“To recognise the importance of the Battle of the Atlantic in our country’s history & commemorate the sacrifices made by those involved”

Launch of HMS Whimbrel 25th Aug 42

Engine Room 2002

No 2 Boiler Room Telegraph

Foreward Mess Deck 2002

A project management team had been set up under the leadership of Captain Chris Pile RN (retired) encompassing a wide range of relevant skills. This team reports to a steering group headed by Vice Admiral Michael Gretton CB MA FNI, currently Director of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. 

·       An initial inspection of HMS Whimbrel (Now ENS Tariq) was carried out in November 2002 and this was followed by a more detailed survey by the project’s surveyor, Commander Robin Raphael RN (retired) in February 2003. His survey has formed the basis for subsequent discussions with the Egyptian authorities over the repairs that will be required before the return voyage to the UK. 

·       A draft agreement was reached with the Egyptian Ministry of Defence  in November 2003, under which a two-part purchase and Alexandria based refit package was costed at £1m sterling. Conclusion of this agreement is subject to the project’s ability to raise this initial sum within a reasonable timeframe. 

·       A provisional understanding has also been achieved with British Waterways for a long-term berth at the heart of Liverpool’s historic waterfront in Canning Dock, one of HMS Whimbrel’s wartime bases. 

·       A preliminary scoring by the National Historic Ships Committee, the quasi-official body advising the National Lottery on grants to maritime projects has given strong hopes of top tier “core collection” status.

Stern & Props 2002 

 Project Developments

Following the Egyptian Navy’s decision to dispose of HMS Whimbrel (now ENS Tariq) in 2002 & the formation of an embryonic Battle of the Atlantic Memorial team to investigate the ship’s return to the UK, the initial focus was on obtaining access to the ship & establishing her material condition. These efforts culminated in a structural survey in February 2003, which indicated that, whilst Whimbrel was in generally sound condition, certain specific areas of corrosion would require major attention. At the time of our last update to supporters in March 2003 we anticipated that it would be relatively easy to ascertain the cost of the relevant repairs (which it was planned to undertake in Egypt) & thereby make a reasonably accurate assessment of the project’s likely economic feasibility. However, negotiations with the Egyptian authorities were far more protracted than we envisaged & it was only after much patient discussion by both sides that a draft agreement was finally reached in November 2003. This provides for the ship’s sale plus initial refurbishment in an Egyptian dockyard (including removal of all exposed asbestos) for a total sum of £1m, the agreement being subject to the project’s ability to raise this money within a reasonable timeframe.

Obviously, the project’s initial members have not been idle during this time & much ongoing work has been carried out to strengthen the project team & smooth potential obstacles to the scheme’s further development. For example, detailed discussions have been held with the National Historic Ship Committee, the quasi-official body advising the National Lottery on grants to maritime projects to ascertain Whimbrel’s likely heritage ranking & this has resulted in a strong indication of potential eligibility for top tier “core collection” status once return to the UK is achieved. Achievement of this status increases the likelihood of lottery funding for the longer term conservation & conversion work planned in the UK. It should be noted that it is very difficult to obtain lottery funding for vessels currently outside of the UK, thereby presenting the project with a major financial hurdle to overcome in the first instance.

Immediate Objectives

With agreement on the cost of purchase & initial repair now reached, we are now in a position to investigate whether there is sufficient support to finance phases 1 to 3 of the project, which will culminate in Whimbrel’s return to a secure berth in the UK pending conversion to museum/memorial status. The project’s costings indicate that these stages can be completed within a maximum total budget of £3m, including a substantial contingency.

Given the very considerable amount of funding required & the time constraints that we have to work within, we are of the opinion that any general appeal to raise funds via a large number of small donations would be unlikely to raise the money required to complete these stages. As a result, our principal fundraising efforts are being targeted on a relatively small number of major potential benefactors, with whom discussions are now commencing.

Other short term objectives are focused on making a final decision on Whimbrel’s berth immediately on return to the UK & building on the substantial support that exists in Liverpool to demonstrate that the right local conditions exist to ensure the memorial’s long term sustainability.

Help & Assistance Required

We are pleased to receive a regular flow of offers of help with the project, both financial & non-financial. The non-financial assistance that we require tends to fluctuate depending on the project’s current focus, as new (& generally increasing levels of) help are required as we continue to make progress. We have therefore been keeping a database of the various skills that supporters have to offer, making contact with them to request specific support as the need has arisen. To give just one example, much of the recent national press publicity achieved by the project has been the result of help from a journalist who registered his support for our objectives several months previously. We would therefore ask anybody who has specific skills that might be helpful in achieving our endeavours & is happy to use these in our support to tell us about these as soon as possible – at some stage they might make a crucial contribution to the project’s success.   

As indicated above, it is likely that we will depend on the generosity of major benefactors for ultimate success & it is for this reason that no general appeal has been launched. At the same time, the project’s preparatory costs – not least in terms of travel to Egypt & unavoidable professional expenses – are not insubstantial, with between £5k & £10k spent to date. We are therefore extremely grateful to receive donations of any amount towards these ongoing costs. These donations allow us to finance essential work that builds our overall credibility &, thus, overall chance of success. Any cheques should be made payable to “HMS Whimbrel, Battle of the Atlantic Memorial”.   

Further Information

Our aim is to provide additional project updates as and when there are further developments of significance and you will be kept on our mailing list unless you advise otherwise. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to receive details of any particular aspect of the project or have a specific question that you would like answering.

Yours sincerely,

Conrad Waters

Public Relations Officer, HMS Whimbrel, Battle of the Atlantic Memorial

From Ron Pudduck: April 2010: Formerly I was a member of the Project Team led by Vice Admiral Mike Gretton in the role of naval architect, providing technical advice and maintaining archive material required for the conservation and restoration of ex-HMS Whimbrel. I carried out the survey of the ship at Alexandria in August 2005 and developed the documentation to support Heritage Lottery Funding (ie Conservation Management Plan, Audience Development Plan, Access Plan etc). A refit Specification was also produced in readiness for engaging with contractors to undertake the work firstly in Egypt to prepare the ship for lifting onto a ship transport vessel for the journey to the UK and subsequently for conservation/restoration in Liverpool.  Sadly as it has been explained elsewhere and despite strenuous and repeated efforts by the Project Team and many others, it was not possible to get agreement with the Egyptian government on the terms for the sale of the ship.

In the course of my efforts to gather technical information I was fortunate to meet a large number of enthusiastic ex-MoD engineers with long memories and ex-RN crew members who had served in or knew Whimbrel or others of the class. With their help I have amassed considerable details that so far as I know are not recorded elsewhere, that will be invaluable to a) understand and therefore help the restoration and b) provide an insight to life onboard with many stories and personal experiences to add colour to the outline history that is all that is recorded in museums, reference books and archives. It was the personal content collected by interviews and conversations captured on a voice recorder that spurred me to write a book of the ship’s history – which is now well advanced.

Encouraged by the great naval historian David Brown (who sadly died last year) once my boss in the MoD, I intend to produce a record that hopefully will be more than a technical read, that would only appeal to a few naval enthusiasts. If we cant bring the ship home in the near future, in the meantime at least the book will be a lasting testament and reminder of the debt we all owe to the largely forgotten brave souls who clung to iron ladders in the suffocating heat of the boiler rooms, were numbed and blinded by driving rain and sleet on the open bridge, guns and look-out positions or suffered the misery of upset food and soaked bedding in the mess decks, as the little ships corkscrewed and slammed in freezing Atlantic or Arctic storms.  The record of the improved Black Swans as perhaps the best anti-submarine escort vessels of WW2  when organised and led by luminaries such as Johnnie Walker is well known. Less well known perhaps is the role of these ships in the Pacific and the pace and influence of improvements and innovations in weapons and equipment during the latter war years. Still less has been written with  first hand input, of the humour, boredom and banalities that formed the counterpoint to the hard work, routines and fears that were part of 24 hour life in the wardroom as well as on the lower deck in the dark days of WW2...  

I am still collecting material and welcome any offerings particularly from ex-crew of escort vessels of all types. Pride of place will of course be given to any ex-Whimbrels, crew of her sisters and handed-down tales from their families and friends. As said before, any offered material, photographs, note books etc will be carefully handled, accredited in the book and safely returned.

Whimbrel as the Tariq in Egyptian waters 

Capt Walker was buried at sea in Liverpool Bay. "It was a deeply moving. It's the only occasion I can never remember saluting my father. It was a very solemn occasion, with everyone gathered on the quarter deck as the coffin went overboard.  My mother threw a wreath. It was a very dull, misty day. The sort of day they'd encounter when they went out 'on the hunt'.  It's all a long time ago and I wouldn't expect the next generation to know, which is why saving Whimbrel will help.  "My father never thought he was doing anything special. He would be utterly surprised by the whole fuss, he'd laugh his head off at the idea of one of the Virgin Trains named after him.