Stoker 1st Class D/KX 105360 Albert EASTWOOD.
Royal Navy H.M.S.Galatea (71)..
15 Dec 1941 aged 23.
Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 52, Column 3.
On 15 Dec 1941 H.M.S. Galatea (Captain E.W.B. Sim) was sunk by Type VIIC U-557 (Korvettenkapitän Ottokar Arnold Paulssen) with three torpedoes about 35 miles west of Alexandria, whilst returning to port with a force of cruisers. The commander, 22 officers and 447 ratings were lost. 144 survivors were picked up by H.M.S. Griffin and H.M.S. Hotspur.
At 19:55 14 Dec 1941 the Italian submarine Dagabur (Captain Alberto Torri) had fired torpedoes at the same cruiser force and heard two detonations after 1 minute 45 seconds. It is not clear whether H.M.S. Galatea had been damaged by the Italian submarine before she was sunk by the U-boat.
H.M.S. Galatea (photo from Uboat.net)
