Ok...my darling Dad (Bob Flegg, aged 92) keeps asking me if I have had any luck finding fellow shipmates that served with him on HMS Trouncer or HMS Thane on the North Atlantic convoys during the Second World War...I haven't...so let's see if Facebook can help? PLEASE SHARE...someone might know someone...fingers crossed x

My grandfather was serving in the Merchant Navy on the Russian convoys & lost his life when his ship was lost with all hands after being torpedoed. Please tell your dad that many thousands of people will be eternally grateful for his efforts and hardships while trying to protect the convoys. I have the greatest respect for those who went to sea in ships that were not designed for the North Atlantic, but went anyway. Give him a big hug from me!

https://www.facebook.com/SpottedPor...7104/938669469605029/?type=3&theater

Arr hope they find someone. Wish them luck..

The men of the Merchant Navy took part in the longest battle of the war, and stood alongside our armed forces (none of whom should be forgotten)but it is only recently they have been officially recognized for the part they played, all the best to them, and hope they find some of his old shipmates.

Just had a look, and see that over 30,000 Merchant Navy lost their lives. That's a lot of ships too !

Yes, I hope this chap finds an old ship mate . Thanks.

Just a few lines about the shabby way the Merchant Navy has been treated, they were not allowed to march to the Cenotaph until 2000 yet they fought and died along side our RN lads, one of the best known David and Goliath battles happened in 1940 between HMS Jervis Bay an armed merchant cruiser and Admiral Scheer a German cruiser, it is well documented so I wont go into detail, suffice to say the Captain of Jervis Bay was posthumously awarded a VC, of the 255 crew 105 where MN yet never appeared on any Cenotaph along with the RN lads they died with and only later on the MN Cenotaph in Liverpool, in the same convoy SS Beaverford also engaged Scheer in similar uneven contest but with just as much bravery, her crew Canadian MN.

Lest we forget.

tbh I never understood why the merchant navy existed in wartime. If the Army needed miners they conscripted miners into the Army, why didn't the Navy do the same? It does seem a halfway bodge to avoid some responsibility to the valuable seafarers.

Just as a matter of interest DD, if they were required to serve on ships along with RN personnel they were given a designation of T-124
Naval Auxiliary Personnel, although they remained on MN rates of pay, if they left the ship for any reason this title was then removed, I don't know if this applied to DEMS gunners on ordinary merchant ships because they were a mixture of army, navy and mn personnel.

Thanks for that. The DEMS Gunners were always service personnel although they could be and were assisted by trained mn personnel who officially were called Merchant Seaman Gunners but in practice were commonly called DEMS Gunners.

I'll confess I don't know much about the Merchant Navy despite having worked next to many of them. I should do some reading.

HMS Jervis Bay was a convoy escort ship to Merchant Navy. (Didn't know about her, but now I do)
Understandable, as the MN where and still are supply ships. They brought food so we didn't starve, and all other things . Cargo carrying vessels like sitting ducks in many cases, not a fighting force.

A good read if you can get a copy DD, Mrs Fergusons tea-set, details the sinking of the Blue Funnel ship SS Automedon and the consequences of that action that was to influence Japans attempts to dominate the Far East.