The Loss of NAV Isleford

 

On the 25 January 1942 in a blizzard the Naval Armaments Vessel Isleford ran aground in Wick Bay, Scotland and was lost. The entire crew of fourteen plus one DEMS Gunner were all drowned.

 

Isleford_ship

 

NAV Isleford was one of the predecessors of the RFA’s Ammunition ships of the 1950’s to the 1980’s.

On Merchant Navy Day 4 September 2011 the Caithness Branch of the Merchant Navy Association unveiled a memorial to those lost on the Isleford and her crew after a service in the town’s kirk.

 

 

On the 25 January 1942 in a blizzard the Naval Armaments Vessel Isleford ran aground in Wick Bay, Scotland and was lost. The entire crew of fourteen plus one DEMS Gunner were all drowned.

 

Isleford_ship

 

 

NAV Isleford was one of the predecessors of the RFA’s Ammunition ships of the 1950’s to the 1980’s.

On Merchant Navy Day 4 September 2011 the Caithness Branch of the Merchant Navy Association unveiled a memorial to those lost on the Isleford and her crew after a service in the town’s kirk.

 

 

 

Isleford_a

 

 

Commodore William Walworth OBE RFA and the RFA Service were represented at the ceremony by Captain Duncan Lamb RFA who laid a wreath on the Memorial in memory of those lost.

 

Isleford_2

Miss Margaret A G Dunnett, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of the County of Caithness,

Captain Duncan Lamb RFA and Mr Jock Bissett MNA member from WIck

Isleford_3

The grave of only one of her crew has been traced to a cemetery in Perth. The DEMS Gunner is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial and the crew are all remembered with pride on the Tower Hill Memorial.