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Sleuth:
I have received from the MOD an excellent record of my father’s RN service during WW2 listing every ship and shore base in which he served. I knew he was involved in Combined Operations, HMS Quebec and HMS James Cook in Scotland. The records have thrown up two mysteries. Firstly they often show ‘Lent MA’ or ‘Mac’. I assume that this refers to being lent to another ship, but I can find no explanation of MA. Secondly he spoke about being in Malta in the summer of 1942 and early 1943, the ship mentioned being the Troilus. As I understand it Troilus was a merchant ship so what was my RN dad doing on it? Sorry for the long post from a newcomer to  the The Royal Navy Research Archive Forum. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

PhiloNauticus:

Lent does indeed mean that he was loaned to another ship/unit/base, but his admin records etc would have been retained by his 'parent' establishment

Regret I cannot answer your query on 'M A' or 'M A C' but it was not unusual for RN personnel to be carried on merchant ships in WW2.  Many merchant ships were armed (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships - DEMS) with the weapons manned by either Royal Navy or Royal Artillery personnel.

As to Troilus, she was sunk when part of a Malta convoy - if you see this page on her sinking

https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/3345.html

you will see the mention of '12 gunners'  in addition to the crew 

PhiloNauticus:

Sorry, misread the Troilus entry - she was part of the Malta convoys but was actually sunk later, in 1944

She was however, clearly defensively armed, and would have been during Op Harpoon

Sleuth:
Many thanks for that and the link to DEMS; perhaps MA refers to Maritime Artillery or similar. My father had an accident whilst in Malta and was in hospital for some time, (attached to the shore base HMS St Angelo) and missed the fateful return of Troilus.

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