Allied Warships

HMS Marauder (W 98)

Rescue Tug of the Brigand class

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeRescue Tug
ClassBrigand 
PennantW 98 
Built byFleming & Ferguson Ltd. (Paisley, Scotland) 
Ordered 
Laid down 
Launched9 Nov 1938 
Commissioned 
End service 
History

Sold into mercantile service on 20 October 1958 and renamed Emerson K. Capsized at Capetown, South Africa on 10 August 1965 and scrapped there starting on 16 March 1966.

 

Commands listed for HMS Marauder (W 98)

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and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

CommanderFromTo
1T/Lt. Walter James Hammond, RNR24 Dec 19398 Nov 1941
2T/Lt. Frank Jennings, RNR8 Nov 1941mid/late44

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Notable events involving Marauder include:


4 Jan 1940
The cadets training ship HMS Frobisher, which had been refitting at Portsmouth Dockyard since 1939, departed Portsmouth in tow of HMRT Marauder. They arrived at Plymouth the following day. Frobisher was then taken in hand for rearming and refit for operational deployment at the Devonport Dockyard. She was placed in dockyard control on 22 January 1940. The work, which was expected to be completed around mid-1941 at latest, would however be delayed due to priority being given to other work. (1)

3 Jul 1940
HMRT Marauder (T/Lt. W.J. Hammond, RNR) takes the damaged Dutch merchant Amstelland in tow to Falmouth, where they arrived on 5 July. The Amstelland was torpedoed and damaged on 1 July by German U-boat U-65 about 380 nautical miles south-west of Lands End in position 47°53'N, 13°23'W. During the tow the ships were escorted by the British corvette HMS Calendula (Lt.Cdr. A.D. Bruford, RNVR).

24 Aug 1940
HMS Kipling (Cdr. A. St. Clair-Ford, RN) departed Scapa Flow at 1230 hours to go to the assistance of the damaged British merchant vessel Beacon Grange (10119 GRT, built 1938) that has been damaged by bombs from German aircraft in position 58°39'N, 02°27'W the day before. The merchant vessel had been taken in tow by the rescue tug HMRT Buccaneer which was later relieved by her sister ship HMRT Marauder which took the ship to Kirkwall where she was beached.

HMS Kipling returned to Scapa on the 25th.

23 Sep 1940
HMRT Marauder (T/Lt. W.J. Hammond, RNR) takes in tow the British merchant Scholar in position 55°10'N, 17°49'W. The Scholar was torpedoed and damaged the previous day about 340 nautical miles west of Bloody Foreland in position 55°11'N, 17°58'W by German U-boat U-100. On the 24th the tow was abandoned in position 54°38'N, 16°40'W and the crew of the Scholar was taken off by the British destroyer HMS Skate (Lt. F.P. Baker, DSC, RN). HMS Skate also scuttles the wreck of the Scholar.

23 Jun 1941

Minelaying operation SN 70B.

Minelaying operation by the 1st Minelaying Squadron.

At 1900B/23, the auxiliary minelayers HMS Agamemnon (Capt.(Retd.) F. Ratsey, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral R.L. Burnett, OBE, RN) and HMS Menestheus (Capt. J.S. Crawford, DSO, RN) departed Port Z.A. (Loch Alsh) to lay minefield SN 70B. They were escorted by the destroyers HMS Brighton (Cdr. (Retd.) C.W.V.T.S. Lepper, RN), HMS Castleton (Cdr. (Retd.) F.H.E. Skyrme, RN) and HMS Wells (Lt.Cdr. E.J. Lee, RN).

They were joined around 2300B/23 by the light cruiser HMS Kenya (Capt. M.M. Denny, CB, RN) which had departed Scapa Flow around 1300B/23 but had first conducted gunnery exercises in the Pentland Firth.

Around 0130B/24, the light cruiser HMS Arethusa (Capt. A.C. Chapman, RN) also joined. She had departed Scapa Flow around 1940B/23.

At 0515B/24, HMS Aurora (Capt. Sir W.G. Agnew, RN) joined company.

At 0545B/24, HMS Arethusa parted company and proceeded on patrol in the Iceland - Faeroer gap.

At 1050B/24, the visibility decrased to 150 yards.

At 1110B/24, The Squadron made an emergency turn to port.

At 1115.30B/24, HMS Kenya sighted a destroyer 150 yards away coming towards.

At 1116B/24, HMS Kenya was hit by the destroyer which turned out to be HMS Brighton. HMS Kenya sustained some damage but was able to continue. This was not the case with HMS Brighton whose bow sustained major damage.

Most ships of the Squadron meanwhile lost contact with each other in the thick fog.

Later HMS Aurora and HMS Wells took the damaged Brighton to the Reyðarfiord, Iceland for inspection.

The remainder of the 1st Minelaying Squadron regrouped and proceeded on with the minelaying operation.

Between 2125B/25 and 2310B/25, minefield SN 70B was laid on a line joining positions, 65°11'0"N, 12°49'4"W and 65°34'6"N, 12°54'5"W.

At 1620B/26, the destroyer HMS Eclipse (Lt.Cdr. I.T. Clark, RN) joined the 1st Minelaying Squadron. She had been on patrol to the north of Iceland but had been ordered to leave patrol and join the minelayers.

HMS Agamemnon, HMS Menestheus, HMS Castleton, HMS Wells and HMS Eclipse arrived at Port Z.A. (Loch Alsh) at 1717B/27.

HMS Kenya arrived at Scapa Flow around 1800B/27 having parted company with the 1st minelaying Squadron at 1154B/27.

The damaged destroyer HMS Brighton departed the Reyðarfiord for the Clyde on 28 June in tow of the tug Thames. The tug Marauder was standing by. They were escorted by HMS Aurora and the destroyer HMS Echo (Lt.Cdr. C.H.deB. Newby, RN) which had come from Hvalfiord.

The destroyer HMS Lightning (Cdr. R.G. Stewart, RN) departed Scapa Flow at 1700B/29 to join which she did around 0330B/30.

In the meantime, at 2020B/29, HMS Brighton's bow broke away. The Marauder then took over the tow.

At 2105B/30, while in the North Minches, HMS Aurora, HMS Echo and HMS Lightning parted company to proceed to Scapa Flow where they arrived around 0200/1.

HMS Brighton continued on with the tugs and arrived in the Clyde on 1 July 1941. (2)

4 Dec 1943
HMS Umbra (Lt. A.G. Chandler, RNR) departed Milford Haven for Plymouth. She was towed by HMRT Marauder (T/Lt. F. Jennings, RNR). (3)

7 Dec 1943
HMS Umbra (Lt. A.G. Chandler, RNR) departed Plymouth for Portsmouth. Again she was towed by HMRT Marauder (T/Lt. F. Jennings, RNR). (3)

Sources

  1. ADM 199/2554
  2. ADM 53/113675 + ADM 53/114492 + ADM 199/411 + ADM 234/560 + ADM 234/561
  3. ADM 173/18335

ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.


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