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HMS Woolwich
HMS Woolwich was a destroyer depot ship, a floating maintenance and repair ship. She had been stationed in the Mediterranean since 1936; between 1939 and 1942 she was in the eastern Med. In June 1942 she moved into the Red Sea for service in the Indian Ocean including time at Cape Town. She remained India-based until returning to the Med in 1945.
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Those known to have sailed in HMS Woolwich during the Second World War 1939-1945. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
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Records of HMS Woolwich from other sources.
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Want to know more about HMS Woolwich? There are:1 items tagged HMS Woolwich available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Able Sea. John Tallant HMS Nelson My dad John Tallant, joined the battleship HMS Nelson in June 1943 aged 17 years and sailed to the Mediterranean for the Italian invasions. He remembers being on board on the 29th September 1943 when the dignitaries came aboard to sign the surrender of Italy including Generals Eisenhower and Alexander, Air Marshalls Tedder and Parks, Lord Got and General Badoglio from Italy. He was made AB and then torpedo man before going to Normandy on D-day plus 6.
He was then drafted to Ceylon to join HMS Woolwich where he became leading seamen & cox'n of a launch. He passed for petty officer and returned with the ship in July 1946. He is now 93 years old.
If anyone remembers him I would love to be in touch.
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Stok1. Thomas Hunter HMS Woolwich My uncle Thomas Hunter was lent to HMS Lanka between 3th of July and 13th of July 1944 from HMS Woolwich. He served from 1944 to 1945.
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Able.Sea. Philip Robert Bruce Joy HMS Willamette Valley (d.29th Jun 1940) I do not know what my grandfather Bob Joy did in the Navy. I have been led to believe he was lost at sea. My Dad was born in January 1940 and I was told his father never got to see him. I would like to learn more about him however I have no idea where to start.
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Able.Sea. John Illsley HMS Woolwich My Father, Jack Illsley, was called up in 1941 and following his basic training at HMS Collingwood, Portsmouth was sent to the Med along with 35 or so other ratings known as Mortar draft. All were sent to HMS Canopus (land base) outside Alexandria until used as replacements for ships.
All were desperate to leave HMS Canopus and would have gone anywhere.
I believe only 6 returned to the UK.
The loss rate of sailors in the Med was very heavy. One of his friends was known to have been on HMS Barham. Bill Clark my father's best friend was on HMS Havock and died shortly after repatriation in 1943. Havocks crew had been mis treated by the Vichy French after the ship run aground in 1942. One other man volunteered as a radio operator to serve on a fishing boat which was sunk by a U Boat that surfaced and machine gunned it. Another rating on the ship who was from Huddersfield was murdered along with a wren in Alexandria, both having their pay books and documentation stolen. This was a regular event in Alexandria as the Egyptians would sell the documents to German sources operating in Alexandria.
Jack was a gun layer on P2 gun, that's the second gun on the Port side, one of 4 high angle 4 inch anti aircraft guns aboard Woolwich. The guns trainer was a guy called Johnny Bull who was a regular seaman and trained diver. Jack was also gunners yeoman that involved looking after the small arms and hand grenades etc. Alexandria Port was regularly bombed and Woolwich put a barrage over the floating dry dock most nights, HMS Queen Elizabeth was in the dock having been damaged in late 1941 by Italian frogmen. His first job on arrival at Alexandria was to help re inter some of the bodies of her crew. After this event hand grenades were dropped each night from fast motor boats patrolling the harbour to deter frogmen.
He always considered HMS Medway to be a sister ship to Woolwich although technically they were not. Woolwich was the first custom built depot ship for the Royal navy commissioning in 1935, previous depot ships including Medway (submarine depot ship) and Resource (battle ship depot ship) were I believe converted from other civilian ships.
HMS Woolwich left Alexandria in June 1942 when the Germans were very near to overrunning the port (they were stopped at El Alemain)along with Resource. The Medway could not get her full compliment of crew back aboard in time and missed the tide. She was torpedoed the following day. They went down the Suez canal into the Red sea but returned to Alexandria I think that October. Jack left the ship in 1943 to come back to the UK and Woolwich went up to Trincomalee to join the East Indies fleet. She survived the war and was scrapped in 1962 following a stint in Harwich as flag ship for the reserve fleet.
Many photos on the internet of Woolwich pre war (1937 Spithead review she was the newest ship in the navy) and after the war while at Harwich. Wartime photos of her are rare as there was a photography ban in Alexandria. Woolwich had a dazzle cam scheme of black stripes over light grey base colour during this time.
My Father was from Barnsley and there were two others known to also have been from Barnsley. They were George Partridge tradesman plumber and Kenny Brookes AB.
I would love to hear from anyone who knew my father or who has any photos they would like to share.
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Gunner Alfred Taylor HMS Woolwich Alfred Taylor served on HMS Woolwich from 1939 to 1945.
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John "Pongo" Waring HMS Woolwich Does anyone remember my father, John Waring (Pongo), who served on HMS Woolwich from April 1944 to March 1945?
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Robert Nicklin HMS Woolwich I joined HMS Woolwich when she was stationed in Alexandria on 13th May 1942.
Her main role was as a Destroyer Depot ship and her job was to look after a destroyer's needs, such as some minor repair jobs or supplies, but on top of all that she was the Eastern Med Fleet's signal base. The only time that the Woolwich left her place in Alexandria harbour was on 2nd July 1942 when she, the Resource, the Reliance and the Medway were escorted by a destroyer that I was on and a few more escorts to Port Said. She probably did go into the Indian Ocean from there, but returned to Alex sometime in October 1942, where she remained till 17th December 1943, when we sailed out of Alexandria at 13 knots, she was a very old ship. She sailed for Ceylon and the port of Trincomalee at which we arrived on 10th January 1944. I was drafted off her on 19th March 1944.
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Willie Jackson HMS Woolwich My grandfather served and was injured on HMS Woolwich. It would be good to hear from anyone with information.
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CPO Arthur Reid HMS Woolwich My brother, Arthur Reid, was a CPO Ordnance Artificier on board HMS Woolwich at Trincomalee during the later part of WWII.
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William Kelly HMS Woolwich I am looking for information or anyone who knew my grandad William (Bill) Kelly who was on board HMS Woolwich.
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Harold Chippendale HMS Woolwich Looking for information on my granddad, Harold Chippendale and the ships he was on. Specifically, information on HMS Woolwich and what role the ship had in the Mediterranean war. Harold was on the ship from 1st August 1939 to 15th January 1943, then went to HMS Canopus.
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