Royal Naval Patrol Service

The Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS) was a branch of the Royal Navy active during the Second World War. The RNPS operated many small auxiliary vessels such as naval trawlers for anti-submarine and minesweeping operations to protect coastal Britain and convoys during WWII.

History

The Royal Naval Patrol Service had its origins in the trawlermen and fisherman who belonged to the Royal Naval Reserve Trawler Section in the period leading up to the war. When the Royal Naval Reserves were mobilised in August 1939, HMS "Europa", usually known as "Sparrow's Nest", became the Central Depot of the RNPS. "Sparrow's Nest" was located at Lowestoft, the most easterly point of Great Britain, and then the closest British military establishment to the enemy.

"Sparrow's Nest" was decommissioned in 1946.

Harry Tate's Navy

The advantages of using small ships for minesweeping and other duties had been recognised during the First World War and many of the crews of the peacetime fishing fleets had been encouraged to join the Royal Naval Reserve. Because the majority were Reservists the RNPS became a "Navy within a Navy". [ [http://www.rnps.lowestoft.org.uk/history.htm Royal Naval Patrol Service History] ]

Starting out with out-dated and poorly armed vessels, such as requisitioned trawlers crewed by ex-fishermen, the RNPS was given a number of unofficial titles which poked fun, such as "Harry Tate's Navy", "Churchill's Pirates" and "Sparrows".

Because the peacetime crews become Naval seamen together they developed a special camaraderie. This camaraderie continued in the Service throughout WWII, even though by the end most RNPS members were "hostilities only" [Hostilities only servicemen were enlisted on the condition that they would be discharged at the end of the war] who had had little connection with the sea before the war. [ [http://www.rnps.lowestoft.org.uk/more.htm Royal Naval Patrol Service Association] ]

Operations

The RNPS fought in all theatres of the war, from the Arctic to the Mediterranean, from the Atlantic to the Far East, involved in convoy duty, minesweeping and anti-submarine work. Most particularly they kept the British Coast clear of the mines that were wreaking havoc with merchant ships. [ [http://www.rnps.lowestoft.org.uk/history.htm Royal Naval Patrol Service History] ]

One RNPS member, Lieutenant Richard Stannard won the Victoria Cross. He won the award while in command of the Hull trawler "Arab" during the Narvik campaign.

Boats of the RNPS

Its fighting fleet consisted of hundreds of requisitioned fishing trawlers‎, whalers, drifters, paddle steamers, yachts, tugs and the like, "Minor War Vessels" as the Admiralty called them. [ [http://www.harry-tates.org.uk/ Royal Naval Patrol Service or Harry Tate's Navy] ]

ee also

* Auxiliary Patrol
* Royal Naval Reserve‎
* History of the Royal Naval Reserve
* Trawlers of the Royal Navy‎
* Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy‎

References

;Notes

;Reading List
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/88/a3877888.shtml Brown, James] (1994) [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/obituaries.cfm?id=796782007 " Harry Tate's Navy: One Man's Story of the Royal Naval Patrol Service."] ISBN 978-0952270614
* Featherbe, F.C. (1994) [http://bookshistorical.com/4294.html "Churchill's Pirates: Royal Naval Patrol Service, 1939–1945, the Veterans' Stories."] ISBN 978-0948305085
* Featherbe, F.C. (1996) "More Tales from Churchill's Pirates: Royal Naval Patrol Service, 1939–1945, the Veterans' Stories." ISBN 978-0948305092
* Lund, Paul and Ludlam, Harry (1971) "The Trawlers go to War" ISBN 978-0572007683
* [http://www.abfar.co.uk/catalogs/rnps_cat.htm RNPS Book list]
* [http://www.rnps.lowestoft.org.uk/rnpsbooks.htm Royal Naval Patrol Service Booklist]
* [http://www.ibooknet.co.uk/archive/news_nov02.htm Books about the RNPS]

External links

* [http://www.harry-tates.org.uk/ Royal Naval Patrol Service or Harry Tate's Navy]
* [http://www.rnps.lowestoft.org.uk/index.htm Royal Naval Patrol Service Association]
* [http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/RN_Minewarfare_Branch.htm The RN Mine Minewarfare Branch]
* [http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/MCD_History_Frames.htm History of Minewarfare or Clearance Diving]
* [http://www.nmbva.co.uk/royal_naval_patrol_service.htm Royal Naval Patrol Service]
* [http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=g9r1-RHk5vM YouTube – Minesweeping WW2]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/02/a8017102.shtml BBC Archive of WWII memories]
* [http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=431 A personal account]
* [http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/museum_gfx_en/AM37767.html Royal Naval Patrol Service Museum]