A HARD FOUGHT SHIP
The story of HMS Venomous
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TS Venomous
the Sea Cadet Corps unit at Loughborough


Warships Week bronze plaqueSub Ly Kay Adey with Ship's Crest
HMS Venomous was finally broken up for scrap at Charlestown on the Firth of Forth in 1948 but the name of Venomous was kept alive by the Sea Cadet Unit in Loughborough, TS Venomous, which received its commissioning pennant that year.

Loughborough's link with HMS Venomous dates back to February 1942 when it was adopted by the town after Loughborough raised £300,000 during Warship Week on the 5 - 14 February 1942.

In October 1987 the Unit was honoured to host a reunion of former officers and men of HMS Venomous during which their guests attended a reception given by the Mayor of Charnwood and a memorable Reunion Dinner.
On the 5 February 2012, exactly 70 years after Loughborough raised the money to adopt HMS Venomous during Warship Week, the buildings on the Grand Union Canal where the cadets of TS Venomous trained were destroyed by fire.
The ship’s crest and the bronze plaque presented to Venomous to commemorate her adoption (see above) were both destroyed.
The cost of rebuilding TS Venomous will be £250,000.
Can you help?

Cheques should be made payable to "Loughborough Sea Cadets - Phoenix Account" and sent to:
Lt Kay Adey, Loughborough Sea Cadet Unit, 152 Beacon Road, Loughborough, LE11 2RB

Bob Moore, the author of the first edition of A Hard Fought Ship (1990) and co-author of the second edition (2010) served as CO of TS Venomous from 1992 to 2003. He joined the Sea Cadet Unit in Loughborough in 1985 and in 1990 became Officer in Charge. After promotion to Lieutenant he was confirmed as Commanding Officer in 1992. The normal period of service for a CO of a Sea Cadet Unit is five years but by the time Lt Cdr (SCC) R.J. Moore stood down in 2003 he had served for thirteen years. Bob became Assistant District Officer for Northants and Leicestershire Sea Cadets and remained in that post until his death at the tragically early age of 63 in 2007. He went to immense lengths to track down the surviving officers and crew of HMS Venomous and his interviews with them formed the basis of the first edition of this book which was self published in 1990.

When HMS Hecla was torpedoed on Armistice Day 1942 HMS Venomous rescued nearly five hundred survivors. In 1992 Bob Moore and twenty sea cadets from TS Venomous attended  the fiftieth anniversary reunion and service at Stratford organised by The HMS Hecla, HMS Venomous and HMS Marne Association. The old sailors marched with the sea cadets to the war memorial. In 2004 the Association presented TS Venomous with the money to purchase a new standard. Survivors and their families alive today will be thinking of their former shipmates on Armistice Day 2012, the seventieth anniversary of its loss.

For twenty years the annual Nelson Day Dinner hosted by the officers and cadets of TS Venomous has brought together former cadets, many now serving in the Royal Navy, with distinguished guests to keep alive the spirit of Nelson’s navy. Guests include Captain John Rodgaard USN, co-author of the new edition of this book, George Male, one of the survivors of HMS Hecla, and Captain John Kingwell RN, the CO of HMS Albion. While reading history at Loughborough University in the 1980s John Kingwell served as seamanship officer, midshipman and sub lieutenant at TS Venomous, returning to his ship during the summer vacation. TS Venomous is one of very few SCC units to have had a regular Royal Navy officer on its books and it is particularly appropriate that Captain John Kingwell RN should have written the introduction to the new edition of this book.

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Lt Kay Adey, Bob Moore’s successor as CO of TS Venomous, organised the launch of the new edition of his book in Loughborough's Town Hall and has the daunting task of raising the money to rebuild TS Venomous while holding down a full time job and continuing to train the 46 boys and girls aged between ten and eighteen in the Loughborough Sea Cadet Unit.

Presentation at Loughborough Town Hall
The launch of the new edition of A Hard Fought Ship in Loughborough Town Hall on the 11 April 2010
The  Mayor and Mayoress of Charnwood, Bill Forster of Holywell House Publishing, Pat Moore
and the co-author of the new edition, Captain John Rodgaard USN (Loughborough Echo)
Sea Cadet Units named after a V & W Class destroyer

TS Vancouver         Kings Lynn                          HMS Vimy
TS Vanquisher       Nuneaton & Bedworth       HMS Vanquisher
TS Venomous       Loughborough                    HMS Venomous                           
TS Veteran             New Romney                     HMS Veteran
TS Whitley             Whitley Bay                        HMS Whitley
TS Wyvern             Sittingbourne & Milton       HMS Wivern

These ships and the men who served on the 69 V&W Class destroyers helped save Britain in World War II
Find out about the V & W Association of men who served on the V&Ws

this is the first title to be published by
Holywell House
Holywell House Publishing
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http://holywellhousepublishing.co.uk
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