GOSPORT BRANCH
Established 1981
President - Captain Chris Groves
Vice President - Les Catlin BEM
Chairman - Steve Thorpe MBE
HMS AFFRAY MEMORIAL STONE IN GOSPORT
(The photos of the last HMS Affray Memorial Service can be found under the PHOTO ALBUM heading above.)
PLEASE NOTE: The three dedicated Affray benches (originally installed in 2018) sited opposite the memorial have now been replaced after refurbishment. The benches were kindly removed and replaced by GS Building Services of Gosport free of charge. The refurbishment of the three benches was carried out by 'The Gosport Men's Shed' with materials provided by the Gosport Branch of the SA. A small donation will be made to the 'Shed for their efforts.
The Gosport Submariners would like to thank Gosport Borough Council, GS Building Services and The Gosport Men's Shed for their generous assistance with this project. (July 2022)
Photos courtesy of George Guthrie
Two of the plaques from benches sponsored by the 'SBS Association' and 'Britannia Royal Naval Collage'. There is a similar one on the bench sponsored by the Submariners Association.
THE LOSS OF HMS AFFRAY
HMS Affray sailed in the early evening of April 15th, 1951, from the HMS Dolphin submarine base to take part in exercise ‘Spring Train’ in the western approaches. She dived off the Isle of Wight later that evening to make a dived passage west.
Her crew was reduced from 61 to 50 to accommodate a class of 21 trainee Engineering Officers and instructors on a training course and a detachment of 4 SBS Marines who were to carry out an exercise during her transit west. This made her complement 75.
She was lost with all hands some time between midnight on the 16th of April and 08.00 the following morning when she failed to send a routine signal.
Extensive searches for her were carried out over the following two months but it wasn’t until the 14 June that she was located lying in the Hurd deep just north of the island of Alderney.
RESURGAM