Links
If you are interested in HMS Gambia or other ships of the post-war period then these sites should interest you.
All pages that contain a lot of links suffers from "Link Rot," where linked pages no longer exist for whever reason, and unfortunately this page is no exception. Where possible I have tried to update the links where the original page has moved or failing that, linked to the old page in the Wayback Machine in the Internet Archive.
HMS Gambia
Bill Hartland's Original Site - This site is now only available from the Web Archive and is the inspiration and basis for this site.
Brisray - my own site about my father's time in the Royal Navy including HMS Gambia and HMS Warrior
HMS Gambia (Wikipedia)
HMS Gambia, later HMNZS - Colony-class Light Cruiser (Naval History)
John Andrews, HMS Gambia Association and HMS Achilles
Maritime Quest: HMS and HMNZS Gambia - Half a dozen nice photos
Solent Radio Controlled Model Yacht Club - John Edwards has made a great radio controlled model of HMS Gambia
World Naval Ships - Photos of HMS Gambia
Videos - Companies such as British Pathe over the last few years have made a lot of news reels and documentaries available, some of which contain video of HMS Gambia. Where possible I have collected these together into a YouTube playlist.
Navy News - a fantastic resource of what is happening and has happened in the Royal Navy. The archives are available in PDF format but not very searchable if you are looking for something particular. ISSUU have copies of them and the Internet Archive also has many of the issues available and those are available as plain text, PDF, and several other formats.
Crown Colony Class Cruisers
Sites specifcially, or mainly, about the other Crown Colony-class cruisers
HMS Bermuda - A personal site by Douglas Carr
HMS Ceylon (Association site)
HMS Fiji (Association site). HMS Fiji Internet Association on Angelfire and on Sympatico.ca (Internet Archive). The Sympatico.ca sites were shut down on February 1, 2023
HMS Jamaica (hobby site similar to this one). This site was active from 2007 to 2016 but is now only available on the Web Archive
HMS Kenya (Association site)
HMS Mauritius (Wartime Memories Project)
HMS Nigeria (hobby site similar to this one)
HMS Newfoundland (Association site) This site was active from 2002 to 2017 but now is only available on the Web Archive
HMS Trinidad
HMS Uganda (HMCS Uganda site)
ForumMarine - A French forum site with a nice section on the Crown Colony Class Cruisers.
Site Searches
Some sites have their own search engines and where possible I've done my own searches for HMS Gambia on them and saved the results pages
Auckland Museum
The Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines
Battleships - Cruisers UK - this site also has a pictorial index of HMS Gambia
Flickr
Imperial War Museum
Internet Archive
Torpedo Bay Navy Museum - This is the National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy. There are lots of irrelevant results, but all are interesting
Wikimedia
YouTube
Royal Navy Records
This is a list of sites that may be able to hep with with searches for service records and to find old shipmates
Forces War Records - 23 million service records
Imperial War Museums - Useful links for finding service records
National Archives - These records are usually restricted to not less than 90 years old
Royal Navy Research Archive
UK Government Military Service Records
I know several people who have successfully gotten information from these sources, but you sometimes have to be wary of them. Peter Johnson's records seem to indicate that he spent a lot of time at shore-based establishments. The letter his grandson received in part explains why, the letter said among other things said, "Please find enclosed copies of the documents requested as follows: Central record card of Service, Medal Entitlement card and Pay & Victual trace." The "Pay & Victual trace" part is interesting. For the purposes of accounting and supply many Royal Navy ships used a shore establishment and sailors such as Peter Johnson may well have spent more time at sea in various ships than these service records indicate.
For example, the records say that Peter was at HMS Drake, the shore training estalishment at Devonport, Plymouth on March 8, 1945, but the next day he was at HMS Golden Hind, a manning establishment on the Warwick Farm Racecourse, Liverpool, Sydney, Australia!
Part of Peter Johnson's service record
Other Ships
Many of these sites also contain information about HMS Gambia
1938 Navy Estimates (Hansard)
Australian War Memorial - A great collection of photos and documents
Axford's Abode - One of the best online collections of Commissioning Books, including those of HMS Gambia. Unfortunately the site was not working properly when I visited it in June 2024
Battleships - Cruisers UK
Bemil - Non-English site but some interesting articles and photos
British re-armament (Wikipedia)
City of Vancouver Archives - A surprisingly good collection of ship photos
Crown Colony Class Cruisers (Wikipedia)
Frigate RN - A Flickr image site
Historic Naval Ships Association - A nice collection of documents in their "Resources" section
HMCS Haida - A very nice site about the Tribal-class destroyer HMCS Haida
HMS Carysfort - A great hobby site about the C-class destroyer HMS Carysfort (R25) by Jim Donaldson
HMS Collingwood Association
HMS Dunedin Society - Great site written by people who keep the memory of HMS Dunedin which was sunk in 1941 alive
HMS Superb (Cruiser) Association - Another great site to browse through
HMS Theseus - A great hobby site about the Collusus-class aircraft carrier HMS Theseus
HMS Vanguard - A great hobby site about the battleship HMS Vanguard
Imperial War Museum - A great collection of photographs and documents. Luckily for us, more and more of them are being put online
John and David's Naval, Marine and Military News (Internet Archive)
Lou Coatney's Military and Naval History Games, Writings, and Models - includes links to the Office of Naval Intelligence recognition manuals
Lou Coatney's Military and Naval History Games, Writings, and Models - (old Tripod site)
Marine Forum - Non-English but a nice collection of articles and photos
Maritime Quest
Museums Victoria - Another marvellous collection of material
Naval History and Heritage Command - An official site of the US Navy
Naval-History.Net
RNZN Communicators Association - They have some nice images of HMNZS Gambia
Royal Marines Band Service - There are references and images of HMS Gambia throughout the site. Bill Hartland was a contributor to this site.
Royal Navy & Maritime Book Reviews (Internet Archive)
Second London Naval Treaty (Wikipedia)
Ship Spotting
Stages of the Sea: 20th Century Theatrical Entertainment in the Royal Navy - 2018, Sarah Penny, University of Warwick. This is Sarah's PhD thesis which examines theatrical entertainment in the Royal Navy especially some of the chldren's parties staged by these ships. HMS Gambia is mentioned throughout the thesis.
State Library of Victoria - Another great collection of photos and documents
The Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines
The Coronation Review of The Fleet at Spithead, 1953
Town Class Cruisers (Wikipedia)
U.S. National Archives - Another fantastic collection
World Naval Ships
Medal Indentifiers
There are several good visual medal and ribbon identifiers around, here are some examples:
British Armed Forces Medals
Campaign Medals
Identify Medals
Medals of the World
Military Awards and Decorations
Social Media Groups
Crown Colony Cruisers * - Facebook private group
Grey Funnel Line - Facebook page. This page has not been updated since 2020, but still interesting to visit
I Was In The Royal Navy - Facebook active private group
Proud to have Served in the Royal Navy - Facebook active private group
Royal Navy Enthusiasts * - Facebook active public group
Royal Navy Cruisers and their Crew in Photographs * - Facebook public group. This page has not been updated since 2018, but still interesting to visit
Royal Navy Ships - Facebook active private group
Royal Navy Ships & Submarines - Facebook active public group
Royal Navy Ships Plus * - Facebook active private group
Shipping History * - Message board community
Ships Nostalgia * - Message board community
World Naval Ships * - Message board community (archive)
* Denotes groups I am a member of