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By *Two sea turtle activists have notified Flagler County that they plan to sue to ban vehicles from the area's 10.7 miles of driveable beaches page 19
the Atlantic in any significent numbers. The River Class Frigates were very good anti-submarine vessels, of 1370 tons, and a reasonable speed of 20 knots gave them every chance of dealing with any threat posed by the opposing German boats. The Black Swan Class Sloops of similar size and speed were also most useful ships in this fight to the death. However, the real suprise in this seemingly never ending fight to the finish that raged across the Atlantic from the start of WW2 up to the present time of reporting was, the slower, smaller, Flower Class Corvettes, their names all coined from WW1 Flower Class Sloops. This class of WW2 ships started to come down the slipways in 1939, designed as Minesweepers, and for anti-submarine work in the English Channel and North Sea, their immediate relative was a commercial whaler Southern Pride. The class was easy to construct, with a single screw, but above all they could be rolled out from non Naval Yards across the United Kingdom. In all, some 221 Flower Class or Modified Flower Class Corvettes came off the slipways in UK and Canada, alas only one of this breed remains today, launched in 1941, HMCS Sackville, now fully restored, is on display at Halifax in Nova Scotia, the port of departure for so many east bound convoys over 1939- 1945. These little ships, with a relatively short length of 205/208 feet, had a small turning circle, and eventually carried up to 50 depth charges, had a long range of 3,850 miles at 12 knots on only 213 tons of oil fuel, very economical. They proved to be great ships on the Atlantic run, although never designed to sail those perilous seas, they survived the worst weather that the Atlantic could throw at them, they were uncomfortable sea ships, but most of all, they were safe ships, and throughout all their ordeals on the North Atlantic run, not a single man was ever washed overboard from a Flower Class Corvette. They took tons of ocean over their bows, they would "Roll on a damp grass!" but they always shook themselves clear and came up to plough on and on. The Cruel Sea. Admiral Donitz moves his U-Boat Lines. Now, by 1800 ( 6 PM ) on the 3rd. of May these 31 boats were strung from 56 degrees 21minutes North, 44 degrees 35 minutes West down to 54 degrees 57 minutes North, 39 degrees 35 minutes West. Smoke was reported, plus starshell, and one boat reported that a destroyer had chased it off. But in Berlin it was wrongly assumed that this U-Boat line had again come in contact with SC 128. Control sent off this signal: " Do not hold back, something can and must be achieved with 31boats." they estimated the convoy was steaming between 020 and 050 degrees, but of course it was not, it was ONS 5 that had been sighted, it was west bound. SC 128, warned by Ottowa, had taken avoiding action, and skipped around the waiting Star/Specht line to safely reach port on the 11th. of May. Waves playlist for 17 Arpil 2004
mp3 archive links at: Hullo Mac, By some co-incidence I typed HMAS Platypus
onto the google search engine and came up with a better picture than the
AWM can supply. My interest lies in the fact that my late Dad, Armon
Durnford Dart served as the SBPO on the Plats from May 42 to Jan 46. He told
me that he joined the ship shortly after the Darwin raids where a bomb had Best regards,
Nice to hear from you, no doubt in looking at Ahoy and Plats you learned that my Dad came out to Australia in J2, and that is how he was associated with HMAS Platypus, and was my reason for writing about the J Class subs, and their mother/depot ship. Any of your Dad's stories you may care to share with me, would, with your approval be put up on our site, and hopefully not be lost, and may find a wider and interested audience. I am continually suprised with the number of messages I get from around the world with a comment on some aspect of what I have written about. Ahoy Mac's Web Log is an amalgam of my writing and research, and my Web Master, Terry Kearns who resides in Atlanta, Georgia, he tranlates it all into the site that is seen on the net, without his expertise, dedication etc, none of it would exist. I owe him a great debt. We are both delighted when anyone such as yourself takes the time and effort to mail us with a comment, so thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future, with some of your Father's stories of his time in the Navy and in Platypus, particularly in Darwin, when for the first time, the Australian main land was bombed by the Japanese in 1942. History in the making indeed!! Best regards,
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