Ordinary Seaman D/JX 563849 William Marshall DEPLEDGE.
Royal Navy H.M.S. Gould (K476)
1 Mar 1944 aged 18.
Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 88, Column 1.
William was the youngest of two sons of Jack Depledge and Olive Clayton who married at Stockport St.Mary, and lived in Bramhall.
On 29 Feb 1944, H.M.S. Gould (Lt. Daniel William Ungoed) was operating as part of the First Escort Group when she, H.M.S. Affleck, H.M.S. Gore, and the frigate H.M.S. Garlies detected the German Type VIIC U-358 (Kapitänleutnant Rolf Manke) in the North Atlantic north-northeast of the Azores and began a depth-charge attack which continued through the night and into 1 Mar 1944, the four frigates dropping a combined 104 depth charges.
H.M.S. Gore and H.M.S. Garlies were forced to withdraw to Gibraltar to refuel on 1 Mar, but H.M.S. Affleck and H.M.S. Gould continued to attack U-358. During the afternoon of 1 Mar, U-358 succeeded in torpedoing and sinking H.M.S. Gould with a G7es, known to the Allies as "GNAT", torpedo at position. The commander, six officers, and 116 ratings died in the sinking, with only 14 of H.M.S. Gould's crew survived. U-358 was soon forced to surface after 38 hours submerged and was sunk by gunfire from H.M.S. Affleck.
H.M.S. Gould (photo from Uboat.net)
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