Harry Hake’s Tate’s Navy: fisheries and the Royal Naval Patrol Service

Introduction The British fishing fleet has long been a strategic national asset – at least until recently – and the State’s ways of capitalising on our pool of experienced seafarers goes back centuries. The level of demand for them in the national interest has varied hugely between times of peace and times of war.

Historically the conditions for crew in the Royal Navy were often appalling and it was difficult to recruit enough crew to maintain our various capabilities. For many years press gangs recruited ‘volunteers’ to the RN but there was increasing resistance to their tactics. Impressment formally ended after the Napoleonic Wars c1815 but within a couple of decades new schemes were being devised to establish groups of reserve seamen. In the pre-WW II years one branch was formalised into the Royal Naval Patrol Service made up of both merchantmen and fishermen. The nickname ‘Harry Tate’s Navy’ was coined after a famous comedian but the Reserve saw a great deal of action in both world wars and suffered very high levels of casualties.

Trawlers were requisitioned or specifically built for RN duties in both world wars and the Beverley shipyard of Cook, Welton & Gemmell built a significant number of them. These vessels, and crews from the Humber ports and other major fishing centres made a major contribution to the protection of shipping by minesweeping and protection duties. They suffered very high levels of loss but now seem to be valued less than those in the ‘real’ Royal Navy where larger boats with higher numbers of crew were involved.

Whilst many people may have heard of ‘Harry Tate’s Navy’ these notes have some nuances that give greater emphasis to the fisheries aspects. It has been difficult to set the boundaries of the subject – as usual there are all sorts of tangents that tempt one – but I have tried to paint a rounded picture and to dovetail with Graham’s previous piece on convoy protection.

The strategic value of fisheries Fishermen are seamen who have many strengths. They generally work extremely long hours and can stay alert; they ‘know’ and respect the sea; they have a physical presence in distant and inshore waters and can observe what’s happening; and their craft are both extremely seaworthy and equipped to handle warps, wires and other gear. They also know the features of the seabed and its bathymetry in highly granular detail.

The State has valued fishing vessels and fishermen as potential assets for centuries and post-WWI until the late 1980s was very generous with grants and loans (G&L) to maintain a modern fleet. On my first visit to the White Fish Authority (WFA) HQ in Edinburgh in 1977 I was amazed to see the whole basement floor of the building full of clerks with green visors and adding machines administering the, then, MAFF G&L scheme.

As an aside – when I started with the White Fish Authority on St Andrew’s dock in the mid-70s – I was aware of the mysterious retired RN Commander on the top floor who talked to distant water skippers and mates and, allegedly, handed out cameras. We all had to sign the Official Secrets Act declaration though, so keep this quiet….

As you were – during the 2004 enquiry into the loss of FV Gaul off North Cape, evidence was given that: “…the operations of a Cmdr. John Brookes, first identified publicly in a 1997 television exposé that reported the retired naval officer “ran an elaborate spy network” from the White Fish Authority in Hull. Nigel Meeson, counsel for the British government, told the inquiry that trawlers occasionally were tasked with specific intelligence missions. He said that in 1972-73, the trawler Invincible and then the Lord Nelson were sent to the Barents Sea with a Royal Navy officer and satellite navigation gear aboard, ostensibly to find a camera lost off a U.S. submarine. The skippers later learned they really were searching for a Soviet test missile.

“The Norwegian North Cape and the Barents Sea were areas of intense defence interest [during the Cold War], given the presence of Soviet Naval bases in north Russia and NATO’s strategic interest in the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic,” Meeson said. “The advantage of engaging fishing vessels as ‘intelligence gatherers’ was recognized very early in this period.” However, he said the Soviet Navy also maintained a large fleet of “trawlers” whose sole purpose was gathering intelligence on NATO ships. “These trawlers were often stationed in strategic waters around the British Isles and made no pretence of fishing,” said Meeson. “This activity continued into the 1990s.”

“Meeson said British fishermen’s service to their country represents a long tradition of support by the fishing fleet to the Royal Navy. “While going about their business of fishing in international waters, trawlermen volunteered such information as they thought right to report.”

Times change and, for the UK, we now work differently. Declining influence, quotas, EEZs, electronics and satellites have removed the need for government support to fisheries. It is however interesting to see how China is currently weaponising both its fishing fleet and coastguard in the South China Sea. When circumstances require, poor fishermen can still be seen as valuable assets!

Origins of the Royal Naval Reserve Press Gang recruitment often aimed at fishermen. The rationale was that in times of war fishing activity usually reduced and the importance of the merchant marine for trade meant that merchant seamen could only be targeted under limited conditions. Outbound merchant ships, officers and apprentices were exempt from impressment. When war broke out the Navy would deploy frigates and vessels off the coast to intercept inbound merchantmen. Reportedly some merchant captains redirected their ships to Irish ports to offload favoured crewmen, before making final landfall in England.

A report from the Whitby Historical Society describes how “…in the late 18th Century the Press Gangs were prevalent in Whitby. The Press Gangs were known for their violent ways of ‘recruiting’ for His Majesty’s Royal Navy. Conditions at sea were unbearable, months at a time out at sea with very little food or sleep, ships overrun with disease and pests and cruel physical punishments. There were very few willing volunteers!

“William Pitt demanded that each county had to provide a quota of men for the Royal Navy, depending on its population and number of sea ports. Yorkshire was the biggest county and had to provide 1081 men. Whitby then became a target due to the large number of fishermen and whalers.

“An ale house on Haggersgate was targeted as being the headquarters of the Press Gangs. It is said that a furious group of residents hurled stones at the property and started to demolish it. William Atkinson, John Harrison and Hannah Hobson were said to be the ringleaders of the riot. After the incident, a trial in York acquitted Harrison but found both William Atkinson and Hannah Hobson guilty. Atkinson was sentenced to death by hanging and Hannah Hobson was said to be reprieved, but in other documentation it was said that Hannah Hobson was transported to Australia on a women’s convict ship.”

Evolution When Impressment was abolished after Trafalgar a Register of Seamen was established in 1835 to identify men for naval service in the event of war. Unfortunately only 400 volunteered for duty in the Crimean War in 1854 out of 250,000 on the Register. This led to a Royal Commission on Manning the Navy in 1858, which in turn led to the Naval Reserve Act of 1859. This established the RNR as a reserve of professional seamen from the British Merchant Navy and fishing fleets, who could be called upon during times of war to serve in the regular Royal Navy. The RNR was originally a reserve of seamen only, but in 1862 was extended to include the recruitment and training of reserve officers. From its creation, RNR officers wore on their uniforms a unique and distinctive lace consisting of stripes of interwoven chain. This gave rise to the term ‘the Wavy Navy’.

The Royal Naval Patrol Service has its origins in WWl when the threat of mine warfare was first realized by the British Admiralty. In the early 1900s there was intense rivalry for the highest ranks in the navy between Sir John Fisher and Lord Charles Beresford. The former prevailed to become Admiral Lord Fisher whilst Beresford, a popular figure known as ‘Charlie B’, rose to occupy the highest sea commands – of the Mediterranean and Channel fleets. Beresford’s title of ‘Lord’ was nominal and he was a vociferous MP for many years whilst also a serving officer. This resulted in many conflicts between his speeches and Navy policy. Beresford liked to know and to be known and undertook a ‘Grand Tour’ of UK ports. After Admiral The Right visiting Grimsby in 1907 he is credited with recognising the potential value of Grimsby Honourable trawlers for minesweeping operations. He argued that trawlermen would be more skilled The Lord Beresford GCB GCVO MP than naval ratings with regards to the handling of the sizeable warps and winches that would be required for minesweeping, that the vessels had appropriate deck gear and that the fishing fleet would be inactive in times of war as fishing grounds became war zones. The Admiralty Minesweeping Division was established and many crew and vessels from the fishing and merchant fleets contributed to the naval actions in WW l. Fishermen of the RNR(T) section served with distinction on board trawlers fitted out as minesweepers for mine clearance operations at home and abroad throughout the war, where they suffered heavy casualties and losses. One such casualty was armed naval drifter HMT Frons Olivae, which hit a mine off Ramsgate on 12 October 1915 in an explosion that killed at least five other seamen. At the end of the war when the trawlers were returned to their owners to resume fishing operations the division was disbanded. The need for a skilled minesweeping force was recognised to be a part of First World War naval trawler, modern naval warfare and the Royal Navy later commissioned one flotilla of HMT Swansea Castle, one of fleet minesweepers for the instruction of ratings and junior officers. Three nearly 200 built 1916-19 trawlers were then added to the group along with the re-introduction of training in the Trawler Section of the Royal Naval Reserve and, under the new name of the Royal Naval Patrol Service, courses in training began at Portland. As tensions mounted in the years before the Second World War training intensified for officers and ratings and experiments and developments in sweeping methods and equipment were carried out. The Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS) was viewed by many as a ‘navy within a navy’ for several reasons. There were the contrasts between the orderly and longstanding traditions of the RN and its vessels and the out-dated and poorly armed vessels, such as requisitioned trawlers crewed by ex-fishermen. This was a Service crewed almost entirely by volunteers whereas the RN comprised professionals and conscripts. There were also contrasts between the crew and officers. Experienced fishermen could be commanded by a Reservist officer with no experience of fishing vessels or the operations involved. Compared to larger naval vessels, fishing boats ride the waves like corks and can display very fast and erratic movements. Anyone unused to this environment can find it almost impossible to work in a bit of weather. The popular nickname for this fleet was ‘Harry Tate’s Navy’ although it was also called ‘Churchill’s Pirates’ and ‘Sparrows’. In the years leading up to and throughout WWll many vessels and crew were requisitioned, built, repurposed or otherwise deployed for the RNPS. Minesweeping was its main focus but it also worked on anti-submarine duties, on convoy protection and in many theatres of war around the world. ------Harry Tate Harry was born in Lambeth as Ronald MacDonald (!) Hutchison and started work as a clerk for the sugar refiners Henry Tate & Sons. He took his stage name from that company making his stage debut in 1895. He mimicked several contemporaries but then established the persona of “a blustering – if basically good-humored – incompetent, convinced that he was in charge of the situation, but never failing to increase the chaos which surrounded him.” A later reviewer described Tate as "the greatest of all the pre-Second World War sketch comics, and one of the few artists from before 1914 to be able to maintain his popularity.” ------

WW ll In the summer of 1939 the Admiralty purchased 67 fishing trawlers and a further 20 newly constructed, and at the outbreak of WW II every available minesweeper of the Royal Navy and Royal Naval Patrol Service was at her war station. HMS Europa, usually known as Sparrow's Nest, became the Central Depot of the Royal Naval Patrol Service, located at Lowestoft, the most easterly point of Great Britain, and then the closest British military establishment to the enemy until decommissioned in 1946. The Lowestoft War Memorial Museum in the town is housed in the old Royal Naval Patrol Service headquarters building. Sparrow's Nest as HMS This eventually became the training and drafting base for men who manned Europa, in Lowestoft. The sailors are waiting to be numerous types of small craft including trawlers, whalers, drifters, MFVs given their draft or ship by (Motor Fishing Vessels), MLs (Motor Launches), and later MMSs (Motor an officer. Minesweepers or "Mickey Mouses"), American produced BYMS (British Yard Mine Sweepers) and many other requisitioned vessels.

Between 1942 and its decommissioning in 1946 new construction ships and craft manned by the Service totalled 1,637 of various kinds including converted trawlers, corvettes, fuel carriers, motor launches and naval seaplane tenders. Starting with 6,ooo men and 6oo vessels, Harry Tate's Navy grew to over 66,ooo men and 6,ooo vessels of all descriptions. Of this total, from September 1939 through to May 1945, over 260 trawlers were lost in action. This material loss however pales into insignificance when compared to the 15,000 or so RNPS personnel who were killed in the WW ll, including the 2385 RNPS seaman who "have no known grave but the sea".

Vessel types The Royal Navy maintained a small inventory of trawlers in peacetime but requisitioned much larger numbers of civilian trawlers in wartime. The larger and newer trawlers and whalers were converted for antisubmarine use and the older and smaller trawlers were converted to minesweepers. In September 1939, while 140 newly requisitioned trawlers were fitting out for antisubmarine service, the Royal Navy established the 1st anti-submarine (A/S) group of 5 trawlers at Portsmouth, the 2nd A/S group of 3 trawlers in the Western Approaches, the 3rd A/S group of 3 trawlers at Rosyth, and the 4th A/S group of 5 trawlers in the Mediterranean. The Royal Navy classified requisitioned WW l trawlers by builder although such classes were more diverse than traditional naval classifications. The trawler Basset, built in 1935, became the prototype for nearly 250 military trawlers purpose-built in the following ten years. The vessels were intended for use as mine-sweepers and for anti-submarine warfare, and the design was based on commercial types, adapted for naval use. The purpose of the RN’s order was to make use of specialist mercantile shipyards to provide vessels for war use by adapting commercial designs to Admiralty specifications. TREE class - 530 tons, 11.5 knots, 35 men DANCE class - 530 tons, 11.5 knots, 35 men SHAKESPEARIAN class - 545 tons, 12 knots, 35 men ISLES class - 545 tons, 12 knots, 40 men ADMIRALTY type - 600 tons, 14 knots, 35 men PORTUGUESE type - 550 tons, 11 knots, 30 men BRAZILIAN type - 680 tons, 12.5 knots, 40 men CASTLE class - 625 tons, 10 knots, 32 men HILLS class - 750 tons, 11 knots, 35 men FISH class - 670 tons, 11 knots, 35 men HMT Ailsa Craig in 1944: an Isles-class vessel built in ROUND TABLE class - 440 tons, 12 knots, 35 men Beverley. 197 were built in the Dance, Tree & Shakespearian classes in Beverley. MILITARY class - 750 tons, 11 knots, 40 men That said, examining Appendix l we can see that around 100 of the 250 were built during the war in Beverley by Cook, Welton and Gemmell, an extraordinary achievement for a relatively small yard some way from the sea! It is some tribute to their design and build expertise and their latent capacity. 20 vessels per year, at a high level of 350 working days per year, means that the yard produced, from scratch, a vessel every 2 ½ weeks!

Armaments and tactics

Alterations to a trawler's basic design were carried out in order to accommodate a larger crew, usually around 30 or so for the average A/S trawler including at least two skippers. The fish hold became the main ship's company mess deck with wooden mess tables and stools. Above in this confined and cramped area, hung hammocks on special hooks on the beams in any available space. Sometimes the stokers (often nicknamed the black gang), had a separate mess. Usually below the mess deck and in a specially constructed magazine, was stored the ammunition for the ship's guns. The officers’ quarters were situated below the wheelhouse and contained a couple of bunks along with some basic furniture, a cupboard and a safe for confidential/secret material. Lastly a small galley was included, where one cook had the challenging task of keeping an entire crew happy on sparse wartime provisions.

To transform a trawler into a man-of-war, a considerable amount of modification had to be carried out. To carry the guns, hull frames and deck beams had to be strengthened. Purpose-built mountings also had to be built on the whaleback (forward shelterdeck) and on the superstructure.

The main armaments to be fitted usually corresponded to a vessel's particular duty or task. The larger and faster trawlers and whalers were fitted out for anti-submarine warfare (ASW and armed with a 4-inch gun approximately equal to the deck guns of the submarines they might encounter. The older vessels deployed as minesweepers and patrol craft were armed with a 12 pounder. This also applied to most requisitioned craft although at first, some had to make do with a much smaller and less effective vintage 3-pounder or 6-pounder guns. Trawlers were also given between two and four .303 calibre Lewis guns which were later augmented with a similar number of 20mm machineguns. Oerlikon and Bofors guns might 12-pounder also be fitted for anti-aircraft defence. For vessels destined for A/S work, depth-charge rails and throwers would also be fitted along with the necessary ASDIC equipment (now Oerlikon A/A gun known as SONAR) for detecting enemy submarines.

A/S trawlers were typically assigned to five-ship groups. Small Depth Charge Rails trawlers were difficult torpedo targets and, while a U-boat might best a single trawler in a gunnery contest, it would be unable to withstand the combined attention of several trawlers. Antisubmarine trawlers could establish and maintain defensive perimeters around convoy assembly areas within which individual cargo ships could gain their formation stations for ocean steaming. Lewis gun 0.5 machine guns In a surface battle with a U-boat, the trawler/s would attempt to dissuade the U-boat deck gun crew with machineguns, while the U- boat might similarly aim its 20mm gun at the trawler's unshielded deck gun.

It's worth bearing in mind that, depending on the odds, submarines commanders could be very wary of engaging in gun battles. A trawler could absorb quite a lot of punishment but a single hit on the hull of a submarine meant it could no longer dive safely with confidence. It is therefore quite possible for a trawler, engaging a U-boat to force her to dive by threatening shooting. Once under water the U-boat was slow and became liable to attack by depth charges. The duties of RNPS The RNPS fought in all theatres of the war, from the Arctic to the Mediterranean, from the Atlantic to the Far East, involved in convoy duty, minesweeping and anti-submarine work. Most particularly they kept the British coast clear of the mines that were wreaking havoc with merchant ships. The simple moored mine with its contact prongs had been deployed for decades and, initially, minesweeping vessels would work 2-4 abreast with warps between them, aiming to cut the mooring lines of the mines. Once they had floated to the surface they were shot at with the hope of hitting a prong, leading to explosion. In the early months of the WW II, Germany made extensive use of magnetic mines, which led to a requirement for a wooden minesweeper, less vulnerable than steel trawlers. The resultant design, the MMS 1 series, was built between 1940 and 1944. Their major minesweeping equipment was the LL sweep where two minesweepers operating side-by-side each trailed two buoyant cables with electrodes at their far ends. Pulsing a high current through the cables generated a magnetic field sufficient to set off mines over an area of about 1 acre (0.40 ha). They were later fitted with an SA sweep to deal with acoustic mines, which consisted of a hammer box mounted on an A-frame on the ship's bow, which could be lowered into the water when required. The real headache for minesweepers came when the enemy started laying a cocktail of all three mines. This is a complex area worthy of more research but there isn’t room here to go into more detail. Suffice it to say that while techniques were being developed to combat these variants the minesweepers suffered great losses. In this first year of the war the losses of boats were staggering – nearly ten per cent of the then existing force went down (or up) and it was touch and go whether they could keep the domestic supply lines open (cf Graham’s figures for the trans-Atlantic convoys). To fight all the mine variants these ‘minor war- ships’ were festooned with wires, sound apparatus and electric cables. Stress levels for the crew must have been horrific.

When convoy escorts were needed after the fall of France, antisubmarine trawlers were pressed into escort service for which they were poorly suited. With maximum speeds of 10 to 12 knots, trawlers were able to maintain screening stations, but unable to maneuver effectively. If a trawler left station to investigate a contact or rescue the crew of a torpedoed ship, hours might pass before the trawler could regain station on the moving convoy. Escorting trawlers might discourage a timid U-boat acting independently, but an aggressive U-boat captain could use the superior surface speed of the U-boat to outmaneuver trawlers (but see above).

Minesweeping operations The aims of minesweeping were: - to clear areas of enemy mines, - to set buoys delineating safe corridors (red, left), and - to enable defensive mine barriers to be set up.

Grimsby proved its worth in service to minesweeping, becoming the largest minesweeper base in Britain, and making possible the clearing of 34,858 mines from vital sea lanes.

On the Channel convoys there could be up to five trawlers sweeping abreast, followed by a Destroyer and then merchant ships, mostly colliers, which were bringing coal from the Welsh coal mines to the power stations on the Thames, the railway system being unable to cope with the amount of coal required. When the convoys reached the Straits of Dover, because the channel at this point was quite narrow, trawlers broke formation with only two continuing to sweep with shortened depths, the other trawlers becoming additional escorts as they approached their destination. At this point the convoy of naval vessels and merchantmen could be subject to attack from both the gun batteries in northern France and E-boats.

E-boat was the Western Allies' designation for the German’s fast attack craft and it could refer to a regular fast armed patrol craft up to a large motor torpedo boat (MTB). The most popular, the S-100 class, were very seaworthy, heavily armed and capable of sustaining 43.5 knots and briefly accelerating to 48 knots. They were armed with torpedoes, flak guns and machine guns, some had 40mm cannon. These 35m craft had a range of 700 to 750 nautical miles. Britain then developed its own range of MTBs to counter this threat to our shipping.

Smaller RNPS trawlers were also deployed in the important role of dhan layers. A dhan is a marker buoy which consists of a long pole moored to the seabed and fitted to float vertically, usually with a coded flag at the top. Fishing boats use the same system to mark the ends of fleets of bottom-set nets or pots. Dhan laying was an important part of minesweeping, and boats were fitted specifically for this purpose. The dhan layers followed the minesweepers as they worked an area and laid the dhans to define the area swept and make it obvious where the clear channels were. This would also help the minesweepers cover areas accurately without gaps and unnecessary overlaps. A dhan layer worked with a minesweeper flotilla when large areas of sea were to be clear swept.

In summary then these were extraordinary times and Harry Tate’s men stepped up to face the enemy, performing many critical operations with courage, determination and, where possible, with humour. Equipment was often poor and losses were high but, in common with the rest of the war effort, the men (and some women) were resolute and delivered what was required of them.

Memorials

The RNPS Memorial in Belle Vue Park, Lowestoft is for those serving RNPS personnel who died 1939-46 and who have no known grave. Those who died and whose bodies were recovered are not included on this memorial. It is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and comprises a 12 metre diameter base with a central 15 metre fluted column surmounted by a gilt bronze lymphad. A panel of Portland stone describing the purpose of the memorial faces the sea with seventeen bronze panels listing the names of those remembered around the rest of the base. There is also a small addenda stone set into the ground of those who died on land but have no known grave. The records on this site have been compiled from the definitive ledger provided by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Losses are detailed above but it’s worth noting Churchill’s message of thanks to Harry Tate’s men:

MESSAGE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE MINESWEEPING FLOTILLAS “Now that Nazi Germany has been defeated I wish to send you all on behalf of His Majesty's Government a message of thanks and gratitude. “The work you do is hard and dangerous. You rarely get and never seek publicity; your only concern is to do your job, and you have done it nobly. You have sailed in many seas and all weathers. This work could not be done without loss, and we mourn all who have died and over 250 ships lost on duty. “No work has been more vital than yours; no work has been better done. The ports were kept open and Britain breathed. The Nation is once again proud of you.” W S Churchill

And now? Some nations still use armed trawlers for fisheries protection and patrol. The Indian Navy used naval trawlers for patrol duties during its involvement in the Sri Lankan civil war. North Korea has notoriously used armed trawlers as spy ships. In 2001 the Japanese sank a North Korean naval trawler after a six-hour battle known as the battle of Amami-Ōshima. Somali pirates have commandeered trawlers and armed them for attacking freighters off the Horn of Africa; the action of 18 March 2006 involved a naval trawler used by pirates. Other incidents involving pirate trawlers are the actions of 30 March 2010, and of 1 April 2010, in which one naval trawler was sunk and another captured by the Seychelles Coast Guard and a US Navy frigate. Former Chinese President Hu Jintao called for building China into a great maritime power and, in 2013, China's State Council elevated the fishing industry to the level of a strategic industry. The Chinese government provides subsidies to the fishing industry, which enables boats to cover the fuel costs of sailing to distant coasts, including near West Africa and South America. A commentator from the University of Washington notes that, "China’s leaders see distant water fleets as a way to project presence around the world, so that when it comes time to set up regulatory frameworks, they will have a big say in how those frameworks are set up," The aim is to be "present all over the world’s oceans so that they can direct the outcomes of international agreements that cover maritime resources including not just fishing but seabed mining, the Arctic and other key issues and regions.” Who’s been watching the last few years’ events unfolding in the South China Sea…?

Appendix l

WW ll naval trawlers built at Cook Welton and Gemmell

Isles-class trawlers Lundy (T272), 1943 Juliet (T136), 1941 Alisa Craig (T377), 1943 Mewstone (T374), 1943 Laertes (T137), 1941 Annet (T341), 1943 Minalto (T362), 1943 Arran (T06), 1941 Mull (T110), 1941 Hill-class trawlers Balta (T50), 1941 Neave (T247), 1942 Birdlip (T218), 1941 Benbecula (T379), 1944 Pladda (T144), 1941 Bredon (T223), 1942 Bern (T294), 1942 Rosevean (T363), 1943 Butser (T219), 1942 Blackbird (M15), 1943 (T424), 1944 Duncton (T220), 1942 Bressay (T214), 1942 Scalpay (T237), 1942 Dunkery (T224), 1942 Brora (T99), 1941 Scaravay (J425), 1945 Inkpen (T225), 1942 Bruray (T236), 1942 (T175), 1941 Portsdown (T221), 1942 Bryher (T350), 1943 Sheppey (T292), 1942 Yes Tor (T222), 1942 (T383), 1944 (T426), 1945 Military-class trawlers Colsay (T384), 1944 Skokholm (T376), 1943 Bombardier (T304), 1943 Crowlin (T380), 1944 Stonechat (M25), 1944 Coldstreamer (T337), 1943 Dabchick (M22), 1943 Sursay (T427), 1945 Fusilier (T305), 1943 Egilsay (T215), 1942 (T452), 1945 Grenadier (T 334), 1943 (T216), 1942 Tocogay (T451), 1945 Guardsman (T393), 1944 Farne (T353), 1943 Trodday (T431), 1945 Home Guard (T394), 1944 Flatholm (T354), 1943 Ulva (T248), 1942 Lancer (T335), 1943 (T385), 1944 Vaceasay (T432), 1945 Royal Marine (T395), 1944 Ganilly (T367), 1943 (T434), 1945 Sapper (T336), 1942 Gulland (T239), 1943 Whalsay (T293), 1942 Gweal (T246), 1942 Whitethroat (M03), 1944 ASW trawlers requisitioned before completion Hannaray (T389), 1944 Wiay (T441), 1945 Vizalma (FY286), 1940 Harris (T386), 1944 Dance-class trawlers Flower-class corvettes Hascosay (T390), 1944 Gavotte (T115), 1940 Azalea (K25), 1941 Hayling (T271), 1942 Hornpipe (T120), 1940 Begonia (K66), 1941 Hildasay (T173), 1941

Hoxa (T16), 1941 Tree-class trawlers Hoy (T114), 1941 Birch (T93), 1940 Inchcolm (T18), 1941 Blackthorn (T100), 1940 (T174), 1941 Hamlet (T167), 1940 Kittern (T382), 1943 Horatio (T153), 1941 Lindisfarne (T361), 1943