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Thread: HMS Dragonfly

  1. #1
    Pickett1942
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    Default HMS Dragonfly

    My grandad was on this ship that sunk 14 Feb 1942. Im looking to find out all that I can. I have read info on other sites. Im not sure how old he was at that time, I think around 26. He was 2nd Class Stoker. How many were on that ship and how many survived? Also how long would he have been on that ship, all of 3yrs?

    What would be interesting is to find someone who knew him, but they would be around 90plus by now. A long shot, but i have trouble in letting the past go.

    thanks in advance

  2. #2
    SueNSW
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    Not sure if one of the sites you've looked at is naval-history.net - there is a little bit of it's history and a picture of a sister ship here
    https://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chr..._Dragonfly.htm and a casualty list here - https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1...#dragonflylost

    Did he survive or was he a casualty?

    With his name we can possibly let you know his age - but you will really need to apply for his service records to find out how long he was on the ship and how long he served etc - info on how to do this is here

    https://www.gov.uk/requests-for-pers...ervice-records

    There are also a number of logs + enquiries into missing personnel files at the National Archives - but none are digitised so a personal visit would be useful -

    https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...=&_fr=&_st=adv

  3. #3
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    If he was killed, you can get further identity details from the Commonwealth War Grave site. You can then order his service record from MoD.

    You can get a lot of information on the sinking of the ship by simply entering "HMS Dragonfly" (with quotation marks) into a search engine.

    You can find potentially useful official documents by searching the National Archives catalogue with a search term of dragonfly restricting the search to 1942 and departmental class ADM

    https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...=&_fr=&_st=adv

  4. #4
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    HMS Dragonfly was a River Gunboat of the Insect class. She was launched on 08/12/1938 at Thornycrofts. Her fleet number was T11.
    She was 585 tons 197 feet long and 33 feet on the beam (wide), She had a max speed of 17 knots and carried 2x 4inch guns and 1 x 3.7 inch as well as 8 machine guns (AA). She carried a crew of 77 officers and men.
    She was sunk by Japanese aircraft south of Singapore along with her sister ship HMS Grasshopper.

    Vossy

  5. #5
    Pickett1942
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    Sue NSW, Thanks for all the info. Yes your links were the ones I tried and I did see his name there. He didnt survive. His name is William Pickett. Having thought about it, he couldnt have been on the ship for 3yrs as he had 2 sons that are 2yrs apart.

    PICKETT, William T J, Stoker 2c, C/KX 126510, MPK
    What is the difference between a 1c and 2c Stoker? Excuse my ignornance.

    A friend told me that being a Stoker, it would have been impossible for him to get out. She also looked up the ship years ago for me and found his name on a plaque on Kent war memorials.

    Ive just done a search and found out he was 26. Heres the link https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/your-results.aspx

  6. #6
    Monty Stubble
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vossy View Post
    HMS Dragonfly was a River Gunboat of the Insect class. She was launched on 08/12/1938 at Thornycrofts. Her fleet number was T11.
    She was 585 tons 197 feet long and 33 feet on the beam (wide), She had a max speed of 17 knots and carried 2x 4inch guns and 1 x 3.7 inch as well as 8 machine guns (AA). She carried a crew of 77 officers and men.
    She was sunk by Japanese aircraft south of Singapore along with her sister ship HMS Grasshopper.

    Vossy
    Sad anorak thing I know but Dragonfly was a Locust Class not an Insect.

  7. #7
    Monty Stubble
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pickett1942 View Post
    Sue NSW, Thanks for all the info. Yes your links were the ones I tried and I did see his name there. He didnt survive. His name is William Pickett. Having thought about it, he couldnt have been on the ship for 3yrs as he had 2 sons that are 2yrs apart.

    PICKETT, William T J, Stoker 2c, C/KX 126510, MPK
    What is the difference between a 1c and 2c Stoker? Excuse my ignornance.

    A friend told me that being a Stoker, it would have been impossible for him to get out. She also looked up the ship years ago for me and found his name on a plaque on Kent war memorials.

    Ive just done a search and found out he was 26. Heres the link https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/your-results.aspx
    The First and second class is simply around their level of training and expertise. Stokers were originally just that, men who shovelled coal into the boilers. However by WW2 stokers were the technicians in the Engine Room. The engines were oil powered and stokers were responsible for making them run smoothly. They could also do some repairs. On a small vessel like the Dragonfly they may have had a Petty Officer in charge ( the "clanky") or it may be the a first class stoker might be I/C.
    It would be true that on a big ship stokers couldn't get out very fast. Too far down in the bowels of the ship and if she was 'closed up' for action all the watertight doors would be shut.
    On a small vessel like the Dragonfly they might stand a better chance of getting out particularly as she was hit from the air. No help to your man though.
    Chris

  8. #8
    olddevonian
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    HMS.Dragonfly. I've just discovered this web site and was very interested to read your posting. My father George Brown was a Leading Stoker on the Dragonfly also. I am sure they would have known each other being so close in their work place. For 2years my mother was told my father was a prisoner of war and was writing to a George Brown but then in 1944 was informed it was not her husband. In the 1960's I was living in Singapore so decided to find out what happened to the Dragonfly so I wrote to the Straits Times and they wrote an article in their paper and I actually received a letter from an eye witness on the sister ship Grasshopper who saw the Dragonfly sink. This was the first time my mother had any actual information what happened to her husband. This is the first time also for me to learn there were survivors. I would be interested if your grandfather ever spoke about his shipmates.

  9. #9
    Iichibawa
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    Default hms dragonfly

    Quote Originally Posted by olddevonian View Post
    HMS.Dragonfly. I've just discovered this web site and was very interested to read your posting. My father George Brown was a Leading Stoker on the Dragonfly also. I am sure they would have known each other being so close in their work place. For 2years my mother was told my father was a prisoner of war and was writing to a George Brown but then in 1944 was informed it was not her husband. In the 1960's I was living in Singapore so decided to find out what happened to the Dragonfly so I wrote to the Straits Times and they wrote an article in their paper and I actually received a letter from an eye witness on the sister ship Grasshopper who saw the Dragonfly sink. This was the first time my mother had any actual information what happened to her husband. This is the first time also for me to learn there were survivors. I would be interested if your grandfather ever spoke about his shipmates.
    I knew the person who knew the exact location of of the sunk HMS dragonfly..and probably HMS scorpions too . according to them its about 70 meter beneath the sea.

    if you are interested to know more, kindly email me at iichibawaATyahooDOTcom
    Last edited by christanel; 18-12-2015 at 9:57 AM. Reason: email address disguised todeter spam

  10. #10
    Knowledgeable and helpful
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    You might like to ask the Moderators to "amend" your email address - having it on here in full is inviting Spam :-)

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