Canadian Virtual War Memorial

The Memorial stands in Belle Vue Park toward the north of the town, beside the main London to Yarmouth road (A12). It commemorates nearly 2,400 men of the Royal Naval Patrol Service who have no grave but the sea. At Lowestoft during the 1939-45 War was the Depot for the Royal Naval Patrol Service, which was developed from the pre-war Royal Naval Reserve Trawler Section. At the outset of the war the men of this service were mainly the fishermen of the requisitioned trawlers and drifters used on patrol work, but later it included men from all walks of life and various types of small craft. In the spring of 1944 the Royal Naval Patrol Service reached its maximum strength of some 57,000. Between 1942 and 1946 new construction ships and craft manned by the Service totalled 1,637, among them minesweepers of various kinds, corvettes, fuel carriers, motor launches and naval seaplane tenders. Their objective was to maintain wartime patrols and safeguard the coasts of Britain. Hence Lowestoft was chosen as the site for the Memorial to those men of the Royal Naval Patrol Service who have no other grave than the sea. The Memorial consists of a fluted column rising from a circular base 12 metres in diameter, and surmounted by a bronze ship device (Lymphad), the uppermost point of which is over 15 metres from the ground level. Around the circular base are arranged 17 bronze panels that bear the names. They are set in recesses and protected from the weather by a cornice. A Portland stone panel at the front of the Memorial, facing towards the sea, bears the inscription: THESE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE ROYAL NAVAL PATROL SERVICE DIED IN THE DEFENCE OF THEIR COUNTRY AND HAVE NO OTHER GRAVE THAN THE SEA. 1939-45. This is flanked on either side by the Naval Crown with wreath and foul anchor.