BOOTHMAN W.

Signalman D/SSX 31428 William BOOTHMAN

Royal Navy H.M.S. Furious (47)

30 Jun 1941 aged 21

Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 50, Column 1.

Son of George and Alice Boothman, of Stockport, Cheshire.

On 30 Jun 1941 H.M.S. Furious (Capt. Arthur George Talbot, DSO) was on a ferry mission with H.M.S.Ark Royal to deliver Hurricanes to Malta.

The tenth of H.M.S. Furious's aircraft to take off crashed into her island,  starting a serious fire on the flight deck. 8 men were killed with another 5 dying of wounds later. 

The blocked flight deck forced the remaining Hurricanes to remain on board and they were returned to Gibraltar.

H.M.S. Furious (Uboat.net)

BOWETT A.

Able Seaman P/JX390335 Alexander BOWETT.

Royal Navy H.M.S. Swift (G46).

24 Jun 1944 aged 20.

Cayeux-sur-mer Communal Cemetery, France, Plot 2. Row A. Grave 4.

Alexander Bowett married Frances Bell in 1913 at St.George in Heaviley. Alexander was the only son off five children. 

On 24 Jun 1944 whilst off Sword Beach Normandy, H.M.S. Swift (Lieutenant Commander  John Ronald Gower) hit an underwater mine which broke her in two and caused it to sink at eight in the morning. Sixteen crew members were killed and thirty-seven were wounded.

H.M.S. Swift (photo from dday-overlord)



Alexander BOWETT (photo from ww2cemeteries.com)

SMITH W.

Sub-Lieutenant (A) Walter SMITH.

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve H.M.S.Victorious, 831 Sqdn.

21 Jun 1944 aged 20.

Lee-on-solent Memorial, Bay 5, Panel 6.

Son of James and Ruth Smith, of Stockport, Cheshire.

Walter and the two other crew members died when their Fairey Barracuda crashed into the sea, flying off H.M.S. Victorious.

Fairey Barracuda (photo from navalairhistory)

PERRIN J. S.

Able Seaman D/JX 221066 James Stamford PERRIN.

Royal Navy H.M.S. Hermione (74).

16 Jun 1942 aged 24.

Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 66, Column 2.

Son of George Henry and Sarah Perrin, of Stockport, Cheshire.

George Perrin married Sarah Fairhurst at St Augustine on Brinksway, having eleven children with James being born in 1917.

At 23:20 hours on 15 Jun 1942, Type VIIC U-205 (Kapitänleutnant Franz-Georg Reschke) spotted a group of warships north of Sollum in Egypt and attacked two of the destroyers with one G7e torpedo each at 23:38 and 23:40 hours, both missed. A spread of three torpedoes was fired at 00:19 hours on 16 Jun, hitting H.M.S.Hermione (Captain G.N. Oliver, DSO) on the starboard side.

The ship immediately settled by the stern with a list of 22° then completely turned over on one side, remaining afloat for 21 minutes before sinking. Eight officers and 80 ratings were lost. The remaining 498 were picked up by the escorting destroyers and landed at Alexandria.

H.M.S. Hermione (photo from uboat.net)

LEAH S.

Sick Berth Attendant P/SBR/X 7974 Stanley LEAH.

Royal Naval Auxiliary Sick Berth Reserve H.M.S. Acasta (H09)

8 Jun 1940 aged 26.

Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 45, Column 1.

Stanley was a son of Samuel and Ada Burgess who were married at St.Augutine’s on Brinksway in Cheadle Heath. He married Katherine Olive Whiteley at Cheadle St.Mary in 1938 and lived in Cheadle Heath, Cheshire.

H.M.S. Acasta (Commander Charles Eric Glasfurd) and H.M.S. Ardent were escorting H.M.S. Glorious to Scapa Flow on 8 Jun 1940. At 15:46 the three ships were spotted by the German Battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, who were not spotted by the British until 16:00, when H.M.S. Ardent was ordered  to identify the ships. The Germans opened fire on Ardent at 16:27 and with the 15-centimetre secondary armament, mostly by Scharnhorst, while both ships fired at H.M.S. Glorious with their main batteries. H.M.S. Acasta remained with the carrier whilst making smoke, opening fire although her guns lacked the range to reach the battleships. The destroyer was struck not long after she began laying smoke, but it had little effect.

After H.M.S. Glorious was hit multiple times and started to list, H.M.S. Acasta left her and closed on the battleships to shorten the range for a torpedo attack. Now more visible to the battleships, she began to be hit more regularly. The first attack was unsuccessful, but one torpedo from the second attack blew a 39-foot hole in Scharnhorst's hull. H.M.S. Acasta was then reduced to a blazing wreck and her captain ordered her crew to abandon ship, with one of the gun crews delayed long enough to fire a shot that struck one of the Scharnhorst's main guns, but inflicted nothing more than shrapnel damage. H.M.S. Acaster sank stern first around 18:20, with most of her crew dying from exposure before the S.S. Borgund rescued two survivors from H.M.S. Acasta three days later, along with 36 men from H.M.S. Glorious, one of the men from H.M.S. Acasta later died of his wounds. All of the men saved by S.S. Borgund were taken to Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands on 13 June. Eight officers and 153 ratings were lost with H.M.S. Acasta or died of their wounds afterwards.

H.M.S. Acasta.

RATHBONE A.

Stoker 1st Class C/KX 112320 Arthur RATHBONE

Royal Navy H.M.S. Robin.

4 Jun 1945 aged 25

Manchester Southern Cemetery, Sec. S. C. of E. Grave 3127.

Son of Lily Rathbone, of Manchester.

Died of wounds. 

ROYLE F.

Corporal CH/X 104572 Frank ROYLE

Royal Marines No. 43 R.M. Commando.

3 Jun 1944

Belgrade War Cemetery, Serbia, 9. D. 10.

Killed during operations against the enemy held island of Brac, located off the coast of Split.

Grave of Frank ROYLE (photo from findagrave)