ROYAL NAVY SOUTH ATLANTIC COMMAND - ROYAL NAVY M
37)ML 1066 (MOTOR LAUNCH)
Image by A. I.
The history of Motor Launch ML 1066 runs parallel to that of its "sister" ship, ML 1065. Both were 72-foot Harbour Defence Motor Launches (HDMLs) built to order for the Royal Navy by the Blackmore shipyard in Bideford, United Kingdom.
Upon delivery in early 1942, ML 1066 was assigned to the 108th Motor Launch Flotilla. As small wooden vessels, they did not make the ocean crossing under their own power; ML 1066 was loaded onto a heavy-lift cargo ship in the River Clyde area of Scotland and shipped directly to the strategic port of Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The role and missions of ML 1066 in the West African theater of operations were marked by intense activity:
Timeline and Missions in Freetown – The Port's "Wooden Wall": Freetown possessed the largest natural harbor on the West African coast, serving as a mandatory assembly point for the massive Allied transatlantic convoys supplying Europe. ML 1066’s daily mission was to tirelessly patrol the harbor entrances and surrounding coastal waters to hunt for Axis submarines (U-boats) and prevent infiltration.
Operation Pinpoint (July 1942): In the Royal Navy's secret war records, ML 1066 is listed alongside ML 1044 as an escort for the French ship *Leopard* during Operation Pinpoint, ensuring the safety of damaged vessels and guiding them to rendezvous points with the main convoys.
Rescue of Survivors (September 1942): On September 2, 1942, ML 1066 departed from Bathurst (now Banjul, The Gambia) on an urgent mission to Bissau, in Portuguese Guinea. The objective was to pick up five survivors from the crew of an Allied Short Sunderland seaplane that had crashed.
Convoy Escort and Long-Range Operations (1943): Operating almost constantly in tandem with ML 1065, ML 1066 expanded its area of operations beyond Freetown. Between March and April 1943, the two motor launches successfully protected vital merchant vessels (such as the SS *Mary Kingsley*, *Buffle*, and *Persistant*) on routes between Port Etienne (Mauritania), Dakar (Senegal), and Bathurst.
Accounts from ML 1066 Commanders: According to archives from the BBC's World War II oral history project, the crew faced challenging conditions in a tropical environment. Officers who commanded ML 1066 in Freetown included Lieutenants E. C. Mercer (from September 1943) and T. Blair (from September 1944).
Another prominent commanding officer in the flotilla, Lieutenant Newsam, later recalled in his memoirs the importance of the work in Sierra Leone: "A huge convoy continued to Gibraltar and Freetown, Sierra Leone, and I later joined HDML 1066... An HDML flotilla protected the port of Freetown—which was the largest port on the West Coast of Africa. Eventually, I became the Senior Officer and captain of HDML 1066."
The End of the War Unlike many fast attack craft destroyed in combat in Europe, ML 1066 and her sister ships of the 108th Flotilla survived the grueling routine of African patrols. She remained actively engaged in the protection and security of the region until the end of the global conflict, when Allied naval forces began to be demobilized.
