Ships and Dates
During the course of the war, Len served on a number of different ships as a Marconi Radio Officer, The following shows the names of these ships and the dates served. Ports visited ranged from Wellington in New Zealand to Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada…
Waiwera
8th April 1940 to 2nd July 1940
Extract from National Archives
Ethel Radcliffe
11th July 1940 to 2nd January 1941
ETHEL RADCLIFFE SS was damaged by German torpedo boat attack on the 14th April 1941 off Great Yarmouth when on passage from St. John N.B. for London with a cargo of wheat. She was beached and salvage was abandoned after air attacks.
On April 17th, 1941, convoy FS-64 was attacked, off Great Yarmouth by German e-boats Ethel Radcliffe, br. 5.673 grt. torpedoed by S-42 (Meentzen) ref. used:http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de Read more at wrecksite: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?70248
Carelia
8th January 1941 to 27th January 1942
Joined in Brixham, Devon, UK.
Manchester Citizen
26th February 1942 to 4th May 1942
Adria
21st May 1942 to
Troop ship to transport LAA to Bombay
SS Bandva
31st July 1942 to 21st September 1942
Empire Splendour
Sept 1942 to 21st Nov 1943
Empire Gareth
8th June 1944 to 10th April 1944
Esperance Bay
11th April 1944 to 4th June 1944
15.12.1921: Launched.
11.07.1922: Delivered as Esperance Bay for Australian Government-owned
Commonwealth Government Line and intended for the emigrant
trade. Maiden voyage from London to Brisbane.
1926: Off Ceylon a stowaway was transferred to the London-bound sister
Jervis Bay. There were many attempts and this was a way of
demonstrating that stowaways would not be carried to Australia.
05.1928: Sold to White Star Line Ltd with her four sisters.
04.1933: Placed under Thompson management with her sisters which made
them a subsidiary ship of The Peninsular and Oriental Steam
Navigation Company through their partial ownership of the Aberdeen
& Commonwealth Line.
07.1935: Attended King George V’s Spithead Silver Jubilee review as a
guest’s ship.
1936: Transferred to Shaw, Savill & Albion to replace their Ionic. She was
renamed Arawa and refitted on the Clyde.
22.01.1937: First sailing for her new company from Southampton/Panama/
Wellington.
09.1939: The ship was at Wellington when the war broke out.
17.10.1939: At Sydney for conversion into an Armed Merchant Cruiser. She was
placed on the China station with HMS Liverpool.
07.1940: Employed on convoy protection Freetown, Sierra Leone to UK.
1941: Paid off by the Navy following the commissioning of new cruisers.
Converted at Birkenhead into a troopship for 1,850 personnel.
1942: Trooped to Durban then carried meat from Buenos Aires to the UK.
This became the pattern of her operations.
11.1942: Took part in Operation Torch, the North African landings.
1943: On the North Atlantic carrying US troops on Operation Bolero (the
invasion of Europe build-up in Northern Ireland and later South East
England).
06.1945: Used for prisoner-of-war repatriation in the Eastern Mediterranean.
She then went to Bombay for use in the Pacific war.
07.02.1946: First post-war sailing via Panama.
08.1947: Re-opened the Cape route to New Zealand.
05.1954: Collided with Borde.
03.12.1954: Final sailing.
21.05.1955: Broken up by J Cashmore at Newport
More info
Samanco
1st July 1944 to 4th August 1944
British Renown
10th August 1944 to 22nd May 1945
Empire Welfare
15th June 1945 to 20th October 1945