borebage53
Knife & Fork pending
……just watched Saving Lives At Sea WWII about the heroism and sacrifice at sea of the RNLI during the war years. It was a subject that I knew very little about and it portrayed the fact that the RNLI were thrust right into the front line of the fighting around our coasts and beyond.
In 1939 all 160 Lifeboat Stations around Gt.Britain & Ireland were put on a war footing by the Government and under the orders of the Royal Navy and of those operating out of Eire. All around our coastlines during the war German U-boats and fast E-boats were coming in close to sink shipping. In one instance just 3 miles off Aldeburgh in Suffolk. With most of the younger lifeboat crews having been conscripted into our Armed Forces the crews were predominantly older recalled veterans. The busiest station was at Margate after the Germans had dropped mines into the mouth of the Thames Estuary. Lifeboats were on duty off Dunkirk ( 17 boats were taken over by the Royal Navy Reserve but the Margate and Ramsgate boats went out with their own crews) and also lifeboats operated off the Normandy landing beaches on D-Day. Even after D-Day the English Channel was a dangerous place for shipping and Allied airmen. The Guernsey and Jersey Lifeboats had to be evacuated on the eve of the German invasion of the Channel Islands. There were nearly 7000 lives saved at sea by the RNLI during the conflict including downed British,American and German airmen, Royal Navy and Merchant Navy sailors off sinking ships.
As is still the case today the RNLI save lives at sea without fear or favour!
In 1939 all 160 Lifeboat Stations around Gt.Britain & Ireland were put on a war footing by the Government and under the orders of the Royal Navy and of those operating out of Eire. All around our coastlines during the war German U-boats and fast E-boats were coming in close to sink shipping. In one instance just 3 miles off Aldeburgh in Suffolk. With most of the younger lifeboat crews having been conscripted into our Armed Forces the crews were predominantly older recalled veterans. The busiest station was at Margate after the Germans had dropped mines into the mouth of the Thames Estuary. Lifeboats were on duty off Dunkirk ( 17 boats were taken over by the Royal Navy Reserve but the Margate and Ramsgate boats went out with their own crews) and also lifeboats operated off the Normandy landing beaches on D-Day. Even after D-Day the English Channel was a dangerous place for shipping and Allied airmen. The Guernsey and Jersey Lifeboats had to be evacuated on the eve of the German invasion of the Channel Islands. There were nearly 7000 lives saved at sea by the RNLI during the conflict including downed British,American and German airmen, Royal Navy and Merchant Navy sailors off sinking ships.
As is still the case today the RNLI save lives at sea without fear or favour!