Naval_Gazer & List,

A wonderfully detailed reply as always and very much appreciated. Have you served in Malta?

Denn makes the trip from Custom House to the Office almost every morning at 09.00 - can I take it that his office would have been in Fort St Angelo (HMS St Angelo)? I have circled in green where I deduce the location of the Fort was (and I am sure, still is) on the GE screen shot here - is this correct?

The Diary entry for January 2nd in part reads:

"...Crossed to office from Custom House with Oswald and remainder of Experimental Station people at 09.00..."

At first I thought Denn also worked in the Experimental Station but reading further down the page:

"...Passed forenoon reading up latest A.W.O. and C.W.O.s and discussing a proposed new boat routine with Oswald to be put into force as soon as we have them turned over to us from Experimental Station which is to close down soon..."

Has anyone picked up from this or other entries as to what Denn's duties were?

A.W.O. and C.W.O.s - anyone know what the letters mean?

Thanks,

Pat
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Email: pat @ whitebeamimages.ie

Pat,

Never served there but often visited in ships. Until 1967, Malta was the base for the Mediterranean Fleet except for a few years during WWII when the Fleet had to relocate to Alexandria owing to the heavy bombing. In my more recent time, it was still the HQ for Flag Officer Malta/NATO CinC Mediterranean and most ships operating in the Med visited at some time. It was always a spectacular entry when passing HMS St Angelo and piping FO Malta while the ship's company stood to attention on the upper deck; a Royal Marine bugler would then return the salute from the ramparts. Ships normally secured between buoys in one of the creeks and I was one of the buoy jumpers for my first visit. It was then 'Out boats, booms and ladders' before settling into harbour routine. There was usually a regatta in which ships competed and I was one of the victorious crew in a pulling (rowing) race involving ships' whalers in Sliema Creek. I also have vivid memories of runs ashore to the notorious Strait Street (which sailors nicknamed 'The Gut') and the 'Barbary Coast' on the dockside where the thriving pubs had smoke-stained framed photos on their walls showing 100-strong mess runs ashore from battleships around the beginning of the 20th century. When I was there, the popular drink was Marsovin (sweet red wine) and 7-Up but that's another story. Suffice it to say that I was very grateful to a certain ship's Chief Boatswain's Mate (Buffer) for smuggling me back on board past the Officer of the Day after I experienced this concoction for the first time. See this page on Godfrey Dykes' website for more background information and pictures.


You are correct in your assumption. Customs House Quay is directly across the the harbour from Fort St Angelo and the rickety, Barracca Lift (now long gone) provided pedestrians with a perilous ride between the Quay and the Barracca Gardens in the city of Valletta high above.



Denn would have availed himself of the regular naval boat service or possibly hailed a local Dghajsa (water taxi) to cross the harbour.


His duties seem to have included those of a barrack master or harbour master's assistant; the King's Harbour Master of Grand Harbour was probably a Captain.


A.W.O.s: Admiralty Warning Orders. These were routine publications that announced instructions and information of general Naval interest, including honours and decorations published in the London Gazette, and were replaced by AFOs (Admiralty Fleet Orders) prior to the demise of the Admiralty in 1964 and the eventual introduction of MoD Defence Council Instructions (DCIs).

C.W.O.s: Commissions & Warrants Orders. These were routine publications that announced details of RN officers' appointments to ships (always to a ship, not to the associated establishment) or the award of commissions, warrants or promotions published in the London Gazette. They were replaced by CW Lists and then by Officers' Appointments Lists (OALs).

One question for you. Why have you chosen your particular pen name?
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"The British Army should be a projectile to be fired by the Navy." Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary 1905-1916.

Naval_Gazer,

It's great to have tracked down even a small part of Denn's routine in Valletta - once again full credit to your inexhaustible knowledge of naval matters. Every line demystified in the Diary sheds a new light on this Officer's life - a small sliver of time encapsulated within it's pages.

If the moderators will permit me, I will digress a little in order to give you guys a break from questions in this post.

My u/n is here in the first instance because the set up process of the forum seems to insist that you do not use your real name - why I am not sure as on my usual forum haunt it's not a problem (see below) and I use my own name there with no ill affects.

I joined this forum the same day I was reading a part of Cornelius Ryan's "The Longest Day". On page 39, the destroyer U.S.S. Corry dashes forward with her signal light frantically flashing, to catch up the six mine sweepers in the vanguard of her convoy heading for Normandy on the night of 4th June. The action is prompted by the recall signal sent to the Corry because of the gathering storm on June 4th/5th 1944 - D-Day had been postponed.

Then, when the 24 hour stand down is over and the great armada is at last on it's way, there is a reference on page 89 which reads:

"Off the French coast a little before 9.00pm a dozen small ships appeared. They moved quietly along the horizon, so close that their crews could clearly see the houses of Normandy. The ships went unnoticed. They finished their job and then moved back. They were British mine sweepers - the vanguard of the mightiest fleet ever assembled."

The U.S.S. Corry was one of the few naval units lost on D-Day. She was on station off UTAH Beach pouring fire into German batteries inland when she was forced to take evasive action. During the run she hit a mine and was lost with about half her crew.

So you can see where my u/n came from BTW, I have been a student of the Normandy Invasion for a long number of years now and have neglected to read "The Longest Day" because I thought it was basically the script of the film - not so at all - it's an excellent overview of D-Day, written in 1959 when memories were still relatively fresh.

My 'home' forum is on the Battlebus web site. Battlebus (www.battlebus.fr) is a battlefield tour company based in Bayeau, which I have used on all three of my trips to Normandy. My area of interest is the Allied Airborne landings specifically but not exclusively if that makes sense. For the past eighteen months I have been researching the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division. All of my research is posted on the Battlebus forum under the headings beginning "505th PIR Tour - No. _" as follows:




I'll return to all things naval in the next post!

Regards,

Pat Curran
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Web: whitebeamimages.ie
Email: pat @ whitebeamimages.ie

Pat - Pse check your PMs.
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"The British Army should be a projectile to be fired by the Navy." Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary 1905-1916.

Naval_Gazer & List

I was talking to the owner of the Denn Diary today and he informs me that Denn's family maintained that one of the ships he served on was torpedoed during WWI. I got the impression that Denn had been transferred off before this happened.

Does anyone know if any of the ships named in the deciphered service record on page 2 were damaged or sunk by torpedoes?

Thanks,

Pat
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Web: whitebeamimages.ie
Email: pat @ whitebeamimages.ie

HMS Comet:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...met_(1910)

Thanks for the link Soleil,


Reading from it:

"...The 12-pounder guns were amidships..."

What does the term 'pounder' refer to exactly? I know with shotguns, the term 4, 8, 10, 12 bore (or American 'gauge') etc. refers to the diameter of a lead ball fitting the barrel i.e. the barrel of a 4 bore shotgun will accept the diameter of a lead ball 1/4 of a pound(lb) in weight, a 12 bore barrel will accept the diameter of a lead ball 1/12 of a pound(lb) in weight and so on. Does the term 'pounder' refer to the same or similar scale?

Thanks,

Pat
_________________
Web: whitebeamimages.ie
Email: pat @ whitebeamimages.ie

Suggest you PM Granny or Norway Chris, both Gunnery Instructors.
Indeed Grannys last ship had Carronades!
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Illius me paenitet dux

The 12 pounder fired a projectile weighing 12 lbs (actually 12.5 lbs). See QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun on Wikipedia. QF stood for 'Quick Firing'.
_________________
"The British Army should be a projectile to be fired by the Navy." Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary 1905-1916.

Hi trelawney126, Naval_Gazer & List,

Done as you suggested and PM'ed the two experts - thanks for the tip. So it's that simple - it's just the wight of the projectile in lbs.

I am trying to get a better understanding of what Denn's duties entailed. He seems to have a lot to do with items termed 'paravanes' which appear to be part of the proceedures of minesweeping.

An extract from the entry for Friday, 24th January reads:

"...Went on board Guichen at 0850 with Bannister and Oswald and proceeded to sea in her for paravane trials. On arrival outside we went through the various forms of drill, doing everything in slow time for their benefit. The paravanes behaved successfully throughout the trials which lasted from 1000 till 1430.

<paragraph inserted for clarity>

A moored mine was placed about 1½ miles from harbour entrance and at 1030 we proceeded to cut it. We rammed the mine which was of course empty and had too much buoyancy for the 5 cwt. sinker which was attached to it. The mooring rope was towed by the paravane wire until we got into shallower water, when the sinker dragging along the bottom caused the mooring rope to travel along the paravane towing wire until it reached the cutter blades when it was severed.

<paragraph inserted for clarity>

As this trial was not very successful a second moored mine was dropped but with a heavier sinker. This was successfully cut, the mine jumping out of the water about 25 yards from the ship's side. We returned to harbour on completion of the steam trial at 1700 and left her for the shore at 1730 after an enjoyable day and a successful one..."

So, a paravane seems to be a dept control mechanism for the wire which cuts the mooring cable of a mine - is this correct?

Thanks,

Pat
_________________
Web: whitebeamimages.ie
Email: pat @ whitebeamimages.ie

Hi Pat,

This will save me writing everything down myself,


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ounder_gun
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You`ll be saying balls to the Skipper next,

Well done that man ,spot on NG,
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You`ll be saying balls to the Skipper next,

Pat - Guichen was a French cruiser subject to a mutiny later that same year. More information can be found here and here.

As we know, Denn was a Gunner (T), i.e. a Torpedoman rather than a surface Gunnery specialist. In 1919, the Torpedo branch was still responsible for all mine warfare and electrics in the Royal Navy, as well as torpedoes. In fact, Torpedo Branch ratings (who became members of the Torpedo & Anti-Submarine (TAS) Branch after a merger with the Anti-Submarine (AS) Branch on 10 Oct 1946) remained responsible for performing RN mining and mine countermeasures until 1 Jan 1975 when the Mine Warfare (MW) sub-branch was formed as part of the new Operations Branch.

During WW I, the torpedo establishment at HMS Vernon in Portsmouth developed high speed wire sweeps for destroyers and introduced paravanes for the self-protection of major warships and merchant ships. These systems comprised wires diverted from the bows of ships and kept at depth by the paravanes themselves. The theory was that any moored mine would be repelled by the bow wave of a ship and its mooring cable would slide along one of the wires extending each side of the ship until it was severed by a 'V'-shaped cutter at the end. In the case of the Burney Paravane, the mine was detonated by an explosive charge. An example is on display in the Explosion! Museum of Naval Firepower on the site of the old Royal Naval Armament Depot (RNAD) at Priddy's Hard, Gosport - well worth a look.


These developments culminated in the Oropesa Mk 1 minesweeping system, named after the trawler first involved in its trial. This sweep was kept at the required depth by a multi-vane kite otter instead of a paravane. Its end was diverted laterally by another kite on its side, or by an otter board, suspended beneath a streamlined float. A 'V' cutter at the end of the sweep severed the mooring cable of any mine left uncut by the serrated wire. The sweep proved effective in several types of vessel and could be deployed by a single sweeper but it was not formally accepted into service until 1919.

The newspaper article dated 2 May 1919 here provides an interesting contemporary account of the paravane from the USA's perspective. Wikipedia contains an article about the paravane here but ignore the photo erroniously captioned "A paravane aboard USS Engage (MSO-433)" as it actually shows one of the streamlined floats intended to stop the whole assembly sinking to the seabed.
_________________
"The British Army should be a projectile to be fired by the Navy." Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary 1905-1916.

NorwayChris & Naval_Gazer,

Many thanks once again for the help.


Ah! - a French crew to instruct; that's what he means - the language barrier I see from the above article that the French navy had mutiny problems all over, not just in the Black Sea during the Russian Civil War. I am sure Denn makes reference to some Russian nobles passing through Malta on their flight from Russia somewhere in the Diary - I'll see if I can find it over the weekend.

In regard to the paravanes, it's no wonder Denn enquires from his workshop crew as to how many they can produce per month - it appears that a large number of ships had this paravane system fitted to sweep mines out of their path - I always assumed that only minesweepers carried out this task.

Did minesweepers of that period have additional gear to enable them carry out their specialised role?

Was the mine menace any better or worse in the Mediterranean compared to other bodies of water after WWI?

Thanks,

Pat
_________________
Web: whitebeamimages.ie
Email: pat @ whitebeamimages.ie

www.navy-net.co.uk/For...20797.html

One site you may try to find out names and types of ships mentioned in the diary.
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Illius me paenitet dux