833 tons (gross). Missing, Eastern Mediterranean; last reported 16th July, 1917. CLACTON (1904). S. 820 tons (gross). Torpedoed by a German Submarine at Chai Aghizi, in the Levant, 3rd August, 1916. ASCOT (1916). P. 810 tons displacement. Guns: 2 x 12 pdr., etc. Torpedoed by a German Submarine, off Farn Islands, 10th November, 1918. LUDLOW (1916). Sister to ASCOT, above. Mined off the Shipwash, 29th December, 1916. PLUMPTON (1916). Sister to ASCOT, above. Mined off Ostend, 19th October, 1918. REDCAR (1916). Sister to ASCOT, above. Mined off Spindle Buoy, to north of Gravelines, 24th June, 1917. See also Kempton below KEMPTON (1916). Sister to ASCOT, above. Mined off Spindle Buoy, to north of Gravelines, 24th June, 1917. See also Redcar above CUPAR (1918). S. 800 tons displacement. Guns : 2 x 12 pdr., ete. Mined off the Tyne, 5th May, 1919. KINROSS (1918). Sister to CUPAR, above. Mined in the Ægean, 16th June, 1919. PENARTH (1918). Sister to CUPAR, above. Mined off the Yorkshire Coast, 4th February, 1919. BLACKMOREVALE (19?6). S. 750 tons displacement. Guns : 1 x 12 pdr., etc. Mined off Montrose, 1st May, 1918. ERIN'S ISLE (1912). P. 633 tons (gross). Mined off the Nore, 7th February, 1919. QUEEN OF THE NORTH (1895). P. 590 tons (gross). Mined off Orfordness, 20th July, 1917. BRIGHTON QUEEN (1897). P. 553 tons (gross). Mined off Nieuport, 6th October, 1915. DUCHESS OF HAMILTON (1890). P. 553 tons (gross). Mined off the Longsand, 29th November, 1915. HYTHE (1905). P. 509 tons (gross). Lost by collision with Armed Boarding Steamer SARNIA, off Cape Helles, night of 28-29th October, 1915. LADY ISMAY (1911). P. 495 tons (gross). Mined near the Galloper, 21st December, 1917. FAIR MAID (1915). P. 432 tons (gross). Mined near Cross Sand Buoy, 9th November, 1916. NEPAULIN. (1892). P. 378 tons (gross). Mined near Dyck Light Vessel, 20th April, 1917. PRINCESS MARY II (1911). P. 326 tons (gross). Mined in the Aegean, 2nd August, 1919. DUCHESS OF MONTROSE (1902). P. 322 tons (gross). Mined off Dunkirk, 18th March, 1917. MARSA (1902). P. 317 tons (gross). Lost by collision at entrance to Harwich Harbour, 18th November, 1917. FANDANGO (1918). T. 280 tons displacement. Mined in the Dvina River, North Russia, 3rd July, 1919. SWORD DANCE (1918). Sister to FANDANGO above. Mined in the Dvina River, North Russia, 24th June, 1919. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 9 December , 2003 Share Posted 9 December , 2003 Looks like it was the M.30 - used for minelaying/minesweeping see picture at http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/monitors.htm Scroll down to M.29 Class. Date of sinking disagrees by one day with 'Vessels Lost' The location is right too. Gulf of Smyrna being near Tripoli (the one in Lebanon not the one in Libya) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 9 December , 2003 Author Share Posted 9 December , 2003 Thank you very much, chaps. I'm pretty sure it must be the M30. I'm looking into the career of Lt Andrew Martin RNR, who was later awarded the OBE(Mil). His papers definitely state May 1916 and minesweeper, so I guess M30 was his ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 9 December , 2003 Share Posted 9 December , 2003 Chris The M30 was built in 1915 by Workman Clark and Company and was armed with two six inch guns, one six pounder AA gun and 2 MG's. On the night of 13-14th May 1916, she was engaged in the bombardment of Turkish batteries near Cape Aspero, Gulf of Smyrna. The M30 was hit in the engine room by gunfire from the shore batteries and caught fire. Some 50 of the crew, including the wounded, were taken off by the armed motor yacht California and the monitor sunk shortly afterwards. The M30 was commanded by Lt Cdr LB Lockyear. Terry Reeves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombadier Posted 11 December , 2003 Share Posted 11 December , 2003 Chris I think I may be about to throw a spanner in the works During an infrequent trip into Portsmouth, I managed to escape from the Xmas shopping for an hour (Thank You) and look up your man in the Navy Lists in the Central Library. There is only one Andrew Martin RNR who served in the war. Good start! Earliest Navy List on the shelves is August 1915, in which he is shown as Temporary Sub Lieutenant (For General Service) with no posting given. Date of seniority 1 July 1915 Sept 1915 he is shown as posted to MAGNOLIA (Date of appointment 26 July 1915) and remains there to the July 1916 listing. MAGNOLIA has CL or CF after her name (damn my scribbling) which I suspect might have been her posting (Channel Fleet???) From October 1916 listing until Dec 1916, no posting is given. Jan 1917 he is shown as being on M18 (Appointed 6 Dec 1916) Feb 1917 he again has no posting. His next posting is in the Sept 1917 edition (August was missing) when is shown as being on THALIA, a storage hulk in Cromarty Firth, as a Lieutenant with seniority of 1 Jul 1917. He remains on THALIA until Aug 1919 when he is shown as demobilised. Interestingly, before his name from Nov 17, there are the letters PW and they remain there until his demobilisation. The abbreviations list doesn't help at all. Might he have been a POW perhaps, with THALIA being a sort of default posting? At no point is he shown as being on M30, which is last listed in the May 1916 edition, as would be fit in with the date of sinking. Has any of this helped you, or have I introduced more confusion? Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 11 December , 2003 Author Share Posted 11 December , 2003 Thank you very much Nigel. It lines up with his service record, more or less! The additional bit I have is that on 25 June 1916 he was admitted to Ras-el-Tin Mil Hospital in Alexandria, having suffered ear damage in an explosion. He was eventually evacuated to Plymouth, and out of action for quite some time. A medical board on 15 Jan 17 says the injury was caused "when blown up on mine sweeper off Tripoli coast" ie where I came in...and why M30 sounds feasible. There is nothing between his positing to Magnolia and going into hospital in Egypt. Curious. Unless they are one and the same thing. M30...Magnolia...too simple for the navy, do you reckon? By the way Thalia must have been something to do with training, for he was placed in charge of instructional classes there on 27 July 17 - and was eventually awarded the OBE (Mil) for this. Any ideas on what PW means as a prefix for an RNR officer on the Navy List? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombadier Posted 11 December , 2003 Share Posted 11 December , 2003 Sorry Chris M30 and Magnolia are listed separately in the Navy List. They are not the same vessel. M30 disappears, Magnolia does not. As he was on M18 for a short time from December 1916, could he have been blown up there as well? He appears to have been on Magnolia at the time of his admission to hospital as he is listed there in the July 16 edition, which was probably in preparation during June. I suppose that it is possible that the explosion on the ship did not sink it (unless you know definitely). If Magnolia was a minesweeper (Navy List didn't help) it is possible she could have sustained an explosion for some reason and your man was injured in this. Somebody else may have information on Magnolia which could help here. As for PW, my theory was POW but your info shows that not to be the case! Anybody else? Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombadier Posted 11 December , 2003 Share Posted 11 December , 2003 Chris I've just done a Google search and found that Magnolia was a Flower class sloop, launched June 26 1915 (same day and month (not year) as my wife's birthday. Her father commanded a Flower class corvette in WWII!). She was sold in July 1932. (Magnolia not my wife ). Another site (http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Janes_1919/Index/Index_M.html) describes her as "Fleet Sweeping Vessel (Sloop) - (Minesweeper)". Is this getting somewhere? Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 11 December , 2003 Share Posted 11 December , 2003 M.30 was definitely sunk and was the only RN ship sunk in the Med in May 1916. Magnolia was a sloop of the 'Acacia' class. Launched 26.06.15 and sold 02.07.32 The name was also carried previously by two RN trawlers in WW1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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