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2nd Clarinet · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 7:10 am Post subject: In Memory - HMS Gloucester

The three days of 22nd, 23rd and 24th of May, 1941, were very bad for both the Royal Navy, and the Royal Marines Band Service.

22nd May 1941.
On the 22nd May 1941, the following members of the Royal Marines Band Service gave their lives while serving onboard HMS Gloucester.

Bandmaster: H.G. Rogers
Band Corporal: R. Dillon
Musicians: B.E. Quantrill, R.E. Hamson, W.G. Ellis, H.O. Colombo, J.E. Scott, R. McAverdy, T. Gledhill, R.A. Fisher, W.F. Hacker, H.G. Woodhatch, C. Bell, D.W. Muir and R.E. Hamill.

‘Gloucester House’ in 'M' Wing, was named in memory of these.

I have posted below, the circumstances of that day.

HMS Gloucester was one of the second group of three ships of the ‘Town’ class of light cruisers ordered from HM Dockyard Devonport on 2nd March 1935 under the 1934 Estimates with two others and formed the last Batch of this type of warship.

Laid down on 22nd September 1936 she was launched on 19th October 1937 as the tenth RN ship to bear this name, which was introduced in 1654 and probably a commemoration of the capture of the city by the Parliamentarians.

She was launched on 19 October 1937 prior to commissioning. Her build was completed and she was commissioned on 31st January 1939.

Gloucester was nicknamed The Fighting G and saw heavy service in the early years of World War II.

The ship was deployed initially to the Indian Ocean and later South Africa before joining Vice Admiral Cunningham's Mediterranean fleet in 1940.

She was sunk on 22 May 1941 during the Battle of Crete with the loss of 722 men out of a crew of 807.

Service in the Indian Ocean and South Africa.
On 7 April 1939, Gloucester left Malta to take over the East Indies station as flagship of the 4th Cruiser Squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Ralph Leathem.

She spent much of that year patrolling the Indian Ocean.

In December, she was moved to Simonstown, South Africa where she was used, unsuccessfully, against German raiders.

Service in the Mediterranean.
She was transferred again in May 1940, this time to the Mediterranean, where she experienced plenty of action.

On 7 July 1940 she sailed from Alexandria bound for Malta with the rest of Vice Admiral Cunningham's fleet to take up convoy duty.

The next day an Italian air attack hit the ship's bridge killing 18 crew members instantly, including the Captain, F R Garside CBE, Commander J R D'Aeth and Lieutenant Commanders Churchill and Lindsay. As a result of the attack the ship could not be steered from the bridge and was uncontrolled for a time before Lieutenant Commander Reginald P Tanner took charge from the aft steering position. Despite an inoperable bridge the ship remained with the fleet and saw action on 9 July in the Battle of Calabria.

After the battle the fleet joined up with the allied convoys in Malta, before arriving back in Alexandria on 13 July.

While repairs were carried out to the bridge in Alexandria the crew was introduced to their new Captain, Henry Aubrey Rowley DSO, and Lieutenant Commander Tanner was promoted to Commander.

The second half of 1940 was spent in the eastern Mediterranean and in the Aegean.

On 11 January 1941, while supporting Operation Excess (several coordinated convoys), Gloucester was hit by a bomb which failed to explode.

In March, she was at the Battle of Matapan and, in April, performed several bombardments along the north African coast.
One such mission took place on 21 April, 1941. Under the command of Admiral Cunningham, Gloucester along with battleships Warspite, Valiant, and Barham as well as various destroyers, attacked Tripoli harbour.
A second bomb hit caused minor damage.

Sinking
Gloucester formed part of a naval force acting against German military transports to Crete, with some success.

On 22 May 1941, while in the Kithera Channel, about 14 miles (26 km) north of Crete, she was attacked by German Stuka dive bombers and sank, having sustained at least four heavy bomb hits and three near-misses.

Of the 807 men aboard at the time of her sinking, only 85 survived.
Her sinking is considered to be one of Britain's worst wartime naval disasters.

The circumstances of the sinking were featured by a BBC programme. According to this, the despatch of Gloucester, alone and low on fuel and anti-aircraft ammunition (less than 20% remaining), into danger was a "grievous error".

Furthermore, the failure to attempt to rescue survivors after dark was "contrary to usual Navy practice".
A survivor commented "The tradition in the Navy is that when a ship has sunk, a vessel is sent back to pick up survivors under cover of darkness. That did not happen and we do not know why. We were picked up by Germans."

Another account of the sinking differs from, and adds to, the BBC report.
In this, Gloucester and HMS Fiji, both already low on ammunition, had been sent to support the rescue of survivors from the destroyer HMS Greyhound. Fierce air attacks further depleted their ammunition and they were given permission to rejoin the main fleet.

It was during their return that the Gloucester was sunk. Fiji was sunk later.

On 30 May 1941, in a letter to the First Sea Lord, Sir Dudley Pound, Admiral Cunningham wrote, "The sending back of Gloucester and Fiji to the Greyhound was another grave error and cost us those two ships. They were practically out of ammunition but even had they been full up I think they would have gone. The Commanding Officer of Fiji told me that the air over Gloucester was black with planes."

The wreck site is a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act.

To those named above and the ships company who also died…..R.I.P.
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Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy marshmallows, which are kinda the same thing...!
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sticky blue · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 8:53 am Post subject:

RIP to all

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I love to cook with wine, sometimes I put it in the food.

StickyBlue · Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 12:49 am Post subject:

And of course Bob, Sticky Blue (often only Boy Buglers)

WILD, Samuel, Boy Bugler, PLY/X 2795, MPK (Missing Presumed Killed)

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"Who needs the World as your Oyster,
When you've had the world as your cap Badge"

Hornblower · Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 10:09 pm Post subject:

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ITMA!

2nd Clarinet · Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 6:52 am Post subject:

StickyBlue

Thanks for the addition of the Boy Bugler also lost on this ship.

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Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy marshmallows, which are kinda the same thing...!
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