Allied Warships

HMS Amber (T 88)

ASW Trawler

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeASW Trawler
Class[No specific class] 
PennantT 88 
Built byCochrane & Sons Shipbuilders Ltd. (Selby, U.K.) 
Ordered 
Laid down 
Launched11 Sep 1934 
CommissionedJan 1939 
End service 
History

Completed in October 1934.
Taken over by the Admiralty in January 1939.
Displacement: 700 tons.
Armament: 1 4" gun.

Sold in 1945.
Renamed Enotian in 1946.
Renamed Arctic Crusader in 1950.
Renamed Enotian in 1952.
Renamed Glenalla in 1955.
Scrapped at Gateshead, U.K. on 13 May 1957.

 

Commands listed for HMS Amber (T 88)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

CommanderFromTo
1Boatswain Harold William Clark, RN25 Aug 193921 Jun 1940
2A/S.Lt Peter le Mesurier Andrew, RNR21 Jun 194014 Jan 1941
3Skr. Walter Kirman, RNR14 Jan 1941May 1941
4T/Lt. Stanley Barrie, RNRMay 19419 Mar 1942
5T/Lt. Charles Rowland Eardley Childers, RNVR9 Mar 194220 Dec 1943
6T/Lt. John Griffiths Cameron, RANVR20 Dec 1943mid 1944
7T/Lt. Robert Edward William Wakefield, RNVRmid 1944late 1944
8T/Lt. Peter Buckley-Jones, SANF(V)late 1944Jan 1945
9T/Lt. Clifford Arthur Lines, RNVRJan 1945

You can help improve our commands section
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this vessel.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page.

Notable events involving Amber include:


23 Sep 1939
HMS Snapper (Lt. W.D.A. King, RN) conducted exercises off Alexandria. These exercises included an A/S exercise with HMS Moonstone (Lt. W.J.H. Moorman, RN), HMS Amber (Boatswain H.W. Clark, RN) and later with HMS Bulldog (Lt.Cdr. J.S.M. Richardson, RN). (1)

27 Sep 1939
HMS Snapper (Lt. W.D.A. King, RN) conducted exercises off Alexandria. These exercises included an A/S exercise with HMS Jade, HMS Amber (Boatswain H.W. Clark, RN) and later with HMS Grimsby (Capt. A.S. Russell, RN) and HMS Deptford (Cdr. C.A.E. Stanfield, RN). (1)

23 Oct 1939
HMS Defender (Lt.Cdr. St.J.R.J. Tyrwhitt, RN) conducted exercises off Alexandria. HMS Amber (Boatswain H.W. Clark, RN) who was on patrol off Alexandria obtained an A/S contact and attacked it with depth charges. HMS Defender was ordered to investigate. She too then obtained an A/S contact and twice attacked with depth charges. Oil was brought to the surface. (2)

3 Aug 1940
At 1224C/3, HMAS Hobart (Capt. H.L. Howden, RAN), departed Berbera to patrol off Cape Guardafui as it was thought that an Italian merchant vessel or even raider had departed Massawa and had evaded the Perim patrol during the night of 1 / 2 August. It was thought the enemy was posing as the Greek merchant vessel (tanker) Petrakis Nomikos (7020 GRT, built 1914).

The ship was not sighted an HMAS Hobart returned to Berbera around 1840C/5. On her arrival back at Berbara it was found that the Varsova and HMS Shoreham (Cdr. G.P. Claridge, RN) had departed for Aden while the transport Jehangir (British, 3566 GRT, built 1924), sloop HMAS Parramatta (Lt.Cdr. J.H. Walker, MVO, RAN) and A/S trawler HMS Amber (A/S.Lt P.le M. Andrew, RNR) had arrived from Aden.

HMAS Hobart was to remain at Berbera to provide cover for landing and evactuation operations. (3)

18 Mar 1941

Convoy AN 21.

This convoy departed Alexandria and Port Said in two sections on 18 March 1941.

The Alexandria section was made up of the transports; Anglo-Canadian (British, 5288 GRT, built 1928), Bankura (British, 3185 GRT, built 1912), Barpeta (British, 3194 GRT, built 1914), City of Roubaix (British, 7108 GRT, built 1922), Havre (British, 2073 GRT, built 1905), Marie Maersk (British (tanker), 8271 GRT, built 1928) Pancration (Greek, 2012 GRT, built 1920), Peter Maersk (British, 5476 GRT, built 1932), Prodromus (Greek (tanker), 877 GRT, built 1906), Queen Adelaide (British, 4933 GRT, built 1936) and Teti (Greek, 2747 GRT, built 1903).

Escort was provided by the destroyers HMS Decoy (Cdr. E.G. McGregor, DSO, RN) and HMAS Waterhen (Lt.Cdr. J.H. Swain, RN).

The Port Said section was made up of the transports; Homefield (British, 5324 GRT, built 1919), Mount Olympus (Greek, 6692 GRT, built 1920) and Trajanus (Dutch, 1712 GRT, built 1930).

Escort was provided by the corvette HMS Hyacinth (T/Lt. F.C. Hopkins, RNR).

The two section merged at sea, most likely on 19 March.

At some point the AA cruiser HMS Coventry (Capt. D. Gilmour, RN) joined. She parted company with the convoy around 0800C/21.

Around 1600C/21, while north of Crete, the tanker Marie Maersk was attacked by the air and was on fire. HMAS Waterhen went to her assistance. Several of the crew had been killed or were missing and the remainder had abandoned ship. A salvage party from HMAS Waterhen was put on board and they took the ship to Suda Bay with the assistance of the A/S trawler HMS Amber (Skr. W. Kirman, RNR). HMAS Vampire rejoined the convoy around 2100C/22.

The convoy arrived at Piraeus on 22 March 1941.

25 Jul 1945
HMS Upshot (Lt. A.J. Boyall, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Plymouth with HMS Gweal (T/Lt. H. Hilton, RNVR), HMS Thirlmere (T/Lt. H.O. Olsen, RNR), HMS Amber (T/Lt. C.A. Lines, RNVR) and another vessel [unable to read the name in the log of HMS Upshot]. (4)

Sources

  1. ADM 173/16103
  2. ADM 199/389
  3. Report of proceedings of HMAS Hobart for August 1940
  4. ADM 173/20193

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


Return to the Allied Warships section