Special Sub-Topic: Gunboat 658 Click Here To Play: Gunboat 658

What was the original armament of MGB 658?

AA gun-40mm pom pom, B and C- two twin half inch machine guns, X- twin 20mm Oerlikon, Y- hand operated six pounder and two twin .303 Vickers machine guns on the bridge.. A six pounder is a 57mm gun. Six lbs is about 2.5 kg. The A and Y guns were replaced by semi automatic six pounders and the half inch guns by 20mm Oerlikons. They got the two new six pounders in time for what Reynolds described as the final round.

What was her maximum speed in knots (nautical miles per hour)?

30. Her cruising speed was 18 to 22 knots. She was about 35m long, 6 .5m wide with a draft of 1.5m. She had four 1,500hp Packard engines plus two auxiliary engines and carried 23000 litres of 1,000 octane petrol (which is a worry when you are regularly shot at).

How big was her crew?

36. The Commander and First Officer were Canadians. The other officer was the author who was only a midshipman when he joined. The only crew allowed below during a combat patrol were the six engine room crew, the radio operator and the radar operator.

What was 658's first combat success?

FW190 fighter.. This was during operation Husky – the invasion of Sicily. Six FWs attacked the flotilla of five dog boats (as the D class MGBs were called) and two were shot down. En route between England and Gibraltar they had been shadowed by German aircraft and one ship in the convoy had been damaged by fire from a submarine. Two subs were lost but there is some confusion about what happened – the Germans claimed they had collided. The second kill was also a FW190, but after that they had little contact with enemy aircraft. A lot of their work during Husky consisted of unexciting things like delivering messages and guiding convoys into port.

Why was MGB 658 was the first MGB to get to Sardinia?

A crew member had severe stomach pains and had to be rushed to a doctor.. They were the third ship after two minesweepers. None of the three doctors spoke English but they cured him with a large bottle of medicine. All fuel was filtered through chamois leather to keep water out. This made refuelling slow.

How many vessels did they destroy in their first action against surface ships?

Three. Two were flak ships – about 40m long, a 75mm gun, a 40mm gun and several lighter weapons. Unfortunately, the other boat was MGB 636 which had failed to respond to their challenge, whereupon one of 636's crewmen opened fire on them without orders. There were about ten dead. 658 also suffered its first fatality.

Which of the following terms is incorrectly defined?

'Sunflower' means 'enemy aircraft in sight'. 'Sunflower' is actually the radio code for radar. 'Flag four' means 'fire torpedoes'.

Soon after the action US PT boats started working from their harbour. Why did they frequently go on joint operations?

The Americans acted as eyes with their superior radar sets.. The US sets were like modern ones with a rotating scanner. The British ones had to be moved by hand and were intended mainly for use against aircraft.

An attempt to land four French agents and a lot of equipment in Elba failed. Why?

Two of the Frenchmen insisted on standing up in the MGBs 3m dinghy, which capsized.. They called it a 'false nose operation'. They could not find the French capitain de corvette who was in charge for some time as he had got stuck under the chine near the bows.

Their next surface actions were against F lighters. What were they typically armed with?

An 88mm gun and several 20mm guns.. Once when fighting F lighters was when they were creating a diversion for the Anzio landing by playing recordings of invasion noises. The 88mm guns were protected by concrete emplacement. It seems this worked against the enemy as the gunners tended to hide while the British gunners had nothing to hide behind and so kept shooting.

They used a calcium flare. Why?

To distract the enemy. It was described as an old dodge to leave a blaze on the water. They were being engaged by a KT boat (a well armed 1500 ton transport), shore batteries and probably a convoy so they needed to get away.

When they were taking part of the invasion of Elba they intercepted the only major attempt at evacuation. They suffered heavy casualties. What losses were there on the bridge?

4 from 5.. In total three of the crew were killed. The only unwounded man on the bridge was the author who first thought he was wounded as he was hit by blood and fragments. They were fighting a force including an ex-Italian destroyer and F lighters. The actual invasion force was Free French and French colonial troops.

Soon after Elba they were involved with a mine. What happened?

They passed over it and it blew the bows off the boat behind.. The priming mechanism of a mine ‘clicks’. When it has done enough clicks it will explode. Five of the crew of the following boat were killed and three were recovered from the water. It then took ten minutes with the pom pom and Oerlikons to sink what was left of the boat. Towards the end of the war the same thing happened to them and a following boat was sunk again.

What was the last time 658 fired her guns (other than for practice)?

Destroying mines cut loose by minesweepers after VE day.. They had acted as a lamp to guide convoys into Trieste then as a liberty boat for cruisers then moved up a bit to show the flag in Trieste during clashes with Yugoslavs.

What was MGB 658's eventual fate?

Sold to Egypt and sank in a gale while under tow in late 1945.. Lieutenant Reynolds was the only person who joined the ship when she was commissioned on 26th March 1943 in Brixham harbour who was still serving in her when she was paid off in Malta. He rose from being the junior officer of three to being commander.