On Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:40:51 +0000, "Robin's wool" <robin@scottishwool.com> wrote: >Is there a specialist elist for British Navy in WW2? Despite the extremely high amount of correspondence about the US Armed Forces here recently, this is an international list, and queries about the British and other Armed Forces in WW2 are very welcome. >Can anyone help me towards the wartime records of John KING >My Uncle John KING was a CERA and was 'missing at sea' somewhere near >Plymouth on Oct 27 1943. He was buried 'with naval honours at 11.00 on >11/11/1943 in West Hill Cemetery Plymouth. >He had been out in the China Seas and they had recently returned to home >waters. Deaths of British and Commonwealth personnel in WW1 and WW2 are recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at www.cwgc.org and they have an on-line database which you can use to search for a casualty. The following casualty appears to be a good match with the information you have provided: http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2811558 Name: KING, JOHN Initials: J Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Chief Engine Room Artificer Regiment: Royal Navy Unit Text: H.M.S. Albatross Age: 36 Date of Death: 28/10/1943 Service No: C/MX 50056 Additional information: Son of John and Elizabeth King, of Accrington, Lancashire; husband of Elizabeth King. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Sec. C. Cons. Grave 18103. Cemetery: PLYMOUTH (WESTON MILL) CEMETERY The slight difference in date is nothing to worry about, but note the correct name of the cemetery. HMS Albatross was a 4,800 ton Seaplane Carrier, over 443 feet long and with a complement of 450. Completed for the Royal Australian Navy in 1929, she was transferred to the Royal Navy in part-payment for the cruiser Hobart, and was commissioned in 1938. She could carry up to nine Walrus seaplanes, and was equipped with a catapault for launching the aircraft. From Aug 1939 to Oct 1943 she was used mainly by No 710 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm off West Africa, Madagascar and the Indian Ocean. On 15 Jul 1943 the squadron embarked on the Albatross for the last time, and was taken to Africa, where the Walrus aircraft were taken off at Kilindini and ferried to Nairobi. The squadron continued on the Albatross (now without aircraft) back to the UK, and disbanded at Lee on Solent on 14 Oct 1943. See "The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm" by Sturtivant and Ballance for more info. In November 1943 the Albatross became a repair ship, and according to Warlow's "Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy", was used until May 1944 as a "Landing Craft Accountant and Maintenance Base" at Plymouth. On 11 Aug 1944 she was hit by a Dackel show-running torpedo in the Channel with the loss of over 60 lives. She was later sold. The ship served with the Eastern Fleet from 1942-43, the Home Fleet in 1944, and in the Reserve in 1945. See http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Ships/Albatross.html >There some family mystery about his death and suspicion that he was >involved in pre D-day trials which went wrong .... It seems that John King died around the time that the ship was being converted. He may therefore have been killed in a dockyard accident or some other incident not related to enemy action, but since the ship seems to have been used as an administrative base connected with Landing Craft around that time, then your story may have some basis. The incident at Slapton Sands in April 1944, where a Landing Craft exercise went wrong, is described on the Internet and in various books, and some of these books may refer to previous exercises. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/beyond/factsheets/makhist/makhist8_prog11b.shtml which gives the titles of some books about this exercise. Service Records of men who served in the Royal Navy in WW2 are held by the Ministry of Defence, and the following links describe how next of kin can apply for a copy. http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk/service_recs/service_recs.htm http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk/service_recs/service%20_recs_rn.htm http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk/contact_us/contact_us_faqserpens.htm Forrest -- Forrest Anderson - British Military Genealogical Researcher. E-mail: forrest@military-researcher.com Website: www.military-researcher.com