In a posting way back on 26 January, dealing with the British Pacific Fleet,
the following exchange occurred:

>Brooks A Rowlett wrote:
>>
>> Also: Canadian Auxiliary Cruiser PRINCE ROBERT and possibly more.
>> If I read correctly the British submarines all stayed under the Eastern
>> fleet command.
>>
>> Gray’s OPERATION PACIFIC is unfortunately not thorough in attributing
>> ships to one command or the other.

To which Richard Osborne replied:

>The former Canadian AMC PRINCE ROBERT was not part of the British Pacific
>Fleet until mid 1945 having been converted to an auxiliary AA cruiser during
>January 1943 – July 1943 at Burrard Dry Dock in Esquimalt. Subsequently,
>from October 1943 to September she was based at Plymouth (UK) and
>escorted UK – Gibraltar convoys when she proved extremely effective against
>German Hs 293 glider bombs. PRINCE ROBERT returned to Esquimalt in
>September 1944 and did not recommission until 31st May 1945 and was
allocated to
>the BPF.

——–

I’ve been avoiding sending in this posting, because I sort of thought it
fell into the “Well, obviously….” file, so I didn’t want to waste other
listers’ time; however, I’ve now decided that “just in case” it is helpful
to somebody, I’d like to point out that John Winton’s excellent book “The
Forgotten Fleet: The Story of the British Pacific Fleet 1944-45”, (London:
1969), has the following appendices:

A) “BPF on 15 August 1945” 7.5 pages, [including the BPF’s senior command
structure — ie, from C-in-C down to sqdn/flotilla OICs); as well as a
complete(?) listing of all vessels from aircraft carriers/battleships down
to tugs, water-carriers, net tenders, and the like; moreover, the CO of each
unit on VJ Day is also given; the BPF’s 5 shore establishments are
also listed.]

B) “The East Indies Fleet, 15 August 1945”, 7.5 pages; (the same detailed
info as above is also given in this appendix).

c) “Aircraft of the BPF”, 1 page.

D) “Japanese Shipping Sunk By British and Netherlands Submarines in the Far
East: Sept 1944 – Aug 1945”. (gives dates, names, tonnage, area, and how sunk)

As I said, just in case this might be useful to know.

Cheers,
Glen

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Glen “I-was-a-teenage-fogey” Hodgins

A Medal Collector and Commonwealth/Empire Naval Historian
temporarily imprisoned at:

Her Canadian Majesty’s C/O Po Box 500 (CLMBO)
High Commission for Sri Lanka Station A
6 Gregory’s Road OTTAWA, Ontario, K1N 8T7
(PO Box 1006) Dominion of CANADA
Cinnamon Gardens
Colombo 7, Sri Lanka [still Canada’s OFFICIAL title!]

Fax, (from overseas): 94-1-687-815