MILLS E.

Leading Seaman P/JX 256985 Ernest MILLS

Royal Navy H.M.S. Laforey (G99).

30 Mar 1944 aged 33.

Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 81, Column 2.

Son of David and Agnes Mills.

Husband of Edith Mary Mills, of Reddish, Lancashire.

On 29 Mar 1944, Type VIIC U-223 (Oberleutnant Peter Gerlach) was located by asdic from H.M.S. Ulster, which was carrying out a routine Anti-Submarine sweep together with two other destroyers of the 14th Flotilla, H.M.S. Laforey (Capt. Harold Thomas Armstrong, DSO, DSC) and H.M.S. Tumult. The U-boat was heavily depth-charged, but carried evasive manoeuvres in an attempt to evade destruction.

In the early morning on 30 Mar, the U-boat was forced to surface and was attacked by the destroyers with gunfire, which now included H.M.S. Hambledon, H.M.S. Blencathra and H.M.S. Wilton, which had replaced H.M.S. Ulster. Shortly before being sunk, U-223 fired a Gnat and hit H.M.S. Laforey which sank about 60 miles northeast of Palermo, Sicily.

H.M.S.Laforey (photo from Imperial War Museum)