A previous reviewer says HMS Cutty Sark, the submarine escort vessel, is a tough one to identify. Perhaps I can help. She was built as a private yacht in 1920 for Henry Keswick of Jardine's, using plates intended for an S class destroyer, so the previous reviewer was nearly right! In 1920/1921 she sailed round the world to visit Jardine's interests in the Far East. In 1926 she was acquired by the Second Duke of Westminster and was very much part of the social scene until 1939. Famous guests included Coco Chanel and Winston Churchill. (The relationship between Bendor, as the Duke was know, and Coco Chanel would make an interesting follow-up to Coco Before Chanel.) In 1939 the Cutty Sark was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and converted to anti-submarine work. After being damaged in St Malo during the Fall of France in 1940 she became a submarine escort vessel escorting submarines out of the Clyde to the open seas. It is interesting that she is referred to by her real name in a fictional film. Her captain, both in pre-war and wartime service was Cdr R H Mack RN: I am not sure whether it is actually Mack or an actor who plays the captain in the film. For obscure reasons, when the Navy requisitioned the Cutty Sark, Mack became her owner, so as a naval officer he most unusually owned his own ship! The Cutty Sark was laid up in 1944, became a training ship for the Jewish Marine League in 1946/1947 and was broken up on the Thames in 1948.
