Admiralty Contracts and Takoradi Naval Base

[j.sabourn]

I have recollections as a nipper of Italian POWs at Dingwall Castle in Scotland being utilised as gardeners, my father was stationed there prior to being shipped out to Burma. What I can recollect of the couple of POWs that I came in contact with they were treat like one of the family and were free to move around as normal. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

My grandfather was a diver, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it. My brother remembers him telling a story about supervising Italian POWs diving, which doesn't sound like the sort of thing you'd normally be doing if you were just a ship's engineer.
Thanks for this information. I guess he could have been on courses of some sort, I hadn't thought of that.

Lets not forget that the Italians had some of the best underwater operators in the world at that time, and in the latter part of the war decided that their bread was bettered buttered on the other side, that is this side! Perhaps your grandfather may have been learning some of their expertise as the Germans would in all probability still have been using some of the Italians equipment and counter measures would have been needed. Also the Italians were great exponents of the two-man mini submarines, and had depot ships in neutral Spain (near Gibraltar) for mini subs. Cannot remember the article by name but the Italians had two MN ships detained in Spain under neutrality rules, but had German crews, these vessels had what would be known as moon pools these days to accommodate the ingress and egress of the mini subs, they were eventually sunk by limpet mines settling on the harbour bottom, thus making their moon pools useless.

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Huw
As i am not aware of any of these Items you ask about, i have written to the National Archives and asked the Questions. Wether or not they will know or reply remains to be seen.
But i have made such requests in the past and had some good responses, so lets wait and see.
I will post when and if a get any reply. Here's Hoping!

Your reference number:TNA1618875415W70


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Summary of your enquiry

• Full name: Vernon MacDonald
• Email: --.---------@-------.---
• Country: Australia
• Enquiry: Hello and Good Morning
  I wonder if you could possibly help, i am looking for explanations on the following that is on a Seamans CRS10 Document .
  Would really appreciate it if you can.
  Thank you in advance
  Vernon
  
  Granted Exit Permit P458135 (See RS 1 [or I?] for D/15/59872)
  
  Cancellation A/S 5/4/43 / Unclaimed SS [or 55?] 19/10
  Action sheet written 15/1/42
  JY 05 26 17 D
  
  53/BS 35963 14.4.43
  54 (Lon [or Con?]) Dock St. 8/4/43 D
  
  Above is all gibberish to me so far?? LOL
• Dates: LOOKS LIKE ITS AROUND 1943

[j.sabourn]

Ref. The moonpool areas Ivan , I am familiar with such, however I think most people who watch fictional movies etc. imagine the bottom of the ship closes up . in the cases that I am familiar with , this is a fallacy.. The bottom of the ship is open all the time , the onboard part of the moonpool area has a watertight hatch well above the draft of the vessel , the ship could even steam with this hatch open if necessary. As regards saturation diving that is a diver working outside the steel plating of a submersible is not as deep as most think . We had the means to go to a thousand feet, But don’t think that has ever been achieved . Don’t know what the present record is, but with. Modern technology is not necessary to risk divers health and safety today , as manned or unmanned submersibles take the place of divers. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

#10. Most naval ships carry a ships diver Huw, but just air diving. I am racking my memory banks as sailed with an engineer who carried his own diving gear and used to do underwater inspections of plating and areas around the stern glands etc. It was a pastime and hobby to him , but the company used to utilise his skills whenever needed. It must have been a uk ship but can’t at the moment put my finger on it. Cheers JS
PS what year did your grandfather pass away? JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Huw
The longer than normal absences from sea going may have been the he was on specialist diving training courses for the Navy, which, for security reasons wasn't recorded. I believe Takoradi was a convoy assembly area, so watching for undersea activity would have been one job he could have been doing. My father who was in the MN but on the naval Q ships in the first war hasn't got them recorded in his discharge book which I have.
Des

[Ivan Cloherty]

#14 Moonpool was the only description I could think of at that time of night John, it was more akin to a side loading port, but I don't have the technical details. However there was a film made some time later based on true events and I believe that Buster Crabb made a cameo appearance in it. Buster of course disappeared in mysterious circumstances near a Russian vessel at a Spithead Review, but stand to be corrected

[j.sabourn]

Thought it was Portsmouth harbour , the body was headless I believe . But that part is hearsay. Talk was he was doing underwater espionage on Russian vessels and they had their own divers down. The game could get rough at times. We had the misfortune to recover 4 servicemen’s bodies from the watery wastes at different times , these however were accidents. Two of them there wasn’t much left and were recovered from the mangled wreckage of a Tornado aircraft in the Irish Sea. Another couple from an air accident between two Wessex helicopters in the English Channel. The armed forces don’t advertise their deaths in service just as well as the media that the West has would make a meal of it. JS

PS The previous mention of divers , we had Occassion once to use a JIM suit the same as the one shown in one of Sean Connerys Bond movies. I did have at one time a picture of me standing beside it to give an idea of its size. I never found the depth that that could go to , it would I imagine be much deeper than a saturation diver. Cheers JS.

[Ivan Cloherty]

#18, I initially thought Portsmouth John and it may well be correct, (one of our google wizards will find out) then I thought would they let Soviet vessels into Portsmouth during the earlier years of the Cold War, of course in those days we had a Navy so had little to worry about. I see our Govt has sent 'a' warship to the Black Sea to calm the situation, Russkies must be quaking in their boots or feel some target practice coming on; whichever, the vodka will be flowing and 'Home on the Steppes' blaring from the loudspeakers

[j.sabourn]

#19 During my meandering through a menagerie of ships think I mentioned a Russian one. This was in the past 25 years so wasn’t a Cold War situation by any means , apart from the suspicions that the Russian seafarers had of us , these soon were dispersed and they were the same as seamen anywhere else.The Russian master was also retained on board for our time there and even asked me to approach the union to see if they could get on to film star wages . I think the Indian crews I was with 50 years previously were as well paid as them. However the ship never went into port in Australia , not that they would of got it in any case. JS.