COLLINGE W.

Stoker 1st Class D/K 55357 Walter COLLINGE.

Royal Navy H.M.S. Courageous (S50).

17 Sep 1939 aged 38.

Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 34, Column 2.

Walter was born in 1901 the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Collinge. He married Nellie Maggs at St.Thomas's, Stockport and they had two children a boy and girl.

On the 17 Sep 1939, H.M.S. Courageous (Captain W.T. Makeig-Jones) was on anti-submarine patrol about 350 miles west of Lands End, escorted by H.M.S. Inglefield, H.M.S. Ivanhoe, H.M.S. Impulsive and H.M.S. Intrepid. At 14:45 hours, the group picked up a distress call from S.S. Kafiristan being attacked about 350 miles west of Cape Clear.

The destroyers H.M.S. Inglefield and H.M.S. Intrepid were detached and the carrier launched four aircraft, one of the Swordfish forced the U-boat to dive without damaging it at 17:00 hours. About 18:00 hours, Type VIIA U-29 (Kapitänleutnant Otto Schuhart) spotted the carrier group and began chasing it, but couldn't get into an attack position until the carrier turned into the wind to recover the four returning Swordfish. H.M.S. Courageous was now on a straight course at 18 knots towards the U-boat. At 19:50 hours, U-29 fired a spread of three G7e torpedoes at Courageous and hit her with two of them on the port side rear of the the bridge. She immediately took a heavy list to port and sank after 17 minutes about 190 miles southwest of Dursey Head, Ireland.

The commander, 17 officers and 501 ratings were lost, including 36 R.A.F. service crewmen and there were 741 survivors. All Swordfish aircraft of 811 and 822 Sqdn. F.A.A. were lost with the ship. 

H.M.S.Courageous (photo from Uboataces)

DODGSON F.

Ordinary Signalman C/JX 207604 Frank DODGSON.

Royal Navy H.M.S. Coventry (D43)

14 Sep 1942 aged 22.

Chatham Naval Memorial, 59, 1.

Son of Harry and Ellinor Dodgson, of Portwood, Stockport, Cheshire.

On 14 Sep 1942 H.M.S. Coventry (Captain Ronald John Robert Dendy) was taking part in Operation Agreement, a Commando raid against Tobruk harbour.

At 11:40 hrs, H.M.S.Coventry was north of Marsa Matruh, Egypt with her escort group, consisting of destroyers H.M.S. Belvoir, H.M.S. Dulverton, H.M.S. Hursley and H.M.S. Croome. H.M.S. Coventry was the main target for a German group of 16 Ju-88s of I/LG.1, under Captain Joachim Helbig from Iraklion, Crete. Each plane carried 1 x 500- and 3 x 250 kg bombs. During the attack, H.M.S. Coventry received 4 direct hits, 3 detonating in the engineering spaces, while the 4th wrecked the bows, causing her to go dead in the water and badly on fire with 63 killed. At 15:15 H.M.S. Coventry was scuttled by H.M.S. Zulu, who was sunk less than 1 hour later by 19 Ju-87s.

H.M.S. Coventry (photo from Roll of Honour)

MACHIN E.

Marine PLY/X 105939 Ernest MACHIN

Royal Marines H.M.L.C.F.(L) 4.

8 Sep 1943

Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 83, Column 3.

Lost on 30 Oct 1943 on H.M.L.C.F.(L) 4

LAND T. S.

Ordinary Seaman P/JX 176052 Thomas Sydney LAND

Royal Navy H.M.S.Express (H61)

1 Sep 1940 aged 23

Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 40, Column 1.

Arthur Land married Harriet Allcock in 1905, Thomas being one of six children they had.

H.M.S Express (Commander J.G. Bickford, DSC) sailed with Destroyers H.M.S. Ivanhoe, H.M.S. Intrepid, H.M.S. Icarus and H.M.S. Esk for minelaying at Texel, off the Belgian coast. H.M.S. Express entered a German minefield and exploded a mine with her forward structure being completely destroyed. H.M.S. Ivanhoe went alongside and was disabled after detonating another mine.

H.M.S. Express was able to make sternway under own power until taken in tow by H.M.S. Kelvin. The tow fouled and re-established by H.M.S. Jupiter until tugs arrived to complete towing operation to Hull. 58 of ships company were lost, with a further 9 picked up by a German ship and became P.O.W.

H.M.S. Express (photo from Pinterest)

H.M.S. Express following the explosion (photo from IWM)

HULME T. S.

Able Seaman P/JX 349484 Thomas Stanley HULME.

Royal Navy H.M.S. Egret (L75).

27 Aug 1943 aged 20.

Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 75, Column 1.

Son of Frank and Mary Hulme, of Stockport, Cheshire.

H.M.S. Egret (Acting Commander John Valentine Waterhouse, DSO) was the first Allied warship to be sunk by a guided missile. About 30 nautical miles west of Vigo, Spain H.M.S. Egret was attacked by a squadron of Dornier Do 217 aircraft, one of which carried and launched the Henschel Hs-293A guided bomb which hit and sank Egret, killing 194 of its crew, and 4 R.A.F. Electronics experts.

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

MILLER J.

Air Fitter FAA/FX. 79858 John MILLER.

Royal Navy H.M.S.Ark Royal (91) Passenger on Aguila.

19 Aug 1941 aged 20.

Lee-on-Solent Memorial, Bay 2, Panel 3.

Son of Margaret Miller, of Heaton Norris, Stockport.

The Aguila was part of convoy OG-71 sailing from Liverpool to Gibraltar carrying 1288 tons of general cargo and 99 passengers. At 04.06 hours on 19 Aug 1941, Type VIIC U-201 (Oberleutnant Adalbert Schnee) fired four torpedoes at the convoy.

The Aguila (Master Arthur Firth) sank within 90 seconds after being hit by two torpedoes. Out of 168 on-board 153 were lost. The master, five crew members, one naval staff member and two passengers were picked up by H.M.S. Wallflower and landed at Gibraltar. Five crew members and one passenger were rescued by the Empire Oak, but five of them were lost when this ship was sunk by U-564 on 22 Aug. Another crew member was picked up by H.M.S. Campanula and was  landed at Gibraltar. The Ciscar was also sunk with 13 dead and 35 survivors.

Among the passengers on board the Aguila were 21 women from the W.R.N.S. who had volunteered for cypher and wireless duties in Gibraltar. None of the Wrens survived the sinking. As a tribute to their memory, a lifeboat named Aguila Wren was built and launched on 28 Jun 1952 for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

S.S. Aguila (photo from Alchetron) 

NUTTALL F.

Able Seaman D/JX 293607 Frank NUTTALL.

Royal Navy H.M.A.S. Albatross (I22).

11 Aug 1944 aged 44.

Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 87, Column 1.

Son of William and Sarah Nuttall

Husband of Ellen Nuttall, of South Reddish, Cheshire.

H.M.A.S. Albatross had been converted to a repair ship, and was involved in the Normandy landings.

On 11 Aug 1944 Albatros was hit by torpedo whilst stationed of Juno Beach and sustained major structural damage with 66 of the ships company losing their lives.

H.M.A.S. Albatross (photo fromWikipedia)