Date of Arrival

Place

Date of Departure

Remarks

20.2.45

Le Havre

5.3.45

5.3.45

Cherbourg

?

10.3.45

Le Havre

?

?

CTG 122.2

2.4.45

2.4.45

Sheerness

?

Undocking and completion date for FRANKLIN is 24/4

11.5.45

Nore

19.5.45

In northern Europe FRANKLIN, still under Irving, carried out trials of QM, later to be developed into the Decca Navigator system, in April while waiting to enter German ports. She sailed from Sheerness for Cuxhaven on 19 May, and carried out wreck clearance surveys there, and at Hamburg, Heligoland, Kiel, Lubeck and Travemunde, as well as fixing navigational buoys in the Baltic. She had two HDMLs (SMLs 3 and 4) attached to her, with which she surveyed the Weser river from the sea to the port of Bremen in August and September. Another SML, 5, made a reconnaissance survey of the Rhine up to Cologne, while when the Weser survey was completed SML 3 went to Denmark to assist the Danes in opening up their ports. 

Source: EXTRACTS from: Charts and Surveys in Peace and War – The History of the RN Hydrographic Service 1919 – 1970 by Rear Admiral R O Morris CB

 
….Egg Irving in FRANKLIN had returned to the Scheldt in the early months of 1945 to find a Decca chain erected with stations in Belgium and Holland to provide navigation cover in the estuary and river Scheldt as far as Antwerp, whence seaborne cargoes were pouring into North West Europe. He began at once to test the system with reference to the survey marks he had previously established along the extensive dykes on either side of the river. On V‑E Day Egg described his officers as 'well satisfied with the equipment and pleased enough to celebrate the end of the War and the success of Decca as a fixing aid.' 

Source: Extract from ‘No Day Too Long’, G S Ritchie

 

The ship I was on was independent command; we were very much on our own, which isn't very nice at times, and we were off the coast of Germany: Heligoland by, not far from Germany. And we picked up a radio message the war had ended. So we immediately at top speed went right back to a place called Terneuzen in Holland. I think that was possibly the most startling and happy memory and that was followed too. Then very shortly after that we'd to - within hours - we'd to leave Terneuzen and go into the harbour in Germany. I forget, is it Cuxhaven or Bremerhaven? I think it was Cuxhaven. And we went in in utter darkness and then the next morning, when we out and looked around, we were in the middle of this dockyard and every ship there, every German ship there, was about ten times our size, so we thought, 'What are we doing here?' But obviously the war was ended.

About two or maybe three days after the war ended, there was the official surrender of the German navy. Not the German nation, but this was the German navy, because it was a naval base. And the ship that I was on was quite a small one and we were there. By this time there were sweepers with us, mine-sweepers and they were also very small ships. But they were both types of ships where you didn't have marching up and down. There was very little discipline, from that point of view. And yet the crews from HMS Franklin, which I was on, and the mine-sweepers actually represented the Royal Navy. So you can imagine the situation of this great big square in Cuxhaven and here was the 51st Highland Division with tanks there, sitting there tanks, with machine guns trained on the poor prisoners-of-war, Germans, and they were, I was sorry for them really. And they were lined, called to attention while the representatives of the Royal Navy marched in. And you could tell that the only ones who could march were boys that had been in the Boys' Brigade because there had been no time during the training to get ready these personnel for the landings. There was no time to do the marching. You could tell the boys who had been in the Boys' Brigade; it's the only ones that kept in step.

Source: William Shand http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/item/item_audio.jsp?item_id=36351

21.5.45

Cuxhaven

?

?

Keil

14.6.45

?

Hamburg

7.7.45

4.7.45

Nore

22.7.45

FRANKLIN taken in hand 10/7, completion 18/7

24.7.45

Wilhelmshaven

?

?

Hamburg

8.9.45

FRANKLIN due Chatham 10/9 has sustained damage. Earliest date can be made available 20/9

From BNC in CG: As there are no further requirements for FRANKLIN in my command consider it preferable for her to proceed to UK rather than remain in Germany

10.9.45

Sheerness

22.10.45

11/9 FRANKLIN taken in hand for docking, boiler cleaning and defects. Completion date uncertain.

23.10.45

Portland

27.10.45

28.10.45

Cardiff

?

7.11.45

Loch Ryan

?

10.11.45

Portland

?

With the war in Europe ending in May 1945 and that in the Far East in September the first call on the Hydrographic Service was to survey and re‑chart the devastated ports of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Far East, and to assist in clearing minefields and charting safe passages through those which could not be cleared immediately. FRANKLIN and Scott were quickly disarmed and restored to full surveying status. A minor distinction which identifies them post-war is that while FRANKLIN's mainmast was restored to its pre-war position for'ard of the chartroom, Scott's was stepped on the chartroom roof. 

Source: EXTRACTS from: Charts and Surveys in Peace and War – The History of the RN Hydrographic Service 1919 – 1970 by Rear Admiral R O Morris CB