RNR & RNVR Service Records

[clive_hughes]

Hi there,

I have copies of the service records of a couple of local men (brothers, actually) who served in the RNR and RNVR. Most of the notes are fairly clear, but there are a few I can't fathom:

(ADM 337/54) RNVR man has a 1917 sub-rating "SG (D.A.M.S.)", having been Demobilized as an "Actg. GL II" one day and Remobilized as SG the next. "DAMS" crops up throughout his service, there are two other instances of his having the codes Actg. GLII and SG bracketed together.

He evidently got more pay for time served in DAMS, until reverting to "Naval Rates".

The only vessels listed seem to be shore bases (Pembroke, Victory). Does this mean that other vessels served on were not recorded in this type of record?

His RNR brother served in Victory, but also Hermione and Arrogant. Were the last two also shore bases? I know that he served on an ML boat during the time he is shown here as being on Arrogant's books, so can I take it that sub-units were not fully recorded on these registers?

Comments and observations welcomed as I am trying to transcribe this material for the mens' families.

Cheers,

LST_164

[joseph]

"SG (D.A.M.S.)" Seaman Gunner (Defensivley Armed Merchant Ships)

"Actg. GL II" Acting Gun Layer 2nd Class

The accounting base for DAMS was President III are there any names in brackets after the bases?

Regards Charles

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Defensively Armed Merchant Ships

 

 

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Hermione and Arrogant were both depot ships/ shore establishments. Where they were and what they supported depeded upon the date; Arrogant was a ML depot ship.

[clive_hughes]

Charles - no, no ship names after the Victory VI, Pembroke I, or President III entries - but the link given by Per Ardua to the thread on related matters seems to make it clear that generally speaking no DAMS vessels are listed on these registers.

But the Gunlayer rating abbreviations are now explained to me!

Per Ardua - thanks for the helpful link. As regards the bases, I can see that he was listed under Arrogant from 16 Feb 1918 till 31 Jan 1919, and Hermione just from 1 Feb to 13 Feb 1919. He was technically under Victory for a few days before demob 0n 17 Feb 1919.

There are other, faint entries on the xerox which I think I'm going to have to ask my NA researcher to transcribe, as they haven't copied well at all. They include a reference to HM ML 526 ?under Victory from ?Aug 1917 (though I know he was a member of the ML crew at the Zeebrugge Raid in April 1918 when technically he is under Arrogant). Maybe I'm going to have to come back to you on this, once I obtain the transcript.

Thanks very much for replying folks,

LST_164

[per ardua per mare per terram]

The originals of the RNR service cards are at the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

"when technically he is under Arrogant" That is where his pay, admin and mail etc was handled, and probably where he slept most of the time. A motor Launch was far too small to carry the administrative structure. The ship he was actually serving on should be in brackets (it may just b brackets and ditto marks if he was still on ML 526) Arrogant was an ML depot ship Dover 27/10/17-March 1919.

Hermione Soton depot ship Motor Boat reserve.

Victory without numbers: THE ship of the same name and still afloat in 1919, also Portsmouth Barracks.

[clive_hughes]

Per Ardua,

thanks very much indeed. That clarifies things a bit more.

I may well return to this once I have the transcripts, in a week or two. It seems also as if it may be worth my while consulting the Yeovilton archives, if the cards contain further info.

If his brother's ADM 337 record for RNVR doesn't say in which DAMS vessels he was employed, is there a source that would?

I understood that up to as late as the early 1970s, a sailor's parchment certificate of service was handed to the man on discharge, leaving only a summary entry with central Naval Records? My father for WW2 has only the brief central index card entry remaining as a record of his service (likewise not mentioning his time in the Far East in landing ships, just his former cruiser back in the UK) - I imagine the same was true for him, but I never saw a parchment and he never mentioned it.

Cheers,

LST_164