Engine Room Artificer 4th Class D/MX 73030 Eli CONNOLLY.
Royal Navy H.M.S. Dorsetshire (40).
5 Apr 1942 aged 22.
Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 68, Column 3.
Son of Thomas and Mary Ellen Connolly.
Husband of Hilda Thursby Connolly, of Woodbank, Cheshire.
On 5 Apr 1942, a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft from the carrier Tone sighted two British heavy cruisers H.M.S. Dorsetshire and H.M.S. Cornwall. A total of 53 dive bombers from the carrier took off and sank the two ships.
H.M.S. Dorsetshire (Captain Augustus Willington Shelton Agar) was sunk in a position south of Ceylon in about 8 minutes by 10 hits from 250 - 550 pound bombs, and several near misses. The H.A. magazine exploded, which doubtless counted in part for her rapid sinking.
1122 men from a total of 1546 on board both heavy cruisers were later rescued by the cruiser H.M.S. Enterprise and the British destroyers H.M.S. Paladin and H.M.S. Panther. 234 of H.M.S. Dorsetshire's company lost their lives.
H.M.S. Dorsetshire (photo from Wrecksite)
