CROWTHER C. E.

Engine Room Artificer 5th Class D/MX. 509466 Charles Edward CROWTHER

Royal Navy H.M.S.Lanka passenger on Khedive Ismail

12 Feb 1944 aged 22

Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 89, Column 1.

Son of Albert and Frances Crowther, of Stockport, Cheshire.

Husband of Mary Kathleen Crowther.

In the early afternoon of 12 Feb 1944 whilst south-west of the Maldives, a Japanese Type B1 submarine I-27 (Lt-Cdr Toshiaki Fukumura), attacked the convoy KR-8, which was enroute from Mombasa bound for Colombo. The Khedive Ismail was carrying 1,511 personnel including 178 crew, 996 officers and men of the East African Artillery's 301st Field Regiment, 271 Royal Navy personnel, and a detachment of 19 Wrens. Also on board were 53 nursing sisters accompanied by one matron, and 9 members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.

The I-27 fired a spread of four torpedoes with two hits sinking the Khedive Ismail. Commander Fukumura had a history of machine-gunning survivors of ships she had sunk, including the Liberty ship S.S. Sambridge and the Fort Mumford. There were many survivors in the sea and the I-27 hid beneath them and the flotsam. H.M.S. Paladin lowered boats over the side to begin rescuing survivors but H.M.S. Petard released depth charges in an attempt to sink the submarine. On H.M.S. Petard’s third run, her depth charges forced I-27 to the surface. H.M.S. Paladin rammed the submarine, causing herself considerable damage. A torpedo from H.M.S. Petard finally destroyed the I-27.

1,297 people, including 77 women, lost their lives in the two minutes it took for the Khedive Ismail to sink. Only 208 men and 6 women survived. The sinking was the third worst Allied shipping disaster of World War II and the single worst loss of female service personnel in the history of the Commonwealth of Nations. Many of those who perished did so from the depth charges released from H.M.S. Petard.

SS Khedive Ismail (photo from britisharmynurses.com)

WARD E. H.

Able Seaman P/SSX 33207 Eric Hugh WARD.

Royal Navy H.M.S. Worcester (D96).

12 Feb 1942

Shotley Royal Naval Cemetery, Coll grave 2. A. 7-11.

Son of Francis Albert Edward and Harriet Ward, of Edgeley, Stockport, Cheshire.

On 12 Feb 1942 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen were steaming to Germany via the English Channel, Strait of Dover, and North Sea in what was to become known as the "Channel Dash." Several destroyers were sent to intercept them with H.M.S. Worcester being one of them.

During an unsuccessful torpedo attack, H.M.S. Worcester (Lieutenant John Anthony Hodnot Hamer) was hit by 11-inch shells from the battlecruisers and 8-inch shells from Prinz Eugen, 26 were killed or mortally wounded with 45 injured. The German gunfire inflicted severe structural damage on Worcester, starting several fires and flooding to her No. 1 boiler room, causing her to go dead in the water. The  surviving crew put out her fires, and got back underway, proceeding to Parkeston Quay (Harwich) for repairs. Most of the dead are buried Shotley Naval Cemetery, Harwich.

Grave of Eric WARD (photo from findagrave added by Len)

BROWN C.

Engine Room Artificer 4th Class C/MX 65536 Cornelius BROWN

Royal Navy H.M.S. Clacton.

11 Feb 1943 aged 22

Le Petit Lac Cemetery, Algeria, Plot E. Row A. Grave 30.

Son of Cornelius and Hannah Brown, of Stockport, Cheshire.

Married Marian Birchanall, at St.Matthew. Edgeley, Stockport.

Died in an accident on 11 Feb 1943 whilst serving on H.M.S. Clacton.

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

BARNSHAW C.

Third Radio Officer Colin BARNSHAW.

Merchant Navy M.V. Queen Anne.

10 Feb 1943 aged 19.

Bredasdorp New Cemetery, South Africa, C of E. Sec.

Son of George and Eleanor F Barnshaw, of Tooting, London, England.

At 02.19 hours on 10 February 1943 the Queen Anne (Master Charles Hicking Radford) in convoy CA-11 was torpedoed and sunk by Type IXC U-509 (Kapitänleutnant Werner Witte) eight miles south-southwest of Cape Agulhas, South Africa. 

Of the 44 crew, Colin, the master and three crew members were lost with the other 30 crew members and nine gunners surviving. 17 survivors were picked up by H.M.S. St. Zeno and landed at Capetown, while another 22 came ashore at Bredasdorp near Cape Agulhas in one of the ships lifeboats. The body of Colin later washed ashore and was buried at Bredasdorp.

M.V. Queen Anne (photo from clydeships/Old Ship Picture Galleries) 

ASHTON C. E.

Carpenter Charles Edward ASHTON.

Merchant Navy S.S. Harmala (London).

7 Feb 1943 aged 31.

Tower Hill Memorial, Panel 55.

son of Elizabeth Ashton, of Stockport.

S.S. Harmala was completed in 1938 for J. & C. Harrison Ltd of London. It was part of convoy SC-118 sailing on the Rio de Janeiro - Trinidad - New York - Halifax - Middlesbrough route with 8,500 tons of iron ore.

At 04.11 hours on 7 Feb 1943, Type VIIC U-614 (Kapitänleutnant Wolfgang Sträter) fired a spread of three torpedoes at the convoy 750 miles west of Ireland, the only ship hit was the Harmala, which sank. The master, 31 crew members, ten gunners and one naval signalman were lost. Eleven crew members were picked up by FFL Lobelia and landed at Greenock.

S.S. Harmala (Uboat.net)

HAZELDINE L. T.

Temp Acting Lieutenant (A) Leslie Trafford HAZELDINE

Royal Naval Reserve H.M.S.Daedalus, No.1 Service Flying Training School, Netheravon

7 Feb 1942 aged 29

Mossley Cemetery, Grave 728.

Leslie was killed when the two seat Miles Master trainer W8770 he was a passenger in, crashed into the Beacons, near Malvern in Worcestershire, The pilot Sergeant 932006 David Baldie Hancock was also killed in the crash.

Leslie’s brother Robert was also killed whilst in service with the Royal Irish Horse, Royal Armoured Corps in Tunisia. They are both commemorated on Stockport's war memorial.

Miles Magister Mk.I (photo from Aviastar.org) 

MOLYNEAUX C.

Able Seaman C/JX 352294 Clifford MOLYNEAUX

Royal Navy H.M.S. Welshman (M84)

1 Feb 1943 aged 19

Chatham Naval Memorial, 69, 2.

Son of George and Rachel Molyneaux, of South Reddish Lancashire.

At 17:45 on 1 Feb 1943 Type VIIC U-617 (Kapitänleutnant Albrecht Brandi) fired a spread of four torpedoes at H.M.S. Welshman (Captain W.H.D. Friedberger, DSO) and observed two hits and a boiler explosion. The ship capsized and sank by the stern after two hours, about 45 miles east-northeast off Tobruk, Libya. 

Clifford was one of Eight officers, 144 ratings and 13 passengers, who lost their lives. The commander, five officers and 112 ratings were picked up by H.M.S. Tetcott and H.M.S. Belvoir after five hours and taken to Alexandria. Another six survivors were rescued by small craft from Tobruk.

H.M.S. Welshman