205352 Able Sea. James Tanner Royal Navy HMS Beryl from:Blackburn, Lancashire Jimmy Tanner was my Uncle, one vessel he served in was HMS Beryl (formerly the Lady Adelaide) an armed trawler of 615 tons displacement launched in 1935 and used by the British Navy for anti-submarine training.
HMS Beryl had a top speed of 12 knots and was armed with one 4-inch gun and depth charges.
During WW2 one of Beryl's duties was to escort the stricken tanker SS Ohio of Convoy Pedestal into Grand Harbour Malta whilst under attack from German bombers and threats from a submarine and E boats. Captain of the Beryl, Lt Cdr Sellwood was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and several members of the crew were also decorated. The ship was adopted by the Lincolnshire village of Bourne of which Captn Sellwood was a native and is still remembered by them. My brother always described our uncle as the "rear gunner on a trawler"! After the war the Beryl returned to Fleetwood for use as a trawler and re-assumed her original name, only being scrapped in the 1990's so far as I am aware.
One other incident Jimmy was a spectator to was the sinking of the Hood. he was on a ship nearby and those on deck claimed that they saw an aircraft drop a bomb down the funnel of Hood. That was proved not to be the case and it can only be assumed that the aircraft seen was a German spotter aircraft launched by the Bismark.
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