Service letters and numbers

Hi I'm trying to find out about my grandfathers time in the navy but as like most he didn't like talking about ww2. The information I have is limited, I know he was a stoker in peace time and on the pom pom guns during the war, I also know he was in the water for a very long time before he was taken to a hospital in Durban. I have his dog tags but am confused about the letters X K in front of the numbers. Can anyone please help.

 

Hi Gail

Is it possible to tell us what navy he was in ?? Royal Navy? US Navy? - do you have his service records?

TD

 

The references to Durban and "pom pom"s would make me think British at least Commonwealth navy but it's not enough to rule out the USN or a number of other navies.

Even the type of ship would help as would the date. If you go to this page it gives the U-boat map grid system:
http://uboat.net/maps/grid.html
Then this page will allow you to search for ships sunk by grid:
http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/
Although that may only work for merchants. This one lists warship losses by date:
http://uboat.net/allies/warships/war_losses.html
This one lists warships hit with a link to auxiliary vessels as well:
http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/warships.html

 

Gail,

Have sent you a 'conversation' the points raised above are valid and will help towards solving the questions

TD

 

Have asked our resident naval type over the other place & he said this.