HM Ships in refit

[Finkenwerder]

Does anyone know who to contact in order to find out which HM ships and submarines were refitted at HM Dockyard, Rosyth between 1970 and 1978.

Any help would be gratefully received.

[NickNZ]

Originally Posted by Finkenwerder

Does anyone know who to contact in order to find out which HM ships and submarines were refitted at HM Dockyard, Rosyth between 1970 and 1978.

Any help would be gratefully received.

You could try thedockyard. Waste of time asking MoD, they wouldn’t know where Rosyth is!

I have tried contacting NMRN for specific information donated to their archives y my Grandfather, and got back ’a Dear zJohn’ response.

Hopefully the situation will improve when the Chinese invade!

[Tomvart]

Hi Finkenwerder,

I am not sure if a definitive list exists anywhere on the net but I do know that Naval-History.Net does document refits of HM Ships.

You will need to look at Section 4 - 1972-1981, then scroll down a few pages until you get to 'THE FLEET' section, towards the bottom of that section you will find a list of ships in refit and at which dockyard.

The sections are chronological so you will need to scroll through each year to look at successive years. Link to Section 4 here.

Hope this helps.

Tom

[Tomvart]

Rosyth Refits - 72
Tartar 1.72-
Zulu 8.72-

Rosyth Refits - 73
Tartar-1.74
Zulu-10.74

Rosyth Refits - 74
Tartar-1.74
Zulu-10.74

Rosyth Refits - 75
Londonderry 10.75-

Rosyth Refits - 76
Londonderry 10.75-

Rosyth Refits - 77
Londonderry

Rosyth Refits - 78
Londonderry

Rosyth Refits - 79
Londonderry -10.79

[Finkenwerder]

Many many thanks Tomvart, that has been a great help and I'm much obliged to you. A group of us retired RMAS bods are trying to prepare a list of the RN ships we attended to while they were refitting and being shunted around he non tidal basin! Thanks again.

Also thanks to NZ Nick for the comments!

[Tomvart]

Not sure that the website I identified shows other ships docking periods Finkenwerder, such as DEDs which was normally every 2 years for most ships, or even small ship docking periods.

During the period you are interested in, Rosyth was the main base for the majority of the RNs small ships, e.g. most of the Ton class, all of the Islands/Castles, most of the Birds working the NI inshore squadron (Kingfisher etc) all used Rosyth as the refit base, Tons having wooden hulls had to be docked down far more regularly than the steel ships.

I always recall Rosyth Synchrolift being full of Tons most of the time, that must have required a fair bit of shunting around the different berths in the dockyard by the RMAS.

I thought that the Ton refits would have appeared on the Ton Class Association website, however - having just looked - sadly there is very detail on refit dates or location.

[Finkenwerder]

You were right Tomvart. We spent a lot of time shunting the Ton class on and off the synchrolift, sometimes to go back to the tidal pens (berths P1, P2, P3, P4, and R(N) and R(S)) immediately through the lock, or more usually somewhere in the non tidal basin for a few days. Happy days. Thanks for your help.

[Tomvart]

You and your RMAS shipmates probably dragged me and my shipmates......and my former Rosyth based ships - Anglesey, Bickington, Kedleston, Liverpool and York on those very same routes around Rosyth Finkenwerder, I cant ever recall any incident from any of those evolutions...I thank you.