Royal Naval Records

[barriefield-brian]

Finally received a copy of my grandfathers service records. I have found the Briton was a training vessel but my question is about the Attentive. Hard to read but served on the Attentive 111 (Marmion 11) 23 dec 1917 to 31 march 1917. Then Attentive 11 (all in Newbury) 1 april 1917 to 11 april 1919.
Was this the same ship? I have no idea about the names in brackets. Any info appreciated. Cheers Brian

[Charliedog012012]

Might be worth visiting the forum 'shipnostalgia.com'
In fact, I tried googling Attentive 111 and the first page offered was for this forum with discussions that may relate to the information that you seek.

[Mike]

The HMS Attentive II & III refs are the base or depot ship his warship is operating from. The name in brackets being that sea going ship. In this case the destroyer HMS Marmion. The second ship is probably HMS Newbury, being "Att. to" or similar rather than "All in"?

[Hussar100]

HMS Attentive was an Adventure class scout cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Armstrong Whitworth at their yards at Elswick, Tyne and Wear and launched on 24 November 1904. She served before and during the First World War.

HMS Marmion (1915) was an Admiralty M class destroyer launched in 1915 and sunk in 1917.

HMS Newbury was a Racecourse-class minesweeper built in 1916.

I hope that's of some help. Wikipedia is usually a pretty good source for warships. They list most of the ones I've ever searched for but unfortunately their project is far from complete so you don't always get a full history.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Hussar100

HMS Attentive was an Adventure class scout cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Armstrong Whitworth at their yards at Elswick, Tyne and Wear and launched on 24 November 1904. She served before and during the First World War.

HMS Marmion (1915) was an Admiralty M class destroyer launched in 1915 and sunk in 1917.

HMS Newbury was a Racecourse-class minesweeper built in 1916.

I hope that's of some help. Wikipedia is usually a pretty good source for warships. They list most of the ones I've ever searched for but unfortunately their project is far from complete so you don't always get a full history.

HMS Attentive is not HMS Attentive II or HMS Attentive III. The navy had hundreds of ships moored in dock that never went anywhere but were accomodation/training/depot vessels; also lots of bricks and mortar buildings have "HMS" ship type names, some reused from older ships names. If you google "HMS Attentive II" and "HMS Attentive III" in quotation marks you will find out what these places were.

[Hussar100]

Originally Posted by Mike

HMS Attentive is not HMS Attentive II or HMS Attentive III. The navy had hundreds of ships moored in dock that never went anywhere but were accomodation/training/depot vessels; also lots of bricks and mortar buildings have "HMS" ship type names, some reused from older ships names. If you google "HMS Attentive II" and "HMS Attentive III" in quotation marks you will find out what these places were.

Thanks for that. Very interesting few minutes sussing that out. It seems the issue came about because of the number of merchant vessels taken into RN service for the duration. Many of them had the same name as existing RN ships so were allowed to keep their name buy had II or III added.

It isn't something I had ever considered before. It's a great learning curve.

[RCN]

Hello Brian - First off you man is a Newfoundlander - I expect you might know that tho.

HMS ATTENTIVE II - Base ship at DOVER. Parent base for Aux small craft until Oct 1919. Later became Pembroke V.

ATTENTIVE III - Dover Aux patrol Parent base. Amalgamated with Attentive II
May 1919.

Bryan

[barriefield-brian]

Thank you for clearing that up. Very confusing when they use close to the same name. He told me when I was a kid he was sunk in the North or Black sea, couldn't remember which but likely the North. Have to do research on the Marmion now to see if he was serving when it was lost. Cheers Brian

[barriefield-brian]

Well that's confusing. HMS Marmion listed as lost in the North sea October 21 1917. My grandfather listed as serving dec3 1917 to 31 march 1919. Listed as Marmion 11 so must be a different ship but when searched just comes up with Marmion. Have to search deeper. Cheers Brian

[soldier1]

I don't know if this will help but when I was researching the RN ships my father served on from 39 to 55 and to verify his medals and service from his RN Discharge Certificate I contacted the following and received a 'complete rundown' that answered all my questions;

Ministry of Defence

3-5 Great Scotland Yard, London SW1A 2HW.

Tel: 071-218 Ext 5450

Attn; Naval Staff Duties (Historical Section)

Hope this helps.

Cheers Al