Post by KG on Oct 21, 2013 16:35:56 GMT
A TRIBUTE TO THE MERCHANT NAVY WW2:
by Don Kennedy
The name ‘Merchant Navy’ was bestowed by the British Government on all British and Commonwealth ships carrying cargoes, commodities, passenger’s merchandise and goods, by decree of the late King George V, in recognition and appreciation of loyal and heroic duties performed during World War One. The period of the war between 1914 and 1918, was when Britain faced total defeat by Germany as a result of the dreadful war at sea. In addition to the relentless and bloody land battles fought in France and Belgium, Britain’s merchant fleet was ruthlessly and efficiently attacked by enemy surface ships and ‘U Boats’. There was, initially, little or no adequate defence to the new submarine form of warfare, so as a result, massive losses of ships and enormous deaths of merchant seamen occurred. As an island nation Britain required its massive merchant fleet to supply much of its food and, in wartime, a large component of essential war equipment and material. At the end of World War 1 the British Government commemorated it’s merchant fleet by issuing a special Merchant Navy Medal to all of the seamen who had served on ships during the war. But it was some years later that the term ‘Merchant Navy’ was officially promulgated by King. George V. thus he, as monarch, then became “Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets”
LINK
by Don Kennedy
The name ‘Merchant Navy’ was bestowed by the British Government on all British and Commonwealth ships carrying cargoes, commodities, passenger’s merchandise and goods, by decree of the late King George V, in recognition and appreciation of loyal and heroic duties performed during World War One. The period of the war between 1914 and 1918, was when Britain faced total defeat by Germany as a result of the dreadful war at sea. In addition to the relentless and bloody land battles fought in France and Belgium, Britain’s merchant fleet was ruthlessly and efficiently attacked by enemy surface ships and ‘U Boats’. There was, initially, little or no adequate defence to the new submarine form of warfare, so as a result, massive losses of ships and enormous deaths of merchant seamen occurred. As an island nation Britain required its massive merchant fleet to supply much of its food and, in wartime, a large component of essential war equipment and material. At the end of World War 1 the British Government commemorated it’s merchant fleet by issuing a special Merchant Navy Medal to all of the seamen who had served on ships during the war. But it was some years later that the term ‘Merchant Navy’ was officially promulgated by King. George V. thus he, as monarch, then became “Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets”
LINK