Royal Navy Research Archive Forums
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Bob Coale on 29 July 2024 06:07:07 pm
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Dear friends,
I am new to the forum and am looking for information on the British ships that were patrolling the Spanish Mediterraean coast in March of 1939 as part of the Nyon Agreement. Ideally, I am looking to identify a British ship. The French cargo SS Lezardrieux left Valencia in the evening of 28 March 1939 and was ordred to stop by a rebel (Francoist) vessel in international waters at approximatedly 10 a.m. 29 March. A British warship, identity unkown, then interceeded and the Lezardreiux continued on its way to Oran with a boatful of refugees.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Bob Coale
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I would presume that this would have involved a ship of the Mediterranean fleet; British warships in the Med at the time included six cruisers [Shropshire; Sussex; Devonshire; Arethusa; Galatea; Penelope], but perhaps the destroyers were the more likely to be involved?
If so, then there were three flotillas [8 ships in each] – at this time they were the ‘G’, ‘H’ and ‘I’ class ships, and in 1939 were being joined by a fourth flotilla, with 8 of the new ‘Tribals’…. Which one of these was involved in this incident I cannot say… you have a wide choice.
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Thank you for your reply.
Would anyone be able to point me in the direction of the archive that might hold the ships' logbooks ?
Best regards,
Bob Coale
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Bob
All logbooks are held in the National Archives at Kew.
You can search using the catalogue:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/advanced-search
Naval records of the time will have ADM references and if you want a log book, then the name of the ship and the date will be needed; you will also find a number of files on the Nyon agreement under Foreign Office [FO] references
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I may add that the names of the - G - H and I class destroyers of the time may be found
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_and_H-class_destroy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-class_destroyer
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Thank you very much!
Best,
Bob
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Dear Friends,
An update on my research. Due in great part to the help I received on this forum, I was ableto to track down the information I was seeking at the National Archives at Kew. The ship that assisted the French cargo Lézardrieux on 29 March 1939 was the HMS Nubian. Many thanks PhiloNauticus.
Best regards from Paris.
Bob