Frederick Hector Brand

LOWESTOFT NAVAL MEMORIAL Panel 14, Column 1

Royal Naval Patrol Service

The Royal Naval Patrol Service had its origins in the Great War when the threat of mine warfare was first realized by the Admiralty. In the summer of 1939 the Admiralty purchased 67 trawlers with a further 20 newly constructed and, at the outbreak of World War 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 the closest British military establishment to the enemy until decommissioned in 1946. This eventually became the training and drafting base for more than 70,000 men, who manned 6,000 small craft of numerous types, including trawlers, whalers, drifters, MFVs (Motor Fishing Vessels), MLs (Motor Launches), and later MMS (Motor Minesweepers or "Mickey Mouses"), American produced BYMS (British Yard Mine Sweepers) and numerous requisitioned vessels.

With its extensive docklands and trawler fleet, Grimsby became the largest minesweeping base in Britain. The Admiralty recognised that trawler men would be more skilled than naval ratings in handling sizeable warps and winches that would be required for mine sweeping as they were already accustomed to using them with the working of the trawl.
The RNPS cleared 34,858 mines from Britain’s vital sea lanes. The Royal Naval Patrol Service suffered over 250 lost vessels, more than any other branch of the Royal Navy. 15,000 personnel were killed, 2,385 having no known grave but the sea. Churchill’s tribute was well deserved – ‘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.’ (Wikipedia)

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