I would like to contact any surviving crew member of the U-boats at the Marvika naval base outside Kristiansand, Norway, in May 1945 when when the British destroyers HMS VENOMOUS and HMS VALOROUS accepted the surrender of German naval forces.

My father, William Revers Forster (1900-75) was present at the surrender ceremony on HMS VENOMOUS and one of the German officers surrendered to him by presenting him with his Luger.

And Lt Cdr Dennis, the CO of HMS VALOROUS, visited the U-boat base and wrote in an unpublished memoir:

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There were 26 in all. I still have some numbers: U 281, 299, 369, 712, 1163 (TypeVIIC): U 2321, 2325, 2334, 2335, 2337, 2350, 2353, 2354, 2361, 2363 (Type XXIII): and U 2529 (Type XXI). The Type XXIII and XXI were the very latest, streamlined and very fast underwater. We were indeed lucky that they had hardly been in service long enough to affect the war at sea.

I walked around some of them and was tremendously impressed with their equipment, their cleanliness and the high morale of the officers and men. This was indeed remarkable considering the appalling losses they had suffered (something like four out of five of all U-boat.

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Fred Mercer AB, a seaman on VENOMOUS, said the proudest moment of his life was when the German Admiral commended him on his seamanship when he brought him alongside VENOMOUS in the ship's whaler for the surrender ceremony. Fred stayed behind in Kristiansand and returned to Britain aboard one of the U-boats.

These events are described in A HARD FOUGHT SHIP: THE STORY OF HMS VENOMOUS (Moore and Rodgaard)which I published. For further details see: [www.holywellhousepublishing.co.uk]

Is anybody still alive who was aboard one of these U-boats at Marvika in May 1945?

Can you put me in touch with them or a member of their family?

Bill Forster