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CHAPTER 29
New Zealanders in the Royal Navy

ABOUT 7000 New Zealand officers and ratings served with the Royal Navy for varying periods during the Second World War. The peak was reached in September 1944 when the total strength of the Royal New Zealand Navy was 10,635, of whom 1242 officers and 3659 ratings, a total of 4901, were serving overseas in ships and establishments of the Royal Navy. New Zealanders saw active service in ships of every type from battleships and aircraft-carriers to submarines, motor-launches, and landing craft and in every sea from Spitzbergen in the Arctic to Cape Horn and from Iceland to the shores of Japan. They took part in every major naval engagement or operation and in countless minor actions, as well as in the ceaseless patrols and sea drudgery that make up so great a part of naval warfare. A majority of them were ‘hostilities only’ men from farm, factory, office or college, and all gave a good account of themselves.

It has been an exceedingly difficult task to compress within the limits of a single chapter even the barest outline of their performance. The most that could be attempted was to indicate by categories of ships something of the wide scope of their varied service in a maritime war that encompassed the world. The story of naval warfare is one of ships rather than of individuals. In any case, the available personal records of New Zealanders who served in the Royal Navy are scanty and incomplete, and the several appeals made to them for details of their service evoked a somewhat meagre response.

To the possible objection that those mentioned in this narrative are mainly those who received decorations, it can be replied that they are truly representative of all who served. In the nature of warfare it is certain that for every man who is awarded a decoration there are scores who equally deserve one. As one authority has said, gallantry in the King's ships in time of war must, from the nature of the case, be rewarded rather differently from that shown in other forces. A ship fights as a unit. Unless she is gravely damaged, or unless there are exceptional circumstances, it is difficult for any individual to distinguish himself personally in an action. Naval decorations are therefore most frequently of a representative nature, except in those cases in which, by reason of detached service, a man is working or fighting alone. It is the ship or unit rather than the man which is recognised by a decoration. A sailor wears his honours not merely

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in token of his own bravery or devotion to duty but that of his shipmates.

Many New Zealand officers and ratings of the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve saw much arduous service in minesweepers overseas. The sweeping of mines in the fairways of sea traffic was a ceaseless task which employed 4205 officers and 52,850 men, 63 per cent of whom were of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. More than 20,000 mines were swept during the war by 1533 mine-sweeping vessels, 263 of which were sunk and 74 seriously damaged.

In July 1940, after their arrival in England in company with the Second Echelon, 2 NZEF, fourteen officers of the pre-war RNZNVR were appointed to ten minesweeping and anti-submarine vessels of the Tree class. They were organised as follows:

24th M/S A/S Group: Acacia, Commander R. Newman (senior officer) in command; Lieutenant A. G. Newell, first lieutenant. Birch, Lieutenant-Commander F. G. Tidswell, in command; Lieutenant J. E. Finch, first lieutenant. Deodar, Lieutenant-Commander P. G. Connolly, in command; Lieutenant J. H. Seelye, first lieutenant. Bay, Lieutenant P. Phipps, in command. Pine, Lieutenant C. G. Palmer, in command.

25th M/S A/S Group: Ash, Commander F. E. Taylor (senior officer) in command; Lieutenant J. Lennox King, first lieutenant. Chestnut, Lieutenant-Commander J. A. Smyth, in command. Walnut, Lieutenant-Commander G. Bridson, in command. Blackthorn, Lieutenant J. G. Hilliard, in command. Hickory, Lieutenant R. E. Harding, in command. A number of New Zealand ratings served in these ships, as well as in the anti-aircraft ship Alynbank which frequently accompanied them on convoy escort duties.

At that time England was under threat of invasion, the Battle of Britain was at its peak, and great damage was being done by enemy raids on harbours and shipping. Scarcely a day passed without some ports having to be closed because of mining by aircraft. It was in these circumstances that the Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth described the Channel convoys as being ‘vital to the life of the south of England.’ When the 24th Group sailed from the Thames on 11 September 1940 with its first westbound convoy, an attack by fifty German aircraft nearly wrecked the destroyer Atherstone and damaged the Bay, which was under repairs for a month. On 22 October while sweeping off Portland, the Hickory hit a mine and sank in three minutes with a loss of twenty lives. The survivors, including Lieutenant Harding,¹ who had a leg broken, were rescued

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by the Pine at considerable risk to that ship. Four days later Lieutenant Finch¹ took command of the Chestnut, which was sunk by a mine off the North Foreland on 30 October.

The Channel convoys had frequently to run the gauntlet of gunfire from the heavy batteries mounted by the Germans on the French coast. The Deodar and Blackthorn were damaged when their eastbound convoy was shelled in the Strait of Dover on 27 December 1940. The Ash, then commanded by Lieutenant Newell,² was sunk by a mine in the Thames estuary on 5 June 1941. In nine months the New Zealanders in the Tree sweepers sailed with fifty-two convoys, in which only four merchant ships were lost by striking mines. During that period the Birch and Pine took part in five minesweeping operations. For good service and leadership and gallantry under enemy attack, Commander Newman was awarded the DSO and Lieutenant-Commanders Connolly and Tidswell³ and Lieutenants Phipps, Palmer,⁴ and Hilliard received the DSC. Newman, Tidswell, Phipps, Hilliard, and Newell were also mentioned in despatches. Telegraphist Leckie,⁵ who was serving in the Acacia, was awarded the DSM in March 1941. He lost his life in HMS Neptune in December 1941.

In October 1941 Palmer was appointed in command of HMS Cromarty, a unit of the 14th M/S Flotilla which took an important part in the capture of Diego Suarez, a French naval base in Madagascar. They escorted and swept the assault ships into Courrier Bay and accounted for nearly sixty mines, the Cromer and Cromarty being described as the ‘outstanding ships in the gallant 14th Flotilla.’ Palmer was awarded a mention in despatches for his part in the operations. Another New Zealand officer mentioned in despatches was Lieutenant Lennox King,⁶ gunnery officer of the destroyer Anthony and formerly of the Ash. When the assault on Antsirane was held up, the Anthony made a bold dash into Diego Suarez Bay and landed a party of Royal Marines from HMS Ramillies to create a diversion in the enemy's rear, this being the ‘principal and direct cause of the collapse of the French defence.’ The exploit of the Anthony was the subject of a special Order of the Day by Rear-Admiral E. N. Syfret, commanding the British force.

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During the next six months the 14th M/S Flotilla was employed with the Eastern Fleet based at Kilindini, East Africa. In September 1942 Palmer in the Cromarty and the New Zealanders in the Illustrious took part in the capture of Majunga and other places which completed the occupation of Madagascar.

In October 1942 the 14th M/S Flotilla entered the Mediterranean and joined the Inshore Squadron, co-operating with the Eighth Army in its victorious advance westward from El Alamein. The flotilla had swept forty-six mines off Mersa Matruh when the Cromer was blown up on 6 November with the loss of her commanding officer and most of the ship's company, including one New Zealander, Leading Telegraphist Leigh,¹ of Christchurch. Commander G. Irvine, RNR, formerly of Masterton, took over as senior officer of the flotilla, with Lieutenant-Commander Palmer as second in command. During the next six months the flotilla kept pace with the Army and swept the approaches to ten ports along 1800 miles of the North African coast as far as Sousse, besides escorting convoys of supply ships, including one to Malta. At Tripoli in February 1943 the flotilla was inspected by Mr Churchill and General Montgomery, the latter also making a special visit to congratulate the ships' companies on their performance as a vital link in the chain of operations. For his part, Palmer was awarded a bar to his DSC.

Palmer's division of four sweepers took part in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and swept the approaches to Syracuse, Augusta and Catania, and the Strait of Messina. Off Syracuse on 12 July the division attacked and captured the Italian submarine Bronzo with thirty-six of her crew. For his services Palmer was again mentioned in despatches. At that time Lieutenant L. R. Philpot, RNZNVR, was navigating officer of HMS Poole in Palmer's division and later Lieutenant P. C. Sheffield, RNZNVR, joined her as first lieutenant. In September the division opened the port of Crotone in the southern approach to the Gulf of Taranto, sweeping 100 mines in seven days. While the division was clearing the Strait of Bonifacio between Sardinia and Corsica, the Cromarty struck a mine and sank with the loss of five officers and twenty ratings. A New Zealand rating, Telegraphist Ian Millar, escaped injury, but Lieutenant-Commander Palmer was seriously wounded and spent more than a year in hospital before being invalided back to New Zealand.

After more than a year in command of the minesweepers in the Tees-Hartlepool area, Commander Newman went out to Alexandria at the beginning of 1943 and took command of HMS Aberdare as

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senior officer, 2nd M/S Flotilla. He was promoted captain in June 1943. During that year the flotilla swept minefields outside Mersa Matruh and other harbours in Libya, and off Malta and the south coast of Sicily. From January to September 1944 the flotilla was engaged in sweeping an inshore channel from Taranto round the heel of Italy and thence up the Adriatic coast as far north as Ancona. Captain Newman was awarded a bar to his DSO for his services in charge of all minesweeping in the Adriatic. He was appointed Naval Officer-in-Charge, Wellington, in June 1945 and was awarded the CBE on his retirement a year later.

As senior officer of 20th Trawler Group (in command of HMS Negro), Lieutenant-Commander Cameron, RNZNVR,¹ who had already been mentioned in despatches, was awarded the DSC in October 1943 for good service in minesweeping, mainly in the Gulf of Bone, during the North African campaign. Cameron gained a bar to his DSC for his part in Operation ANTIDOTE – the clearance of a channel two miles wide and 100 miles in length along the coast of Tunisia in May 1943, when nearly 200 mines were swept. In September 1945 he was awarded a second mention in despatches for minesweeping service. Commander A. D. Holden, OBE, RNZNR, who was senior officer of the New Zealand 25th M/S Flotilla from 1940 to 1944, received the DSC for minesweeping service as senior officer 18th M/S Flotilla off the coast of Germany in 1945.

Most of the New Zealanders who were in Far Eastern waters when Japan crashed into the war have unhappy memories of that hard period and its tragic aftermath; but their record is one of stouthearted endurance in the face of hopeless odds and is brightened by many acts of heroism and self-sacrifice. Some forty officers and ratings lost their lives in the dark days following the fall of Hong Kong and Singapore and forty-seven were taken prisoner, of whom ten died in captivity. Of the six serving in the Prince of Wales and Repulse, Chaplain the Rev. W. G. Parker, RN,² and Joiner Morgan, RNZN,³ of the former ship were among the 840 officers and men who died when those ships were sunk on 10 December 1941.

Lieutenant Goodwin⁴ and Dixon⁵ of Wellington and Telegraphists J. A. Rix, of Dunedin, H. T. Franklin, of Whakatane, R.

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Lynneberg, of Wellington, and M. Stewart, of Dunedin, were taken prisoner when Hong Kong capitulated on 25 December 1941 after a stout defence. Goodwin, who was commanding officer of ML10 of the Second ML Flotilla, was lying wounded in hospital at the time. He made a remarkable escape in July 1944 when he broke out of Shamsuipo Camp, swam to the mainland and, eleven days later, got clear of the Japanese lines and met friendly Chinese who escorted him to Waichow. For this exploit he was awarded the OBE and was commended by the Commander-in-Chief British Pacific Fleet for his service in the rescue and care of prisoners of war in 1945.¹ Dixon, who was assistant wireless officer at Hong Kong, relieved the tedium and hardship of prison life by making a radio set in each of the three camps in which he was held from time to time. This he did at great risk and by ingenious and laborious improvisations. When the Japanese discovered the third set, Dixon and other officers were sentenced to a long term of solitary confinement in filthy conditions. He was awarded the MBE after his release in August 1945. Stoker Burton, RNZN,² who was serving in the old destroyer Thracian, was killed after her crew joined the troops fighting in the centre of the island a week before the surrender. Three of the telegraphists survived the hardships of prison life, but Murdo Stewart³ was drowned when the transport Lisbon Maru in which he was being taken to Japan was torpedoed and sunk in October 1942. Commander Montague, RN (retd),⁴ who was farming in New Zealand before the war and was in charge of the boom defences of Hong Kong, escaped with others to China on the day of the surrender. He was boom defence officer in New Zealand in 1942.

Two days before the surrender of Singapore in February 1942 a prepared plan to evacuate some 3000 nominated persons was put into effect. Those ordered to go included surplus staff officers, technicians, ‘key’ men, nurses, and others. A good proportion of the New Zealand telegraphists and supply ratings and those serving in the boom-defence vessels had sailed on 10 February and reached Batavia safely. Those who sailed on the 13th were not so fortunate, their ships being sunk by the Japanese and many being killed or taken prisoner. Rear-Admiral E. J. Spooner and Air Vice-Marshal Pulford, with five staff officers and twenty-six other ranks and

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ratings, left in ML310, commanded by Lieutenant Bull, RNZNVR.¹ When nearing Bangka Strait two days later, the launch was attacked by aircraft and a destroyer and it was decided to beach her on Tjibea Island and land the staff party. Later the Japanese boarded the launch, wrecked her machinery, and ordered the crew ashore. A native prahu was made seaworthy and in it Bull, with two ratings and two natives, made a passage of seven days to Merak, in Java, where arrangements were made to send help to those on the island. Lieutenant Bull was awarded the DSC and Able Seaman Hill² the DSM for courage and devotion to duty. In the event nineteen officers and ratings, including two New Zealanders, died of disease on Tjibea Island and others were taken prisoner. Able Seaman Oldnall³ and seven others spent some weeks repairing a prahu and in it reached Singkep Island only to be captured by the Japanese. Assistant Cook Mitchell⁴ and several other ratings who survived the sinking of HMS Kung Wo and other ships made a boat journey of two weeks to Batavia.

After picking up the survivors of a sunken ship at Singkep Island, ML32, commanded by Lieutenant Herd⁵ with Lieutenant W. A. Bourke as first lieutenant, went aground when taking cover from Japanese aircraft. She was refloated next day but was taken by a Japanese cruiser and destroyer off Muntok, all on board becoming prisoners of war. Herd was awarded a mention in despatches in December 1945.

Sub-Lieutenant D. C. Findlay and Assistant Cook B. G. Taylor⁶ were on board HMS Changteh when she was sunk soon after leaving Singapore. About forty men got away in a lifeboat and made their way down the coast of Sumatra. Taylor was one of three men who swam and waded four miles up a muddy estuary in a vain search for drinking water. All but ten of the boatload were brought to safety. They were suffering from hunger and exposure when they arrived at Rengat, on the Indragiri River in Sumatra, where they found Findlay and others, including two New Zealand ratings who had made the journey from Singapore in a landing barge. The whole party were taken to Padang, where they were embarked in HMS Danae for Tjilatjap in Java. Taylor, who was awarded the BEM for his courage and resourcefulness, lost his life with other New

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Zealanders in the destroyer Stronghold which was sunk on 1 March after leaving Tjilatjap.

Lieutenant Derbidge,¹ of Christchurch, left Singapore on 13 February in HMS Li Wo, commanded by Lieutenant T. Wilkinson, RNR, who had a crew of eighty-four men, mostly survivors of sunken ships. The Li Wo mounted one 4-inch gun for which she had only thirteen rounds, and two machine guns. She had survived several air attacks when, near Bangka Island, she sighted a convoy escorted by a heavy cruiser and destroyers. Since escape was impossible, the Li Wo attacked a transport which she set on fire and rammed, but was herself sunk, most of her crew being drowned. Ten survivors were made prisoners, but a few, including Derbidge, escaped by clinging to a badly damaged lifeboat. He and some others landed on Bangka Island, where a fortnight later they were attacked by bandits who wounded Derbidge and three of his companions and took all their food. Finally they were captured by Japanese and Derbidge died while being taken to Muntok. Lieutenant Wilkinson, who went down with his ship, was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross and Derbidge a mention in despatches, awards also being made to eight others.

When she arrived at Rengat with the survivors of a sunken ship, HMS Tanjong Penang, a small tug commanded by Lieutenant Basil Shaw, RNZNVR,² was ordered back to an island 68 miles from Singapore, where she picked up survivors from three other ships. She had 150 women and children on board when she put to sea and was attacked and sunk by Japanese warships. Lieutenant Studholme³ was killed and Lieutenant Gerard,⁴ first lieutenant of the Tanjong Penang, weakened by wounds, was drowned. Shaw, who got many women and children on to rafts, went in a dinghy as guide, but lost contact with them in bad weather. He and an English rating landed on Bangka Island with a Malay seaman and were captured and shot by the Japanese. Lieutenant MacMillan,⁵ who was killed when his command, ML1062, carrying fifty passengers, was sunk by a Japanese cruiser after a hopeless resistance, was awarded a posthumous mention in despatches. HMS Fanling, commanded by Lieutenant Upton⁶ and carrying a number of army staff officers, was intercepted

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by a Japanese cruiser in Bangka Strait. She opened fire with her fourpounder gun but was quickly sunk. Upton was killed in action, but Able Seaman Hood¹ swam ashore and made his way to Padang, where he was taken prisoner. He was lost later when the Japanese ship in which he was being taken to Singapore was torpedoed and sunk. More than sixty ships, including the gunboats Dragonfly, Grasshopper, and Scorpion, and in many of which New Zealanders were serving, were sunk by the Japanese after leaving Singapore.

An officer and several New Zealand ratings in the destroyers Electra and Jupiter were killed on 27 February and eleven ratings in the cruiser Exeter and the destroyer Encounter were taken prisoner on 1 March when their ships were sunk in action in the Java Sea. One of the latter, Signalman I. F. G. Shipman, RNZNVR, of Timaru, while in a prison camp was an eye-witness of the explosion of the second atomic bomb that dropped over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. Other New Zealand officers and ratings were killed in the destroyer Stronghold, HMS Anking, and other vessels after the evacuation of Java. A few reached Fremantle and Colombo after many adventures.

Many New Zealanders saw service with Arctic Ocean convoys to North Russia. The passage of a Russian convoy was one of the most hazardous and arduous operations of the war at sea. The ships were exposed to attack by U-boats throughout the run and for 1400 miles were within range of German aircraft, with the added risk of forays by the Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, and other heavy ships. From 1942 onward the convoys were run mainly during the winter months, when the long hours of darkness reduced the risk of air attack. The task of shepherding a convoy of slow, heavily laden ships through bitter Arctic gales and snowstorms was a grim ordeal. Weather damage was often severe. Several escort aircraft-carriers buckled the fore-end of their flight deck 60 feet above the waterline and one recorded a heavy sea which rolled the whole length of the deck.

From August 1941 to May 1945 more than forty convoys totalling 792 ships were sailed outward and 739 returned; some sailed independently. Sixty-two ships were sunk on outward passages and twenty-eight on the return journey, with a loss of 829 lives. The Royal Navy lost two cruisers and seventeen other ships, with 1840 officers and men. At this great price some four million tons of supplies valued at £428,000,000 were delivered to Russia.

Of all the New Zealanders who sailed with Russian convoys in ships of the Home Fleet, probably none had a ruder initiation than two drafts of ‘B Scheme’ candidates for commissions who were

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serving their preliminary sea-time in the cruisers Trinidad and Edinburgh. There were seventeen of them in the Trinidad when she sailed from Loch Ewe on 20 March 1942 with two destroyers as escort to a convoy of nineteen ships, two of which were sunk by German bombers on the 28th. Another was sunk next morning when three enemy destroyers raided the convoy in thick weather. In a series of brief skirmishes one destroyer was sunk and the others damaged. The Trinidad was hit by a torpedo but, assisted by her destroyers, arrived at Murmansk in the afternoon. Her casualties included one New Zealander, Ordinary Seaman Dick,¹ who was killed. Fourteen ships of the convoy arrived safely, two more having been sunk by U-boats.

After making temporary repairs, the Trinidad sailed from Murmansk on 13 May, escorted by two destroyers. Next day she was badly damaged and set on fire in an attack by thirty-five German bombers. Three hours later the cruiser had to be abandoned and was sunk by one of her destroyers. Eighty-one lives were lost, but the sixteen New Zealanders were among those saved.

On 30 April 1942 HMS Edinburgh, acting as close cover to a convoy escorted by six destroyers, four corvettes, and a trawler, was hit by two torpedoes from a U-boat about 180 miles north-east from the North Cape of Norway. Her stern was blown off, but she was able to steam at slow speed. Next day the convoy was attacked by three German destroyers, one ship being sunk. Five times the enemy was driven off by the escort destroyers, the senior officer of which in HMS Bulldog was a New Zealander, Commander Maxwell Richmond, OBE, RN,² who was awarded the DSO and the USSR Order of the Red Banner for this action. Next morning the Germans turned their attention to the Edinburgh, which was being towed by a Russian tug. The tow was slipped and in the ensuing action the crippled cruiser was hit by four torpedoes and had to be abandoned and sunk. Two officers and fifty-six ratings were lost, the New Zealanders being among those saved. One German destroyer was sunk, the others escaping in a damaged condition. In the Home Fleet force which was covering the convoy, the destroyer Punjabi was sunk in collision with the flagship King George V in a dense fog off Iceland on 1 May. Most of the destroyer's company was saved, but one New Zealander, Lieutenant Piggin,³ was lost.

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Two New Zealanders who sailed with several convoys during 1942 were mentioned in despatches. Sub-Lieutenant J. A. Foster,¹ who was serving in the corvette Honeysuckle, gained his award for his part in the defence of a convoy which for six days at the end of May was under attack by more than 240 aircraft and several U-boats, seven out of thirty-five ships being lost. The other was Leading Seaman Hudson² in the destroyer Wheatland, one of the escorts in September of the biggest convoy sailed to Russia. It numbered thirty-nine ships, of which twenty-seven arrived at Archangel after prolonged attacks by German aircraft. Hudson was in charge of a multiple pom-pom which shot down two bombers. His commanding officer reported that though Hudson was ‘officially on the sick list with a sprained ankle, he insisted on manning his gun whenever attack was due and was an inspiration to his gun's crew.’

The successful defence against heavy odds of convoy JW 51B in the darkness and snowstorms of Arctic winter is one of the brightest pages in the proud record of Russian convoys. Fourteen merchant ships escorted by the destroyers Onslow, Captain R. St. V. Sherbrooke (Captain D, 17th Flotilla), Obedient, Obdurate, Orwell, Oribi, and Achates, corvettes Rhododendron and Hyderabad, minesweeper Bramble, and trawlers Vizalma and Northern Gem, sailed from Loch Ewe on 22 December 1942. There were New Zealanders, some of them veterans of the Arctic passage, in several of the escorts and the covering ships.

At 8.30 a.m. on 31 December, when the convoy was about 220 miles north-west from Kola Inlet, three German destroyers were sighted and an hour later the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper³ appeared out of the gloom. Captain Sherbrooke detailed part of his escort force to screen the convoy with smoke and moved out with the Onslow and Orwell to engage the Germans. The enemy destroyers took no active part in the proceedings. The Admiral Hipper, cautious of torpedo attack, kept her distance but was hit several times. At 10.20 she opened up on the Onslow, which was hit three times in rapid succession and badly damaged. Captain Sherbrooke was severely wounded and lost the sight of his left eye, but continued to fight his ships until another hit compelled the Onslow, badly on fire, to withdraw to the head of the convoy.⁴

The fires in the Onslow were successfully fought by parties

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organised and led by Lieutenant Lewis King, RNZNVR,¹ who was awarded the DSC for his courage and leadership. Of his work Captain Sherbrooke wrote as follows:

Although Lieutenant King, a young Reserve Officer, had been first lieutenant in the leader for one month only, he exercised complete control when the ship was seriously damaged by three 8-in. shells. A fire raged as a result of two hits forward; the forward fire and repair party had been wiped out; the ship had to remain at action stations and had suffered a 20 per cent loss in personnel through casualties. Despite these severe handicaps, by personal demonstration he showed his untrained assistants exactly what he required and the serious fires were under control in remarkably short time. Nearly the whole forepart of the ship was on fire at one time or another; nevertheless, after four hours he was able to report to the bridge that all fires were extinguished and a collision mat in place over the hole in the ship's side. He continued unceasingly to attend to the safety of the ship and the welfare of the ship's company. Her safe arrival in harbour 24 hours later is testimony to his sound judgment and untiring efforts. In courage and leadership he set a fine example to his men and that their morale remained as high as ever is a tribute to their first lieutenant.

After disabling the Onslow, the Admiral Hipper concentrated on the Achates and quickly crippled her, killing her captain and some forty others. But, ‘faithful as the fidus Achates of Virgil's epic’, the little ship carried on laying smoke to screen the convoy until she sank about two hours later, eighty-one of her crew being rescued by the Northern Gem.

During the morning the covering cruisers Sheffield (flagship of Rear-Admiral R. L. Burnett) and Jamaica had been working down from the northward, tracking various ships by radar. At 11.30 they sighted and opened fire on the pocket battleship Lutzow² which was hit several times before she turned away. Next they met two destroyers, one of which was sunk by the Sheffield. Meanwhile the Obedient, Obdurate, and Orwell were holding the Admiral Hipper and her silent destroyers off the convoy, which was briefly shelled by the Lutzow. During the next hour the Sheffield and Jamaica sighted first the Lutzow, then two destroyers, and finally the Admiral Hipper, all of which disappeared in the gloom after a brief exchange of fire.

Admiral Tovey, Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet, summed up this weird battle of the Barents Sea with the understatement ‘that an enemy force of at least one pocket battleship, one heavy cruiser and six destroyers, with all the advantage of surprise and concentration, should be held off for four hours by five destroyers and driven from the area by two 6-inch cruisers without any loss to the convoy is most creditable and satisfactory.’

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In his report Rear-Admiral Burnett said his action was fought largely with the use of radar, which enabled his cruisers to track the enemy ships, approach them undetected, and hit them almost immediately. It was this skilful use of radar that earned a DSC for Instructor Lieutenant Hogben, RNZN,¹ who was serving in HMS Sheffield. Her commanding officer reported that Hogben ‘displayed great coolness and the highest ability. His duty as officer-in-charge of the plotting office was, in the conditions of visibility, of vital importance, the success of the tactics employed by the force being greatly dependent upon the accuracy and precision of the plot. All this was provided by him in full measure.’

The outward and homeward convoys in December 1943 were covered by two forces of the Home Fleet — Duke of York (flag of Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser), Jamaica, and four destroyers, and the cruisers Belfast (flag of Rear-Admiral Burnett), Norfolk, and Sheffield. There were New Zealand officers and ratings in the ships named and in the destroyer Scorpion, as well as in several of those escorting the convoys. On 26 December the German battle-cruiser Scharnhorst, which had put to sea to attack the outward convoy, was intercepted and shadowed by the Belfast's radar, twice engaged by the cruisers, and finally brought to action and sunk by Admiral Fraser's force.

Many New Zealand officers of the Fleet Air Arm, as well as radar and telegraphist ratings, served in the escort aircraft-carriers which from 1942 onward sailed with Russian convoys. In March 1944 the aircraft of HMS Chaser sank three U-boats on three successive days. During the homeward passage of a convoy in April, aircraft of the Tracker sank two U-boats and five aircraft were shot down by fighters from the Activity. Lieutenant (A) Wallace,² of the latter ship, to whose fighter direction this success was due, was awarded a mention in despatches. At the end of the month the Activity and Fencer sailed with another homeward convoy of fortyfive ships which was attacked for three days by a large group of U-boats; but only one ship was lost. The Fencer's Swordfish sank three U-boats in two days. Sub-Lieutenants (A) Gilbert³ and Temm⁴ of the Activity were mentioned in despatches for their part in attacks on U-boats. Swordfish of 825 Squadron in the Vindex sank U-354 in August and assisted in sinking U-394 ten days later.

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In the New Year honours list 1945, Lieutenant O'Connor¹ was awarded the DSC for ‘good service and outstanding devotion to duty’ in HMS Whitehall, in which he had sailed with five Russian convoys. Lieutenant (A) Burgham² of HMS Nairana was awarded the DSC and Lieutenant (A) O'Shea³ of the Campania a mention in despatches for good service with convoys in December 1944. Burgham took off from the snow-covered deck in failing twilight to intercept an unknown number of enemy aircraft, but was unable to find them and landed on the wildly heaving deck in total darkness. O'Shea showed ‘outstanding skill’ in his control of deck landings in difficult conditions. Swordfish of the Campania's 813 Squadron, which had destroyed U-921 in September, sank U-365 on the December voyage.

For their part in successful attacks in bad weather on numerous torpedo aircraft during the passage of convoys in February 1945, Lieutenant (A) Quigg⁴ of the Nairana and Sub-Lieutenant (A) Armitage⁵ of the Campania were awarded the DSC. Quigg's aircraft was badly damaged in one attack, but by good flying he reached the vicinity of his carrier before he force-landed in the sea; he was picked up by a destroyer. Signalman Cragg, RNZN,⁶ lost his life when the sloop Lapwing escorting a March convoy was torpedoed and sunk off the Kola Inlet. The frigate Loch Shin of the 19th Escort Group sank two U-boats and badly damaged another in that locality on 29 April. Sub-Lieutenant Horspool, RNZNVR,⁷ was killed when HMS Goodall was torpedoed. Lieutenant Hazard, RNZNVR,⁸ of HMS Loch Shin, was awarded a mention in despatches for good service as group navigator. From August 1944 until May 1945, when the war with Germany ended, 260 merchant ships sailed in outward convoys to Russia with the loss of only two ships, and 245 sailed homeward, of which seven were lost.

From first to last some hundreds of New Zealand officers and ratings saw service in the Battle of the Atlantic in destroyers, corvettes, and other vessels escorting convoys across the Atlantic and to and from North Russia, Gibraltar, Sierra Leone, and the Mediterranean. They took part in many convoy battles with packs

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of U-boats in the grim months of 1941–42 and in the successful counter-offensive that destroyed nearly 500 U-boats in the next two years.

Typical of such service was that of Lieutenant-Commander Holm,¹ of Wellington, who, as first lieutenant of HMS Lavender and later commanding officer of the Crocus and the Burdock, spent two and a half years on convoy escort duties, mainly to and from Freetown, Sierra Leone. One task in the Crocus was escorting the tow from the West Indies of a large floating dock which broke its back in heavy weather and had to be sunk by depth-charges. On 6 October 1942 the Crocus fought a spirited action near Freetown with U-333, which she rammed twice and damaged by gunfire and depth-charges. The U-boat was classified as ‘probably sunk’ but actually escaped with the loss of twelve men killed. Lieutenant-Commander Holm was awarded the DSC and Sub-Lieutenant Baylis,² of Auckland, was mentioned in despatches. Later in the month the Crocus rescued the survivors of the Nagpore, one of twelve ships lost in a convoy of forty-one ships during a four-day attack by a pack of U-boats. She also took part in the rescue of 1500 survivors of the Empress of Canada, which was torpedoed and sunk in the South Atlantic on 13 March 1943. Other New Zealanders who served with Holm in the Crocus and Burdock were Lieutenants C. S. Evans of New Plymouth and J. Harrison of Hastings.

In February 1943 the destroyers Wheatland and Easton made a depth-charge attack on the Italian submarine Asteria in the Mediterranean and forced it to surface. The crew offered surrender, but the submarine sank, forty-six survivors being rescued. Sub-Lieutenant Ryan, RNZNVR,³ anti-submarine control officer in the Wheatland, to whom ‘was due to a large part the credit’ for this successful action, was awarded the DSC. Sub-Lieutenant Wilson,⁴ who was anti-submarine control officer in the frigate Ness, gained a DSC for his ‘skill and efficiency’ when that ship sank the Italian submarine Da Vinci off the Azores in May 1943. Lieutenant Markwick,⁵ gunnery officer in the corvette Nasturtium, was awarded a mention in despatches for ‘courage, cheerfulness and untiring devotion to duty’ in more than eighteen months of convoy escort duty in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Some New Zealanders were privileged to serve in sloops of the famous Second Escort Group — Starling, Woodpecker, Wild Goose, Magpie, and Kite — commanded by Captain F. J. Walker, CB, DSO,

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RN, who has been described by Sir Winston Churchill as ‘our most outstanding U-boat killer.’¹ On one patrol between 29 January and 24 February 1944, these ships achieved the ‘most outstanding success of the war on U-boats’ by sinking six of them in ten days — three within seventeen hours. This remarkable performance was marred by the loss of the Woodpecker, fortunately without loss of life. After her stern had been blown off by a torpedo, she was towed for seven days and might have been saved but for a heavy gale, in which she capsized and sank near the Scilly Isles. Petty Officer Wood, RNZN,² who was serving in the Woodpecker, was awarded the British Empire Medal ‘for outstanding courage, enterprise and devotion to duty.’ His commanding officer reported that Wood ‘was a tower of strength throughout…. No matter what the work in hand, he was always there and, largely due to his vigilance, the towing cable did not part.’

A New Zealand officer and Telegraphist E. P. Edgecombe of New Plymouth served in HMS Loch Killin, which joined the Second Escort Group in 1944 and took part in the destruction of four U-boats. The U-333 was sunk by the Loch Killin and Starling near the Scilly Isles on 31 July 1944. This was the first successful use of the ‘squid’, a three-barrelled mortar thrower which discharged its bombs ahead of the attacking ship. In the Bay of Biscay a week later the Loch Killin disposed of U-736 in the second successful ‘squid’ attack. The U-boat surfaced under the frigate and hung there for five minutes before slipping aft and sinking. Three officers, including the captain, and sixteen men were picked up. Sub-Lieutenant Harding, RNZNVR,³ of the Loch Killin, was awarded a mention in despatches for good service as plotting officer. On 10 August the Wren and Loch Killin depth-charged U-608, which had been sunk by a Liberator bomber, and picked up the whole crew. The Loch Killin made another kill on 16 April 1945 when she sank U-1063 off Start Point in the English Channel.

Lieutenant Penty, RNZNVR,⁴ was officer of the watch in the frigate Bickerton on 25 June 1944 when a U-boat was detected off Start Point. His promptness in ‘initiating the appropriate measures’ was largely responsible for the quick destruction of U-269 by one very accurate depth-charge attack which forced it to surface, mortally damaged. Penty was awarded a mention in despatches.

HMS Rupert, one of several Captain class frigates of the Twenty-first Escort Group, destroyed four U-boats — U-965, U-722, U-1021

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and U-1001 — in British coastal waters between 27 March and 8 April 1945. Lieutenant (E) Lockie, RNZNR,¹ an engineer officer in the Rupert, was awarded a mention in despatches for his resourcefulness in repairing damage to the ship's machinery caused by the shock of depth-charge explosions during the attacks.

On her first operational patrol HMS Loch Glendhu, of the Eighth Escort Group, disposed of U-1024 in a position south of the Isle of Man on 12 April 1945. After a ship in convoy had been torpedoed, the Loch Glendhu made asdic contact with the U-boat, which was forced by depth-charge attacks to surface. When its crew began to abandon ship, a party from the Loch Glendhu under her gunnery officer, Lieutenant Cole, RNZNVR,² boarded the U-1024, which was taken in tow by the Loch More but sank during the night, the boarding party and thirty-eight prisoners being recovered. Cole was awarded the DSC for his good work.

In about eighteen months' service in the Royal Navy, Lieutenant-Commander Bourke, RNZNR,³ took part in the destruction of a number of U-boats. He was making his first convoy escort as commanding officer of the frigate Bayntun in January 1944 in company with the Canadian corvette Camrose when U-757 was detected by radar and forced by gunfire to dive. It was destroyed after a long hunt and three depth-charge attacks. For his part in this action Bourke was awarded the DSC. In February 1945 the Bayntun and other ships of the Tenth Escort Group patrolling off the Shetland Islands sank U-1279, U-989, and U-1278 within a fortnight, the last-mentioned being destroyed by the Bayntun alone. In each case the U-boats were first detected by the Bayntun whose ‘A/S team displayed really exceptional alertness and skill’. Bourke gained a bar to his DSC and Sub-Lieutenant Webster,⁴ anti-submarine control officer in the Bayntun, was awarded the DSC. After the end of hostilities in May 1945, the Bayntun was present when the Tenth Escort Group took the surrender of eighteen German U-boats from bases in Norway.

The corvette Asphodel, one of the escorts of a Sierra Leone convoy, was torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat at 1.30 a.m. on 9 March 1944 about 390 miles west-north-west from Cape Finisterre. There were only five survivors, one of whom died after rescue, Lieutenant Halliday,⁵ commanding officer of the Asphodel, and Lieutenant

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Bruorton¹ being among those who lost their lives. In the Strait of Gibraltar on 19 February 1945, U-300 was seriously damaged by depth-charges dropped by the patrol yacht Evadne. When the U-boat was surprised by two trawlers two days later, the captain decided to abandon ship and he and forty of his crew were picked up as prisoners. Lieutenant Millener,² anti-submarine control officer in the Evadne, was awarded the DSC for his skill and efficiency in holding contact with the U-boat during the first attack.

After serving for twelve months on convoy escort duties in the corvette Jasmine, Lieutenant Tattersfield³ spent eighteen months in the battleship Valiant in the Mediterranean. He was awarded a mention in despatches for his skill and devotion to duty as fighter director and air plotting officer while the Valiant was covering the landings in Sicily and at Salerno. During nearly two years' service in the cruiser Bermuda, Lieutenant Newman⁴ worked up a most efficient fighter direction organisation. In October 1943 he directed from his ship fighters of 19 Group, Coastal Command, which shot down two German bombers and damaged another in the Bay of Biscay. Newman was awarded the DSC in June 1944.

Some hundreds of ratings saw service as DEMS gunners in merchant ships of all types and from time to time in those of Allied nations. Among the first to leave New Zealand were Able Seamen R. J. Craig, G. J. Lynch, and W. M. Wheeler, who were in the Blue Star Line steamer Doric Star when she was sunk by the Admiral Graf Spee in the South Atlantic on 2 December 1939. After eleven weary weeks on board the supply tanker Altmark, they were released with some 300 other seamen when that notorious ship was apprehended by HMS Cossack in Josing Fjord, Norway, in February 1940. Lynch,⁵ who took part in the combined operation against Dieppe in August 1942, was killed in a gun accident four months later. Leading Seaman Maud,⁶ of Auckland, who was in the Port Hobart when she was sunk by the Admiral Scheer in the Atlantic on 24 November 1940, spent four and a half years as a prisoner in Germany. Not a few others had the melancholy experience of seeing their ships sunk by U-boats, and four lost their lives — Able Seamen Carter⁷ and McQueen⁸ of Wellington in the

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New Zealand Shipping Company's Rotorua in December 1940, and Able Seamen Hartnett (Wellington)¹ and Stilton (Auckland)² in one of the missing boats of the same company's Opawa in February 1942. Petty Officer Wireless Mechanic Bruce Alexander,³ of Wellington, died when the transport Empress of Canada was sunk by an Italian U-boat in the South Atlantic on 13 March 1943 with a loss of 395 lives out of 1892 on board, including about 500 Italian prisoners of war.

New Zealand ratings serving in numerous ships of the Mediterranean Fleet during the grim months of 1941–42 took part in the evacuation of British troops, including the 2nd New Zealand Division, from Greece in April and in the battle for Crete in May 1941. Able Seaman Beck,⁴ who was in the cruiser Phoebe, was awarded the DSM for courage and devotion to duty during the evacuation of