Category Archives: sadness

So long, Ernie

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Indiana-born Ernest Taylor “Ernie” Pyle in 1945 was one of the best-known and most well-liked American war correspondents. His syndicated column was published in 400 daily and 300 weekly newspapers nationwide. Along the way, he had earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his first-person coverage of “dogface” grunts in the mud and the blood.

He had such a universal appeal that crews named their guns after him. Try to get that kind of love for a modern reporter.

Sailors aboard USS LST 392, discussing D-Day, when Ernie Pyle was their passenger and left his signature on their guns. Shown, left to right: SM3 Chas T. Repik, USNR; SC2c James F. Reardon, USNR; S1c Edward T. Wholley. (Bottom) BM2c Martin A. Reilly, USNR, and RM2C Gint Middleton, USNR. Photograph released December 4, 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-289953

Born in 1900, he wore a Navy uniform in the Great War, although only briefly. After covering WWII in England before the U.S. entered the war, then on the ground in North Africa, Italy and France, he shipped out for the Pacific in January 1945 aboard the light carrier USS Cabot (CVL-28) and landed on Ie Shima with the Army’s 77th “Liberty” Division on 17 April to cover the Okinawa campaign.

Pyle, right, on the bridge of Cabot with the skipper –CAPT (later RADM) Walton Wiley Smith (USNA 1920)–during strikes in the North Pacific against Tokyo, February 1945. 80-G-262854-001

Ernie Pyle watches the invasion of Okinawa from a Navy warship, little realizing the death lay in wait in a gully on Ie Shima. 80-G-49872

The next day, Pyle was hit by a Japanese machine-gun bullet to the left temple just under his helmet, killing him instantly. He was one of 69 War Correspondents killed during the conflict.

His remains were later moved to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu in 1949. A memorial to him endures on Iejima.

It reads, “At this spot the 77th Infantry Division lost a buddy, Ernie Pyle, 18 April 1945.”

Warship Wednesday, March 26, 2025: First of 65

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”

Warship Wednesday, March 26, 2025: First of 65

Photographed by Noggle. Naval History and Heritage Command Collection: NH 63259

Above we see the USS F-4 (Submarine No. 23) along with her three sisters, USS F-2 (SS-21), USS F-3 (SS-22), and USS F-1 (SS-20), proud and flying their “fish” flags and 13-star “boat” ensigns with their crackerjacks waiting either for a division inspection or shore leave– or both.

Taken in Pearl Harbor in 1914, these early boats were the first based in Hawaii, predating the construction of the submarine base, and as such were simply docked at Pier 5 at the end of Richards Street in Honolulu near where the Aloha Tower is today.

Less than a year later, on 25 March 1915– some 110 years ago this week– F-4 would take her final dive and a lot of those brave young men on her deck would vanish.

The F-class boats

The story of early American submarines was one of John Philip Holland’s Torpedo Boat Company which became the Electric Boat company in 1899.

Holland and his company would provide the Navy’s first steel boat, the 53-foot USS Holland (Submarine Torpedo Boat #1) in 1900, followed by the seven 63-foot USS Plunger (SS-2) or A-class boats, and three 82-foot B-class boats– all very small, basically midget submarines. EB’s five follow-on C-class boats, designed by Lawrence York Spear after Holland’s death, were steadily larger, at 105 feet, and used twin engines and twin motors, giving them a measure of reliability. Nonetheless, all these early boats, and those that immediately followed, were known as “pig boats” due to their downright foul living quarters and unusual and downright unship-like hull shapes, which tended to wallow and hog on the surface.

Then, as now, the U.S. Submarine arm is all-volunteer.

Spear’s D-class boats– the first American boats to run four torpedo tubes, were subcontracted out to Fore River and were the largest yet, at 134 feet. Spindle shaped and single-hulled with short sails, they would become the basis for Navy sub hull forms for the next decade.

“U.S. Submarines awaiting Orders,” halftone reproduction, printed on a postal card, of a photograph of five submarines nested together prior to World War I. The three boats on the right are (from center to right): USS D-2 (Submarine # 18); USS D-1 (Submarine # 17); and USS D-3 (Submarine # 19). The two left are probably (in no order) USS E-1 (Submarine # 24) and USS E-2 (Submarine # 25). Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN (Medical Service Corps), 1973. NH 78926

By 1909, less than a decade after the first Holland boat was bought by the Navy, Fore River began construction of a more modern pair of boats, dubbed the E-class, that were roughly the same size as the D-class that preceded them but, importantly, ditched the dangerous gasoline engines of the previous designs for a pair of NELSECO diesels. Importantly for maneuverability while diving, they were also the first U.S. submarines to have bow planes.

Further, they incorporated both a search and attack periscope along with a narrow-windowed conning tower, complete with deadlights.

USS E-1 (Submarine # 24) underway in New York Harbor during the October 1912 naval review. Note her diving planes and “chariot” style canvas and tubing open sea running platform erected over the narrow conning tower. NH 41946

This gives us the F-class, which are just improved Es, and were only the second group of American designed and built diesel-electric submarines.

F-class boats were the first U.S. Navy submarines built on the West Coast, with the first two, F-1 and F-2, constructed by Union Iron Works in San Francisco as Yard No. 94 and 95 using NELSECO diesels. The second pair, F-3 and F-4, were the first subs launched into Puget Sound, built as Yard No. 55 and 56 by The Moran Company, which soon after became Seattle Construction and Drydock Co. The latter pair used Craig diesels.

The D, E, and F classes were the first American submarines (and some of the first anywhere) to have permanently installed radios, and the latter class used telescoping aerials as well.

An improved version of the E-class subs, Fore River provided the design sheets to Union and Moran, which each respective company used in building their first submarines.

General plans prepared by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts, 18 June 1910. This sheet features inboard and outboard profile drawings. These submarines were constructed by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California. Initially named Carp (Submarine # 20), Barracuda (Submarine # 21), Pickerel (Submarine # 22), and Skate (Submarine # 23), they were renamed F-1 through F-4 in November 1911 while under construction. NH 84383

Same as the above. Note the three divided sections, fore, middle, and stern. NH 84382

Running some 142 feet overall and able to float on the surface in just 12 feet of water, the F-class were still designed more for coastal and harbor defense than blue water patrols. Just 330 tons when surfaced, they used two small 390 hp NELSECO or Craig diesels to make 13.5 knots on trials. Submerged, at 400 tons, they used a pair of 120 kW Electro Dynamic electric motors fed by two 60-cell steel-jar batteries to make 11.5 knots, a speed they could only maintain for about an hour or so before the batteries were drained.

Overall, they were designed for patrols lasting no more than a week and only carried 33 tons of diesel oil- enough to allow for a 2,300nm range at 11 knots.

Constructed of mild steel, riveted in place and depermed, they had a test dept of 200 feet and could submerge in just 45 feet– although the aerials would still betray them. While on trials in 1913, F-1 dived to 283 feet in tests, but after her hull groaned and she started taking on water within ten minutes, she quickly made it to the surface.

Armament was a four-pack of 18-inch torpedo tubes in the bow behind a rotating torpedo tube muzzle cap– a main battery pioneered just a few years earlier in the D-class– with one set of reloads, allowing for eight fish maximum if all spots were filled. There was no provision for a deck gun and the fairwater or conning tower was short and thin, prone to spray and wash while underway.

The F-class were, to be blunt, just an evolutionary step for the Navy, who soon after would order larger and more sophisticated G, H, K, L, and M-class boats– all before entering the Great War, accumulating 51 commissioned submarines by 1917.

American submarines, 1914 Janes

Meet F-4

Laid down on 21 August 1909 at Moran as the future USS Skate (Submarine No. 23)– the first American warship to carry that later storied name- our subject was renamed a more generic USS F-4 on 17 November 1911. Launched on 6 January 1912, sponsored by the wife of a shipyard executive, she was commissioned 3on  May 1913.

F-4. Note the tiny conning tower with the trunk between the two periscopes. It was thought the conning tower was the most likely part of the boat to be struck during a collision while submerged or carried away by a wave on the surface, so it was made as a separate watertight compartment that could, at least in theory, be wrenched off without breaking the integrity of the hull, provided the hatch was dogged tight. However, it was so small that it could not be used for much, and the skipper and XO had their duty stations, even in an attack run, standing by the diving controls and steering stations. First periscope for the skipper, the second for a lookout. NH 108789

USS F-4 (SS-23) Photographed between 1913-15. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1972. NH 74736

F4 via Bowfin museum. Note her diving planes

The four F-boats were assigned to the First Submarine Group, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, based at San Pedro and operated on the West Coast as such until August 1914.

F-Class Submarines at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, before World War I. This view shows the bows of USS F-1 (Submarine # 20), USS F-2 (Submarine # 21), and USS F-3 (Submarine # 22). Collection of Thomas P. Naughton, 1973. NH 92187

F Class Submarines and tender USS Alert (AS 4) in Dry Dock 2 at Mare Island, California 21 January 1913. Note the extensive awnings erected on the conning towers and the open torpedo cap on F1 to the right

Tender USS Alert and four F boats, San Diego, 1914. Alert, an iron-hulled steam sloop that entered the fleet in 1875, had been decommissioned in 1907 and lent to the California Naval Militia. The Navy recalled her in 1912 specifically for use as a submarine tender for the F-class. 

Then, with war in Europe and a German cruiser squadron roaming the Pacific pursued by British and Japanese fleets, our little F-boats were towed to Hawaii behind armored cruisers to provide presence in the islands.

The Final Dive

The early days of submarining were highlighted by the tendency for these submersibles to claim the lives of their crews. After all, the infamous Hunley sank three times during her seven-month career, on each occasion with a total loss of her complement.

The U.S. Navy was lucky for a time, while European powers and Japan suffered no less than 21 fatal submarine losses between 1903 and 1914, claiming over 200 lives. That luck ran out on the morning of 25 March 1915 when an accident occurred on F-4 while she was off Oahu on maneuvers, sinking to the sea floor 306 feet below with two officers and 19 enlisted aboard.

She had left her tender, the old gunboat USS Alert, at 0900 for a submerged run at a maximum depth of 30 fathoms (180 feet) for target runs but failed to return to the surface by noon. While her emergency buoy was not seen, a sheen of diesel oil appeared on the surface some 1.5 miles off Fort Armstrong between Diamond Head and Barber’s Point, about a mile and a quarter from the channel entrance.

As described by the Submarine Force Museum:

When the F-4 was at a depth of something less than 60 feet, chlorine gas began seeping into the middle, or control, compartment of the boat, indicating that somehow salt water had reached the batteries. F-4’s commanding officer, LT(JG) Alfred Ede, ordered the boat to return to the surface but soon the engines, straining to lift the weight of the sub plus tons of added seawater from what was obviously a substantial leak, overheated and quit. Before the Sailors in the control section retreated to the engine room—several already having passed out after breathing too much of the chlorine gas—they tripped the system that blew air from the high-pressure tank into the main ballast tanks.

But it was too late; water was pouring into the boat faster than the air could blow it out and soon the F-4 came to rest on the bottom, 300 feet below the surface, about 100 feet greater than her test depth. The pressure of the surrounding water soon overcame the rivets that held the torpedo hatch in place and the two forward compartments flooded quickly. Although the crew had secured the hatch behind them when they moved back to the engine room, the bulkhead around it couldn’t hold out against the weight of water and collapsed.

Rescue…turns to recovery

For two days, the Navy combed the waters near where F-4 had been lost and, using drags followed up by divers, was able to approximate her position on the sea bottom. Two Navy hard hat salvage divers attached from the submarine flotilla, GMCs John “Jack” Agraz and John Evans, descended rapidly to 190 feet without seeing the sub. Agraz attempted again and made it to 215 feet- a record at the time for open ocean work- in an unsuccessful attempt to reach the bubbling sub.

A hairy-chested hero, Agraz did the bounce under helmet only with no suit to save time, and somehow never suffered from the bends.

Divers working over the wreck of F-4 in March 1915

An experimental 54-inch diving bell owned by the Hawaiian Dredging Company was sent for, to be rented for $750 per diem.

On 27 March, two days after F4’s dive to the bottom, as the Alert stood by some 500 feet from the lost submarine in water just 160 feet deep, the tugs USS Navajo and Intrepid, accompanied by the 150-ton derrick dredge California, the latter towed by the steamer SS Claudine, arrived on scene with a plan to use a cable loop to lift F-4 and shift her close enough to the tender for divers to attach chains to her and bring her slowly to the surface via crane. The equipment involved amounted to two 110-fathom wire hawsers, with 45 fathoms of chain in the middle.

Heartache came as the clock ticked past 55 hours with F-4 submerged and the cable loop, which had reportedly managed to lift the boat from the bottom, slipped and the submarine careened back to the floor, bow first. The sweep brought to the surface a piece of brass from the submarine’s fairwater, believed to be a section of one of her periscopes.

With the desperate rescue making headlines across the country, SECNAV Josephus Daniels ordered a Navy-wide task force to head to Hawaii and join the effort. From the New York (Brooklyn) Navy Yard, one of the first dive medicine experts, Passed Asst. Surgeon George Reuben Williamson French, USN, (UPenn ’08) was dispatched by express train to Mare Island. French brought five of the Navy’s most experienced divers: Warrant Gunner George D. Stillson and GMCs Stephen J. Drellishak, Frank Crilley, Frederick Nielson, and William Loughman.

The men had spent the past 28 months in a program to evaluate diving tables based on English Dr. John S. Haldane’s theories on staged decompression. The divers had previously reached the amazing depth of 274 feet in experimental tests from the destroyer USS Walke (DD 34) in the relatively sheltered waters of Long Island Sound, developing the first U.S. Navy Diving Manual (the 252-page “Report on Deep Diving Tests”) in the process.

The team had developed a three-wire telephone connection for the divers to remain in constant contact topside the entire dive. It was dubbed the Stillson Phone for years.

USS Walke (Destroyer # 34) Diving support activities on the ship’s deck, while Gunner George D. Stillson, USN, was on the bottom, during deep diving tests conducted in Long Island Sound in late October and early November 1914. This photo may have been taken during Stillson’s 23 October dive, in which he reached the bottom in 88 1/2 feet of water. Note Chief Petty Officer holding diver’s air line, Passed Assistant Surgeon George R.W. French (wearing communications headset and microphone) talking to the diver by telephone, and recompression chamber (with hatch closed) in the background. GMC Frank Crilley is hatless to the left, looking at the camera. Courtesy of Jim Kazalis, 1981. NH 99832

Oh, yeah, and they also helped vet and design the iconic Mark V diving rig, adopted in 1916, based on the British Siebe-Gorman 6-bolt diving helmet but with significant improvements. Air was supplied to the divers from charged torpedo flasks, with pressure controlled through a reducing valve and by throttling.

Chief Gunner’s Mate Stephen J. Drellishak on the deck of USS Walke (DD 34) after making a record dive to 274 feet on November 3, 1914. U.S. Naval Undersea Museum photo

Crew members of the destroyer USS Walke (DD 34) pose with a diving helmet, diving boots, and a recompression chamber installed on the ship’s deck to support deep diving tests in Long Island Sound in the fall of 1914. U.S. Naval Undersea Museum photo

Diver preparing to go over the side of Walke on 3 March 1914. Note the airline attached to the back of his helmet. NH 99836, courtesy of Jim Kazalis, 1981. Chief Gunner’s Mate Stephen J. Drellishak ascending unassisted from a ten-foot stage at the end of his record 274-foot dive from Walke to the sea floor on 3 November 1914. His ascent from the bottom occupied 1 hour and 20 minutes. This dive was one of a series of deep diving tests conducted in Long Island Sound in late October and early November 1914. NH 99838

The dive team traveled with 10,756 pounds of specialized equipment in 27 crates, including a large recompression tank and 1,450 feet of air hose. Another 700 feet of hose was rushed from Norfolk. Mare Island was able to scrounge an additional 500 feet. Daniels dutifully told the press in Washington that, using “special appliances,” he was confident they could reach F-4. This would be their first practical test of their experimental diving techniques and what could be accomplished under service conditions.

Still, Daniels noted, “The Department fears there is not room to hope for the lives of the crew but is determined to do all that is humanly possible to raise the vessel and is undertaking to send the Navy divers to an unprecedented depth if necessary to accomplish this.”

Arriving at Mare Island, they boarded the armored cruiser USS Maryland (ACR-8), which in the meantime had been filled with six lifting pontoons- capable of lifting 520 tons- to be used in the salvage attempt.

New York Navy Yard’s Recompression Chamber No. 1 used during the salvage of F-4 (SS-23). The chamber was shipped to Mare Island and then put aboard Maryland (ACR-8) for the trip to Pearl Harbor. Photo courtesy of Darryl L. Baker via Navsource.

View of the stern of Maryland (ACR-8) with salvage pontoons loaded at Mare Island Navy Yard. Maryland was in dry dock at the time. Photo courtesy of Darryl L. Baker via Navsource.

The cruiser, the experimental dive team, and their accumulation of gear arrived in Hawaii on 12 April, sadly 18 days after F-4 was lost.

In the meantime, back at Pearl, RADM Charles B. T. Moore (commandant of the naval station), LT. Charles E. Smith (1st SubGrp skipper) and Naval Constructor Julius “Dutchie” Furer had been working on a series of mechanical lifts and sweeps to try to secure F-4, with the tugs Navajo and Intrepid joined by the dredge Gaylord.

On 7 April, with the experimental dive team still a week away, dragging continued with the tugs Navajo and Intrepid.

Furer acquired two mud scows from the Hawaiian Dredging Company, each some 104 feet long by 36 feet beam by 13 feet deep, and rigged them with four slings “made from the heaviest cables procurable” attached to purpose-built windlasses on each vessel. The windlass drums were made from 16-inch diameter sugar mill shafts and spooled with 2.5-inch galvanized steel cables obtained from the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with the 10-inch by 14-inch steam engine, geared to 6 drums, on the dredge used to reel.

With the dive team from Brooklyn arriving on the scene on 14 April, GMC Frank Crilley was the first diver to reach the submarine, dropping to a new record of 288 feet of seawater, and walked along the boat’s upper deck. He found F-4 on a smooth sandy bottom with no coral growth to impede hoisting operations, and her bow pointed shoreward. He noted two parted lines from previous snagging and recovery efforts attached to the craft. The dive took two hours, with a five-minute descent, 12 minutes on the bottom, and the balance on the slow rise to the surface to decompress.

Stillson, following immediately after, reported the superstructure was caved in, and the hull under it was filled with water.

Salvage of USS F-4 (SS-23), April-August 1915. A hard hat diver descending to the sunken submarine. Purportedly photographed 90 feet below the surface via a sealed glass bottomed box. F-4 had sunk on 25 March 1915 off Honolulu, Hawaii, in over 300 feet of water. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1972. NH 74731

The salvage equipment devised and employed by Furer to lift F-4 to the surface was slowly attached to the vessel over the next several days, with the divers only able to work 15-20 minutes per dive due to the exertion of working at such depth and the prerequisite decompression time. At least 13 dives went past 275 feet in depth, with five reaching the sea floor at 306 feet, struggling with 10 atmospheres of pressure (130-140 pounds per sq. inch).

To say this was dangerous for the divers was an understatement.

On 17 April, one of the men, Loughman, almost perished, adding his soul to the 21 already lost on the submarine. Entangled in lines on his ascent, he was trapped more than 250 feet down and helpless. Chief Crilley, who had already dived that day, volunteered to don a helmet and return to the deep to help his shipmate return to the surface.

Loughman, who spent more four hours at depths over 200 feet, was brought to the surface in semi-conscious conditions and had to spend nine hours in the recompression chamber, then was waylaid for two weeks with severe pneumonia and Caisson’s disease (the Bends). He was only released from Mare Island Naval Hospital at the end of June.

Dr. French on Loughman, via the 1916 Naval Medical Bulletin:

Crilley would later (in 1929!) receive a rare peacetime MoH for his actions.

Medal of Honor citation of Chief Gunner’s Mate Frank W. Crilley (as printed in the official publication “Medal of Honor, 1861-1949, The Navy”, page 106):

“For display of extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession above and beyond the call of duty during the diving operations in connection with the sinking in a depth of water 304 feet, of the U.S.S. F-4 with all on board, as a result of loss of depth control, which occurred off Honolulu, T.H., on 25 March 1915. On 17 April 1915, William F. Loughman, chief gunner’s mate, United States Navy, who had descended to the wreck and had examined one of the wire hawsers attached to it, upon starting his ascent, and when at a depth of 250 feet beneath the surface of the water, had his life line and air hose so badly fouled by this hawser that he was unable to free himself; he could neither ascend nor descend. On account of the length of time that Loughman had already been subjected to the great pressure due to the depth of water, and the uncertainty of the additional time he would have to be subjected to this pressure before he could be brought to the surface, it was imperative that steps be taken at once to clear him. Instantly, realizing the desperate case of his comrade, Crilley volunteered to go to his aid, immediately donned a diving suit, and descended. After a lapse of time of 2 hours and 11 minutes, Crilley was brought to the surface, having by a superb exhibition of skill, coolness, endurance and fortitude, untangled the snarl of lines and cleared his imperiled comrade, so that he was brought, still alive, to the surface.”

Slowly, using manila reeving line, by 18 April, all four lifting hawsers had been placed and transferred to the scows, but F-4 remained stubbornly on the bottom, drawn closer to shore into a shallower 275 feet depth.

Re-rigging the lifting hawsers with lengths of Maryland’s 2⅝-inch stud-link anchor chain for extra strength and reinstalling them, the next lift was tried on 20 May. Over the next four days, through a complicated series of lifts and tows, with the tugs, scows, pontoons, and dredge all working together day and night, F-4 had been lifted to a depth of just 84 feet by 24 May and 50 feet by 25 May. The plan was to bring her into a flooded dry dock that allowed a depth of 25.5 feet.

Then came a three-day storm that buffeted the lifting vessels and translated down the hawsers to the suspended water-filled submarine below as diving and salvage operations were suspended. When Furer sent divers down on 29 May after the waters calmed, it was found that the top of the sub was caved in and torn almost halfway through to the keel.

With F-4 upside down, suspended 46 feet under the water by hawsers, it was decided to transfer the rest of the lift to the six submergible pontoons and bring the submarine to the surface before transfer to a dry dock. Twenty charged torpedo air flasks were installed on a coal barge, then linked by pipe and a dozen 150-foot lengths of hose to the pontoons to bring them to the surface, with F-4 along for the ride. This took until 29 August to set up.

Valve manifold and hose leads to submerged pontoons, on board a salvage vessel off Honolulu, Hawaii, in August 1915. Halftone photograph, copied from Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Volume 24, 1916, Figure 11. The tug in the left distance is probably the USS Navajo. NH 43497

Then the lift started, with the flasks charging the pontoons and F-4 rising slowly. Importantly for diving history, this segment saw one of the first uses of several divers connected to the surface via telephone line for communication to coordinate the careful rise as one pontoon, rising too slow or too fast or at the wrong angle, could upend the whole operation.

Bow salvage pontoons emerging from the depths, off Honolulu, Hawaii, circa 29 August 1915, during the final lifting of the sunken submarine. Halftone photograph, copied from Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Volume 24, 1916, Figure 12. NH 43498

All salvage pontoons on the surface, off Honolulu, Hawaii, circa 29 August 1915, with preparations under way to tow the sunken submarine into Honolulu Harbor. Halftone photograph, copied from Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Volume 24, 1916, Figure 13. The tug in the center is probably the USS Navajo. NH 43499

Salvage pontoons on the surface, off Honolulu, Hawaii, circa 29 August 1915, after the final lifting of the sunken submarine in preparation for towing her into Honolulu harbor. Note the wooden protective sheathing around the pontoons. The tug on the right is probably the USS Navajo. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1972. NH 74732

Towed into port with the pontoons surfaced, F-4 was finally transferred to the dry dock of the Island Steam Navigation Company at the Quarantine Station dock.

From Beneath the Surface: World War I Submarines Built in Seattle and Vancouver by Bill Lightfoot. Photo from Kerrick, Military & Naval America, via Navsource.

F-4 in drydock at Honolulu, Hawaii, on 1 September 1915, after she had been raised from over 300 feet of water and towed into port. Note the large implosion hole in her port side and the salvage pontoons used to support her during the final lift. This view shows the F-4’s port bow. She is upside down, rolled to starboard approximately 120 degrees from the vertical. Photographed by Kodagraph, Honolulu. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1972. NH 74733

Naval personnel examine the large implosion hole in F-4’s port side, in drydock at Honolulu, Hawaii, circa late August or early September 1915. She had been raised from over 300 feet of water and towed into port. This view was taken from off the port bow, showing the submarine’s port side diving plane in the center. She is upside down, rolled to starboard approximately 120 degrees from the vertical. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1972. NH 74734

View of F-4’s port side name plate, taken in drydock at Honolulu, Hawaii, circa late August or early September 1915, after she had been raised from over 300 feet of water and towed into port. These figures are mounted on the submarine’s port bow and are shown upside down, as she was drydocked rolled to starboard approximately 120 degrees from the vertical. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1972. NH 74735

It was determined that the loss occurred due to leaking battery acid that corroded F-4’s hull rivets in the port wall of the battery steel tank at Frame 51, which allowed progressive flooding, chlorine off gassing due to salt water interaction with the battery jars, loss of depth control, and eventual catastrophic hull failure. This led to design changes in future submarine classes.

The salvage of F-4 is well covered in more detail at PigBoats.com. 

Epilogue

Of the 21 members of F-4’s crew that went on her last dive, 18 were recovered from her wreckage.

A team of physicians assembled from the Maryland’s medical department led by Surgeon H. Curl and Asst. Dental Surgeon Halleck, joined by Asst Surgeon WW Cress of the Alert, and Surgeons Trotter and Seaman of the Marine Hospital in Honolulu combed through the wreckage for remains.

The interior of the submarine, having been submerged for six months in the tropics, was in bad shape.

Detailed by Seaman in the 1916 Naval Medical Bulletin:

Four sets of remains were found in the middle compartment of F-4, while the rest were found in the stern engine compartment. Of the four recovered that were identifiable, two, Ashcroft and Herzog, were identified due to dental records, while the other two, Wells and Mahan, were identified due to the contents of their pockets. The remains were wrapped in cotton, surrounded by oakum, and placed in caskets.

The four who were able to be identified were repatriated to their families for interment, sent to California, Utah, and Virginia.

The 14 unidentified sets of remains were arranged in four sealed metal coffins, marched in a somber funeral parade through Honolulu to the California-bound USS Supply, and were eventually buried with honors at Arlington.

The modern marker for the F-4 crew includes the 14 men buried and three missing

Her crew is remembered as the first of the American submarines listed on Eternal Patrol and appear on markers and monuments as such across the country.

She is the first of 65 still on Eternal Patrol. (Photo: Chris Eger)

Following the investigation of her doom and the removal of remains, the wreckage of F-4 was refloated on 15 September 1915– the dry dock was rented after all– and towed under the pontoons by Navajo into Magazine Loch until she grounded in the shallow inlet. There she sat in the shallows until 1940 when the area was turned into the Sierra submarine piers. She was rolled into a trench by the pier and buried.

In 1999, a magnetometer survey near pier Sierra 13/14 detected a large object, some 80 feet from the pier, under some 20 feet of sediment. A sign has since been erected to note this resting place.

Meanwhile, the small original headstone for her 17 crew members buried at Arlington was installed at the USS Bowfin Museum at Pearl.

USS Bowfin Executive Director Jerry Hofwolt and Richard Mendelson (Submarine Veterans) during F4 Headstone dedication to USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park, 2000.

Some of her construction notes endure in the National Archives. 

In November 1915, Dutchie Furer, who directed the recovery of F-4, largely with improvised equipment, submitted an extremely detailed article on the salvage operation to Proceedings. A 1901 Annapolis grad who fought against the Spanish in 1898 while still a midshipman, he was a proponent of small craft operations and campaigned successfully for the 110-foot subchasers in the Great War. Earning a Navy Cross, he later helped supervise the modernization of the battleships USS Pennsylvania and New Mexico in the 1930s and, still on duty in 1941, became Chief of Navy Research and helped coordinate new technology into the fleet in WWII. He retired in November 1945.

RADM Julius Augustus Furer, USNA ’01, passed in 1963, aged 82, and is buried at Arlington.

Likewise, Dr. French would publish “Diving Operations in Connection with the Salvage of the USS ‘F-4″ in the Naval Medical Bulletin in 1916. He retired from the navy as a commander in 1937, then returned to the colors during WWII, later passing at the Oakland Navy Hospital in May 1955. He is regarded as the Navy’s first Diving Medical Officer. 

The hard hat divers of the experimental team that set and repeatedly broke their own deep-sea records also kept at it.

When there was another accident in 1927, when the USS S-4 (SS-109) became disabled and was lost with all hands, a familiar face hit the news again, with now-Ensign Grilley again earning a peacetime decoration for bravery.

“Naval divers who worked hard and faithfully at the difficult task of raising the submarine S-4” (quoted from the original 1928 caption). Probably photographed at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, circa 19-20 March 1928, shortly after the salvaged S-4 entered dry dock there. Those present are identified in the original caption as (standing, left to right): Michaels, Eadie, Wilson, Carr, and Eissn. (Kneeling, left to right): Grilley, Mattox and Doherty. Michaels may be Chief Torpedoman Michels. Eadie is Chief Gunner’s Mate. Thomas Eadie, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing Michaels during salvage work. Grilley is probably Ensign Frank W. Crilley. NH 41836

Navy Cross citation of Ensign Frank W. Crilley (as printed in his official biography):

“For extraordinary heroism and fearless devotion to duty during the diving operations in connection with the salvage of the USS S-4, sunk as a result of a collision off Provincetown, Massachusetts, 17 December 1927. During the period 17 December 1927 to 17 March 1928, on which latter date the ill-fated vessel was raised, Crilley, under the most adverse weather conditions, at the risk of his life, descended many times into the icy waters and displayed throughout that period fortitude, skill, determination and courage which characterizes conduct above and beyond the call of duty.”

Ensign Frank William Crilley, who earned both the Navy Cross and MoH, the latter only presented in 1929 by Coolidge some 14 years after the fact, retired from the service at least twice and was called back to help salvage lost subs. He passed in 1947, aged 64, on dry land. He is buried at Arlington.

The current Navy Experimental Diving Unit was formally established in 1927 at the Washington Navy Yard and the equipment and procedures developed at NEDU, including the McCann Rescue Chamber and mixed gas diving, were essential to the rescue of the crewmen who survived the initial sinking of the submarine USS Squalus on the bottom off the Isle of Shoals near Portsmouth in 1939.

The disabled Squalus was located on the sea floor at a depth of 240 feet in 29°F water, and a rescue ship with a diving chamber came to the site. The 33 crew in the non-flooded compartments were transferred to the surface within 40 hours via four trips of the diving chamber.

Now moving towards its 100th year in operation, the NEDU, still under SUPSALV, continues its research to save lives in the worst-case scenario.

They retain the Mark V on their insignia.

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

***

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.

***

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Limits and Renewals

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Well, my friends, we made it to Spring. Enjoy the sun on your face and the smell of nature renewing after the long, and often bitter, winter.

I was fortunate enough to soak up some beauty yesterday. There is a good reason Mobile is known as the “Azalea City.”

Speaking of limits and renewals, the below post came across on one of the scores of FB groups I am a member of (odds are, if you are in any gun, military, naval, or aerospace group on social media, I may be lurking!).

For those curious, “Melde mich ab” means “log me out.”

One of these days, we will all ask someone to log us out, so to speak. Always remember that the time we have here is limited. Remember to take care of yourselves and your people.

Let us keep up the fellowship and sharing of our knowledge for as long as we can.

You are all kings.

Hellscape

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No war is a “clean” war, but in many ways, I think the Great War really earned the nickname at the time of a “War to End All Wars” via sheer up-close brutality.

Original Caption, circa 1918: “The way by fire has proved to be a boomerang to the Germans. The Allies are beginning to pay back the Germans in their own coin on the Western Front, by means of certain devices to which, earlier in the war, the Germans trusted as a means of paralyzing resistance in battle. The use of gas both from projectors and in bombs were of German origin. They are now being turned against their originators. French soldiers advancing under cover of a flame and smoke attack.”

Photo 165-WW-100B-1, National Archives Identifier 26425078

Pour one out for Royal Oak today

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British ‘R’ class WW1 battleships at sea, 1930 HMSs Revenge, Ramillies, Royal Sovereign, and Resolution, taken from sister HMS Royal Oak

British battleships of the 1st Battle Squadron at sea on the morning of the German surrender, 21 November 1918. Inscribed by the artist, lower right, ‘Morning of German surrender’. This study of R-class battleships of the 1st Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet is apparently taken from its flagship, HMS ‘Revenge’, on which Wyllie was a guest of Admiral Sir Charles Madden for a month at the time of the surrender and internment of the German High Seas Fleet. That being so, the ships shown are ‘Resolution’ immediately following, ‘Royal Sovereign’ and ‘Royal Oak’. http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/125878 RMG PW1743

Some 85 years ago today, at 0104 hours on 14 October 1939, the Royal Sovereign/Revenge-class 15inch gunned dreadnought HMS Royal Oak (08)–– the last and largest battleship ever to be built at Devonport– was struck by the first of three German type G7e/2874 electric torpedoes fired by the early Type VIIB U-boat U-47 (Oblt. Günther Prien).

Anchored in the Northeast corner of Scapa Flow, some 1,500 yards south of the old seaplane carrier Pegasus (ex-Ark Royal), the Jutland veteran soon suffered an explosion that reached masthead height. By 0129– less than a half-hour after the first torpedo hit, she turned turtle and began to sink in 30 meters of cold water.

For what it’s worth, U-47, including KrvKpt. Prien and her 44 hands, went missing less than five months later on 7 March 1941 in the North Atlantic south of Iceland, while on her 10th war patrol.

Royal Oak was the only member of her class ever sunk and has been under fuel oil mitigation since 2003 while leaving the hull undisturbed.

Royal Navy divers visit the battleship every October to leave a new Ensign.

Scapa Flow buoy This marks the wreck of HMS Royal Oak and the grave of her crew. “Respect their resting place.” Unauthorized diving is prohibited.

In all, some 914 crew members, including RADM Henry Evelyn Charles Blagrove, 71 Royal Marines, and tragically no less than 134 boy seaman (most between the ages of 16-18) are among Royal Oak’s honored war dead.

The list:

ABBOTT, Stanley E, Engine Room Artificer 5c, P/MX 58507, MPK
ACKERMAN, Arthur G, Able Seaman, P/J 103230, MPK
ADAMS, William P, Leading Seaman, P/J 86379, MPK
AGNEW, Clement C W, Boy 1c, P/JX 159143, MPK
ALBERRY, Jack, Stoker 1c, P/KX 83975, MPK
ALLEN, Arthur F, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95680, MPK
ALLEN, Percy L, Leading Seaman, P/JX 131242, MPK
AMOS, Ernest J, Able Seaman, P/SSX 24800, MPK
ANDERSON, Edward, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 27561, MPK
ANDERSON, Henry L, Stoker 1c, P/KX 87601, MPK
ANDERSON, Robert F, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 158192, MPK
ANDERSON, William B, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27237, MPK
ANDERSON, William T, Marine, PO/X 2917, MPK
ANDREWS, Edward H, Act/Stoker Petty Officer, P/K 64055, MPK
ANDREWS, Gerald C, Boy Telegraphist, P/JX 156292, MPK
ANDREWS, Wilfred E, Boy 1c, P/JX 158327, MPK
ANNELL, Francis W, Boy 1c, P/JX 152396, MPK
ARMFIELD, Leslie, Marine, PO/X 2959, MPK
ARMITAGE, Frederick C, Mechanician, P/KX 78955, MPK
ARMSTRONG, George H S, Act/Petty Officer, P/J 111634, MPK
ARNO, Roland, Boy 1c, P/JX 157777, MPK
ASHBY, Kenneth, Boy 1c, P/JX 155914, MPK
ASHWIN, Albert W, Petty Officer Cook, P/M 38901, MPK
ATHERTON, James, Stoker 1c, P/KX 86791, MPK
ATHERTON, Norman, Stoker 1c, P/KX 87710, MPK
ATKINSON, John, Marine, PO/X 20804, MPK
ATKINSON, Thomas E, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27413, MPK
ATTARD, Francis, Petty Officer Cook (O), E/LX 20770, MPK
ATTARD, Lorenzo, Leading Steward, E/LX 21775, MPK
ATTFIELD, Henry G, Petty Officer, P/J 103119, MPK
AZZOPARDI, Anthony, Assistant Steward, E/LX 22321, MPK
BAIGENT, George H, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 261000, MPK
BAILEY, Charles W, Able Seaman, P/J 36444 Pens, MPK
BAILEY, Edward R, Boy 1c, P/JX 157908, MPK
BAIN, Robert, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27567, MPK
BAKER, Alfred E, Act/Stoker Petty Officer, P/KX 84729, MPK
BAKER, Arthur W, Leading Stoker, P/KX 82052, MPK
BAKER, William G M, Boy 1c, P/JX 157600, MPK
BALDWIN, Albert S, Signalman, P/J 99638, MPK
BALL, Raymond J N, Engine Room Artificer 5c, P/MX 51734, MPK
BALLARD, Eric F, Boy 1c, P/JX 159382, MPK
BALLS, Harold E, Captain, RM, MPK
BARBER, Albert S, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 30174, MPK
BARBER, Frank, Stoker 1c, P/KX 87605, MPK
BARGERY, Arthur E, Supply Assistant, P/MX 58562, MPK
BARKER, Edward H, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27304, MPK
BARNES-MOSS, Henry W, Boy 1c, P/JX 156915, MPK
BARNFATHER, Raymond A, Boy 1c, P/JX 15873, MPK
BARTLETT, Arthur, Marine, PO/ 22661, MPK
BARTOLO, John, Steward, E/LX 22088, MPK
BEALING, Frederick C, Petty Officer, P/JX 152580, MPK
BEANGE, James, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19722, MPK
BEDDALL, Harry, Able Seaman, RFR, P/SS 7973, MPK
BEDWELL, Hector W J, Plumber, P/MX 39026, MPK
BEECHEY, Arthur C, Marine, PO/X 2388, MPK
BEER, Alexander E, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27208, MPK
BELL, ROBERT W., Able Seaman, P/J 78102. MPK (also known as Robert W. Tuck)
BENDALL, Richard S J, Canteen Manager, NAAFI, MPK
BENNETT, William A B, Supply Chief Petty Officer, P/M 38223, MPK
BENNEY, Charles E, Electrical Artificer 1c, P/M 39104, killed
BESWICK, Henry W J, Able Seaman, P/SSX 21101, MPK
BETTS, Henry J, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95921, MPK
BETTS, William T, Able Seaman, RFR, P/J 86549, MPK
BILLYARD, Norman, Boy Signalman, P/JX 156019, MPK
BINNINGTON, Arthur, Boy 1c, P/JX 157612, MPK
BINNS, Frederick B, Able Seaman, P/J 99527, MPK
BINSLEY, George F, Able Seaman, RFR, P/J 101853, MPK
BIRTCHNELL, Cyril E, Able Seaman, P/JX 144815, MPK
BLACK, John, Boy 1c, P/JX 157437, MPK
BLACKBOROUGH, John W, Stoker 1c, P/KX 97396, MPK
BLAGROVE, Henry E C, Rear Admiral, MPK
BLENKIRON, Neil, Act/Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 57565, MPK
BLOOD, Samuel, Boy 1c, P/JX 160587, MPK
BLYTH, Henry B, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20210, MPK
BOENING, John, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95950, MPK
BOLD, Percy W, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20080, MPK
BONELLO, Salvatore, Leading Steward, E/L 11922, MPK
BONNER, Walter C, Band Corporal, RMB 180, MPK
BORLAND, Alexander D, Engine Room Artificer 5c, P/MX 60113, MPK
BOTTOMLEY, Robert J, Sergeant, PO/X 22159, MPK
BOWDEN, Reginald C B, Able Seaman, P/JX 134358, MPK
BOWEN, Jack, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 149667, MPK
BOWHAY, William J R, Paymaster Midshipman, MPK
BOYD, Thomas A, Supply Assistant, P/MX 58559, MPK
BOYES, Louis S, Sailmaker’s Mate, P/J 113932, MPK
BOYLE, William, Leading Stoker, P/K 66789, MPK
BRADDICK, Arthur H, Leading Stoker, P/K 60237, killed
BRADING, Charles E, Boy 1c, P/JX 157767, MPK
BRAMLEY, Raymond J, Boy 1c, P/JX 158937, MPK
BRANCH, Hal, Supply Petty Officer, P/MX 46378, MPK
BRIDGES, James G C, Boy 1c, P/JX 157596, MPK
BRIGHT, Herbert, Marine, PO/ 216315, MPK
BRIGHTMAN, George R, Stoker Petty Officer, P/K 61794, MPK
BRISCOE, Edmund J, Able Seaman, P/J 97597, MPK
BRITTON, Thomas F, Able Seaman, P/J 115551, MPK
BROOKIN, James F, Marine, PO/X 2950, MPK
BROUGHTON, Alick E, Marine, PO/X 3041, MPK
BROWN, Alfred G, Leading Seaman, P/J 100430, MPK
BROWN, Dennis A J, Stoker 2c, P/KX 97906, MPK
BROWN, Harold, Able Seaman, P/SSX 21997, MPK
BROWN, Henry W, Petty Officer, P/J 93823, MPK
BROWN, John, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19671, MPK
BRYMER, Ernest A, Boy 1c, P/JX 158209, MPK
BUCKETT, Stanley V, Ordnance Artificer 2c, P/MX 5599, killed
BUCKNALL, Arthur G, Able Seaman, P/J 103007, MPK
BUDGE, John, Boy 1c, P/JX 158257, MPK
BULL, Alan N, Shipwright 5c, P/MX 59124, MPK
BURDEN, Arthur E, Act/Petty Officer, P/J 111687, MPK
BURNHAM, Peter, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26573, MPK
BURNS, Arthur, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20759, MPK
BURNS, John E, Corporal, PO/X 550, MPK
BURROWS, Robert W, Stoker 1c, P/KX 87984, MPK
BURT, Ernest H A, Leading Signalman, P/JX 126157, MPK
BURTENSHAW, Clifford H, Able Seaman, P/J 43323, MPK
BURTON, John W, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 84054, MPK
BUTLER, Albert A, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95683, MPK
BUTLER, Albert E, Marine, PO/X 1365, MPK
BUTLER, Albert E, Stoker 1c, P/K 62461, MPK
BYDAWELL, Leonard R J, Electrical Artificer 4c, P/MX 54996, MPK
CACHIA, Joseph, Leading Steward, E/LX 20812, MPK
CAIRNS, John, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 27560, MPK
CAMPBELL, Charles N, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27233, MPK
CAMPBELL, Donald, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27150, MPK
CAMPSIE, Charles, Able Seaman, P/JX 142702, MPK
CANNON, Robert J, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19985, MPK
CAPEL, Charles W, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95166, MPK
CARD, Albert R W, Boy 1c, P/JX 159112, MPK
CARNEGIE, Alexander K, Act/Leading Seaman, P/SSX 16142, MPK
CARPENTER, Edwin G, Shipwright 4c, P/MX 54106, MPK
CARR, Frank C, Steward, C/LX 21729, MPK
CARTER, Gordon W, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19717, MPK
CARTER, John, Leading Stoker, P/K 60886, MPK
CARTER, Rowland W H, Able Seaman, P/JX 134480, MPK
CARTER, William F, Seaman, RNR, P/X 20597 A, MPK
CARTWRIGHT, Wilfred, Engine Room Artificer 1c, P/M 34467, MPK
CASS, Leonard, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 132259, MPK
CAST, Reuben J, Ordinary Signalman, P/SSX 27808, MPK
CASTLEMAN, Harry, Able Seaman, P/J 102650, MPK
CHADWICK, John C, Chief Engine Room Artificer 2c, P/M 22651, MPK
CHADWICK, Thomas, Able Seaman, RFR, P/J 46739, MPK
CHALK, Ronald G, Ordinary Signalman, P/JX 154932, MPK
CHALLENGER, Albert L, Able Seaman, P/SSX 16728, MPK
CHAPPELL, William G, Petty Officer, P/J 99140, MPK
CHEESLEY, Wilfred H G, Act/Warrant Engineer, MPK
CHESMAN, William E, Leading Stoker, P/KX 82405, MPK
CHICK, Alan, Engine Room Artificer 5c, P/MX 51742, MPK
CHURCH, Ovidio, Assistant Steward, E/LX 23166, MPK
CLACHER, William H, Boy 1c, P/JX 159105, MPK
CLACKSON, Ronald G, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26095, MPK
CLARK, Alan J, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 153775, MPK
CLARK, Albert H, Sick Berth Attendant, P/MX 57804, MPK
CLARK, Frederick H, Boy 1c, P/JX 15896, MPK
CLARK, John, Able Seaman, P/JX 145699, MPK
CLARK, Ralph L W, Lieutenant (E), killed
CLARKE, Francis H, Stoker 1c, P/KX 90017, MPK
CLARKE, Robert E, Stoker Petty Officer, P/K 59906, MPK
CLEMENTS, Ernest F J, Marine, PO/X 1927, MPK
CLEMENTSON, John, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20373, MPK
CLOUTE, Edward C, Master At Arms, P/M 39838, MPK
COCK, Clarence H, Lieutenant (E), MPK
COFFIN, Leonard J, Able Seaman, RFR, P/J 14757, MPK
COLBOURNE, Frank E, Leading Stoker, P/K 59274, MPK
COLBOURNE, James W F, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27563, MPK
COLBRAN, Percy, Able Seaman, RFR, P/J 48784, MPK
COLEMAN, Edward W, Able Seaman, P/J 53167, MPK
COLEMAN, Jack A, Boy Telegraphist, P/JX 156277, MPK
COLEMAN, Maurice G N, Boy Telegraphist, P/JX 156747, MPK
COLLINS, George A, Boy 1c, P/JX 157880, MPK
COLLINS, Robert, Leading Sick Berth Attendant, P/MX 50880, MPK
COMBER, Albert E B, Petty Officer, P/J 110072, MPK
CONNOR, Fred, Act/Stoker Petty Officer, P/KX 96550, MPK
CONNOR, Reginald J, Able Seaman, P/JX 140996, MPK
CONROY, Frank, Leading Stoker, P/KX 83434, MPK
COOK, George J, Able Seaman, P/SSX 24798, MPK
COOKE, Frederick A, Engine Room Artificer 5c, P/MX 59082, MPK
COOPER, Leslie L, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19680, MPK
COOPER, Norman, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20068, MPK
COPE, John R, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 152707, MPK
CORNELIOUS, Kenneth T, Boy 1c, P/JX 159083, MPK
CORNELIUS, Herbert J, Py/Surgeon Lieutenant, RNVR, MPK
CORNISH, Charles F, Able Seaman, P/J 49960, MPK
COUSINS, Hubert J, Supply Assistant, P/MX 58596, MPK
COX, Edwin, Boy 1c, P/JX 156605, MPK
CRAGG, Walter, Boy 1c, P/JX 158587, MPK
CRAVEN, Arthur, Ordinary Telegraphist, P/SSX 25730, MPK
CREE, James B D, Chaplain, MPK
CROCKETT, John S, Leading Stoker, P/K 60176, MPK
CROFTS, Edward A, Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 49178, MPK
CROSS, Eric V A, Engine Room Artificer 5c, P/MX 58964, MPK
CROSSWELL, Walter H, Yeoman of Signals, P/J 93096, MPK
CUMBES, Ronald W, Stoker 1c, P/KX 88437, MPK
CUMMING, Leslie T J, Marine, PO/X 588, MPK
CUMMINGS, Harry, Ordnance Artificer 1c, P/M 30403, MPK
CUNNINGHAM, Edward W, Corporal, PO/X 483, MPK
CURTIN, Cornelius, Stoker 1c, P/KX 88327, MPK
CURTIS, Herbert H W, Petty Officer Cook, P/MX 45150, MPK
CUTLER, Joseph A, Blacksmith 5c, P/MX 58970, MPK
DANIELS, George, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95934, MPK
DARNELL, George T, Boy 1c, P/JX 158214, MPK
DAUGHTREY, Albert, Able Seaman, P/J 111527, MPK
DAVEY, Cecil B, Supply Chief Petty Officer, P/M 30765, MPK
DAVIE, Richard C, Leading Supply Assistant, P/MX 51123, MPK
DAVIES, Herbert R, Marine, PO/X 1408, MPK
DAVIES, Mervyn C, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26707, MPK
DAVIS, Joseph F, Able Seaman, P/SSX 15387, MPK
DAVIS, Robert E, Able Seaman, P/SSX 21139, MPK
DAYSH, Alan, Canteen Assistant, NAAFI, MPK
DEACON, William J, Stoker 1c, P/KX 90485, MPK
DEAR, Alfred J, Sergeant, PO/ 22637, MPK
DEIGHTON, Ernest C, Stoker 1c, P/KX 85503, MPK
DERBYSHIRE, Ronald, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 125355, MPK
DERRY, John O H, Boy 1c, P/JX 157256, MPK
DIAPER, Stanley T, Leading Cook, P/MX 48944, MPK
DICKIE, William A, Surgeon Lieutenant (D), MPK
DOE, Sidney P, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95684, MPK
DOGGETT, Ivor E, Able Seaman, P/JX 149799, MPK
DOWDING, Percy W G, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26092, MPK
DOWNES, Arthur F, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95851, MPK
DRAPER, Basil H, Leading Seaman, P/JX 129857, MPK
DRUCE, Albert E, Stoker 2c, P/KX 96940, MPK
DUNCALF, Thomas, Able Seaman, P/SSX 137746, MPK
DUNK, Charles A, Chief Mechanician, P/K 55420, MPK
DUNK, William W, Boy 1c, P/JX 157915, MPK
DYER, Henry, Able Seaman, P/JX 115887, MPK
EADE, James H, Shipwright 4c, P/MX 54409, MPK
EASTON, Francis, Boy 1c, P/JX 158579, MPK
EDE, Frank, Leading Stoker, P/KX 81595, MPK
EDWARDS, Arthur, Stoker 1c, P/KX 89502, MPK
EDWARDS, James F, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25897, MPK
EDWARDS, Rhobert G, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27416, MPK
EDWARDS, Walter R A T, Able Seaman, P/JX 131451, MPK
EFEMEY, Ronald B, Signalman, P/JX 141588, MPK
ELLIOTT, Robert, Stoker 1c, P/KX 86265, MPK
ELTRINGHAM, Norman, Painter, P/MX 51661, MPK
EMERY, Alfred, Cook, P/MX 54622, MPK
EMERY, Frank C, Chief Petty Officer, P/J 81318, MPK
EVANS, Bernard, Marine, PO/X 2951, MPK
EVANS, Joseph E, Able Seaman, P/J 90199, MPK
EYERS, Charles E, Boy Signalman, P/JX 155943, MPK
FAIRBROTHER, James W, Boy 1c, P/JX 159190, MPK
FARR, Ernest W, Chief Petty Officer Stoker, P/K 56117, MPK
FARRELL, Robert, Ordinary Seaman, RNVR, P/UD/X 1510, MPK
FENN, Theodore R P, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 140460, MPK
FINLAY, Matthew B, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19669, MPK
FISHER, Billie L, Able Seaman, P/JX 137936, MPK
FISHER, James B, Leading Stoker, P/KX 79148, MPK
FITCH, Charles E, Signalman, P/J 82366, MPK
FLOGDELL, Albert E, Marine, PO/X 2572, MPK
FLOUNDERS, Alexander, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27295, MPK
FORD, William J, Able Seaman, P/JX 144165, MPK
FORSEY, Horace S, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 148901, MPK
FOSTER, Donald C D, Leading Seaman, P/JX 129769, MPK
FOSTER, George W, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25972, MPK
FOULGER, Arthur, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19964, MPK
FOWLER, John W, Marine, PO/X 1578, MPK
FOYLE, Archie A, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27282, MPK
FRANCIS, Hubert A, Able Seaman, P/JX 142485, MPK
FRANCKEISS, Edward L, Act/Petty Officer, P/J 113184, killed
FRENCH, Charles, Able Seaman, P/JX 137374, MPK
FULLER, Charles W, Able Seaman, P/JX 127659, MPK
FURBEAR, Thomas G, Sergeant, PO/X 841, MPK
FURBY, Edwin A, Boy 1c, P/JX 158407, MPK
FURLONG, John, Ordinary Telegraphist, P/SSX 25720, MPK
FURNELL, Leslie T, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19711, MPK
GALLAGHER, John W, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 84271, MPK
GIBBONS, John A, Able Seaman, P/J 81797, MPK
GIBSON, Gordon, Boy 1c, P/JX 157592, MPK
GIBSON, Sidney J, Marine, PO/X 2952, MPK
GILES, William H, Stoker 1c, P/KX 86757, MPK
GILL, George E, Stoker 1c, P/KX 88429, MPK
GILL, Harold W, Leading Stoker, P/KX 76025, MPK
GILLIS, George W, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27410, MPK
GIUSTI, Ignazio, Leading Steward, E/LX 15022, MPK
GLASSPOOL, Harry, Leading Stoker, P/K 57401, MPK
GODLEY, Sidney G, Stoker 1c, P/K 57546, MPK
GODWIN, Thomas G, Act/Leading Telegraphist, D/JX 133888, MPK
GODWIN, William, Able Seaman, P/J 80870, MPK
GOLDING, Arthur J, Bandmaster, RMB 2745, killed
GOODYER, Joseph C, Officers’ Chief Cook, P/L 2529, MPK
GORSUCH, Ernest D, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95926, MPK
GOUGH, Edwin J, Stoker 1c, P/KX 86102, MPK
GOUGH, Thomas E, Boy 1c, P/JX 158441, MPK
GOURLAY, James R G M, Able Seaman, P/JX 143524, MPK
GOWAN, Jack D, Boy 1c, P/JX 158481, MPK
GRACE, Victor M, Writer, P/MX 55769, MPK
GRAHAM, George M, Boy 1c, P/JX 157590, MPK
GRAHAM, Philip W C, Midshipman, MPK
GRAHAM, Samuel, Seaman, RNR, P/X 7150 C, MPK
GRAHAM-BROWN, John L T, Sub Lieutenant, MPK
GRAY, Alexander S, Boy 1c, P/JX 158263, MPK
GRAY, Edward, Able Seaman, P/JX 130468, MPK
GRAY, Harry W, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27545, MPK
GRECH, Joseph, Assistant Steward, E/LX 22806, MPK
GREEN, Albert F, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26104, MPK
GREEN, Frank, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19729, MPK
GREEN, Roy, Musician, RMB/X 749, MPK
GREENWOOD, Leonard, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20436, MPK
GRIFFIN, Harry, Boy 1c, P/JX 159273, MPK
GRIFFITHS, Edward J, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19672, MPK
GRIFFITHS, James R, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 158039, MPK
GRINDLEY, Arnold E, Marine, PO/X 3064, MPK
GROGAN, John, Marine, PO/X 2556, MPK
GUTTERIDGE, Ronald G N, Boy 1c, P/JX 155329, MPK
GUY, Robert, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 158072, MPK
HALES, Joseph, Officers’ Cook 2c, E/L 12226, MPK
HALL, Harry J, Plumber 4c, P/MX 51631, MPK
HALL, Joseph, Petty Officer, P/JX 125239, MPK
HALL, Kenneth E, Marine, PO/X 2676, MPK
HALL, William R, Boy 1c, P/JX 158939, MPK
HAMBLIN, George A, Marine, PO/ 22591, MPK
HAMBLIN, Herbert J, Able Seaman, P/J 50281, MPK
HAMMOND, John S, Leading Cook, P/MX 49962, MPK
HAMMOND, Wilfred L, Petty Officer Steward, P/L 15087, MPK
HANCE, Travis R, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26045, MPK
HARKIN, Phillip R, Leading Seaman, P/J 129706, MPK
HARLE, George, Marine, PO/X 2760, MPK
HARLEY, John A H, Act/Leading Signalman, D/J 69269, MPK
HARPER, Richard R J, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27296, MPK
HARRIS, George J, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27423, MPK
HARRIS, Kenneth J, Writer, D/MX 59821, MPK
HARRIS, Norman H, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26053, MPK
HARRIS, Percy W, Act/Leading Seaman, P/J 10161, MPK
HAWKINS, Kenneth R J, Boy 1c, P/JX 159111, MPK
HAWKINS, Walter J, Stoker 1c, P/KX 86612, MPK
HAYES, Thomas, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95662, MPK
HAYWARD, Jasper G, Boy 1c, P/JX 157760, MPK
HEATHER, Charles W, Able Seaman, P/JX 140720, MPK
HELMORE, William L, Petty Officer, P/J 99995, MPK
HEMESTRETCH, Charles W, Boy 1c, P/JX 158405, MPK
HEMSLEY, Charles F, Marine, PO/X 2798, MPK
HEMSTRIDGE, Cecil, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95865, MPK
HESLOP, Cuthbert, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27279, MPK
HICKS, Albert E, Able Seaman, P/J 84408, MPK
HIGGINS, John I, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19372, MPK
HIGGS, Harold H, Leading Stoker, P/KX 77576, MPK
HIGHFIELD, Joseph E, Act/Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 56195, MPK
HILL, Albert, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20207, MPK
HILL, Donald, Shipwright 4c, P/MX 55747, MPK
HILL, Douglas, Stoker 1c, P/KX 89512, MPK
HILL, Ernest F, Stoker 1c, P/KX 88294, MPK
HILL, Samuel, Ordnance Artificer 4c, P/MX 54584, MPK
HILLIER, Charles W, Ordnance Artificer 2c, P/M 37686, MPK
HINGSTON, Eric, Act/Leading Seaman, P/J 130609, MPK
HISCOCK, Frederick J, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27550, MPK
HIXSON, Herbert H, Boy 1c, P/JX 158383, MPK
HOCKING, John R, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95687, MPK
HODGSON, Alan R, Signalman, D/JX 144607, MPK
HODGSON, James S, Boy 1c, P/JX 157463, MPK
HOLLAND, Cecil, Ordnance Artificer 4c, P/MX 53671, MPK
HOLYOAK, Edward, Boy 1c, P/JX 157154, MPK
HOTTON, Lewis W J, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95653, MPK
HUDSON, Frederick H J, Engine Room Artificer 5c, P/MX 56982, MPK
HUDSON, John S, Signalman, P/SSX 16093, MPK
HUGGINS, Henry S, Leading Stoker, P/KX 75387, MPK
HUGHES, Frederick E, Boy 1c, P/JX 157826, MPK
HUGHES, Thomas, Able Seaman, P/J 91758, MPK
HUGHES-ROWLANDS, Richard, Commissioned Telegraphist, killed
HULL, Ernest C, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95290, MPK
HULL, Raymond G, Leading Telegraphist, P/JX 137282, MPK
HUMBER, John F, Boy 1c, P/JX 157890, MPK
HUNT, Albert V, Stoker 1c, P/KX 87193, MPK
HUNT, Edward G, Petty Officer, P/JX 132394, MPK
HUNTER, Frank, Leading Seaman, P/J 92755, MPK
HUNTER, James, Marine, PO/X 3142, MPK
HURST, Frank, Electrical Artificer 4c, P/MX 54704, MPK
HUSCROFT, Robert W, Cook, P/MX 57241, MPK
HUSSEY-YEO, Arthur L, Able Seaman, P/JX 127000, MPK
HUTCHCOCKS, Tom, Able Seaman, P/JX 141424, MPK
HYDE, Alexander J, Leading Supply Assistant, P/MX 54623, MPK
HYDE, George W, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 83528, MPK
ING, Ronald C, Ordinary Telegraphist, P/SSX 25722, MPK
JACK, James D M, Stoker 1c, P/KX 86761, MPK
JACKMAN, John J, Able Seaman, P/JX 134910, MPK
JACKSON, Lawrence T D, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20647, MPK
JACKSON, Thomas W B, Ordinary Telegraphist, P/SSX 25724, killed
JACOBS, Walter A C, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95859, MPK
JAGO, Leslie, Ordinary Telegraphist, P/JX 156975, MPK
JAMES, Leslie J, Boy 1c, P/JX 158601, MPK
JAMES, Roland, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25886, MPK
JAMES, Verdun L, Marine, PO/X 1421, MPK
JAY, Vernon G U, Cadet, MPK
JELLEY, Lesley J, Boy 1c, P/JX 157876, MPK
JENKINS, Eric J A, Engine Room Artificer 3c, P/MX 48229, MPK
JENKINS, Thomas S, Stoker 1c, P/KX 79383, MPK
JENNINGS, Russel E, Boy 1c, P/JX 157923, MPK
JEWELL, Arthur, Able Seaman, P/J 92301, MPK
JEWER, Sydney A, Corporal, PO/X 2009, MPK
JOBSON, James B, Leading Seaman, P/J 114586, MPK
JOHNS, Percival H M, Chief Electrical Artificer 2c, P/M 38580, MPK
JOHNSON, Frederick H W P, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95594, MPK
JOHNSON, Thomas M, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25867, MPK
JOHNSTON, Alexander J, Able Seaman, P/J 82381, MPK
JONES, Charles E, Steward, D/LX 21744, MPK
JONES, Harry, Boy 1c, P/JX 157056, MPK
JONES, Henry G, Able Seaman, P/JX 141049, MPK
JONES, Sidney W, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27952, MPK
JONES, Thomas J, Boy 1c, P/JX 158938, MPK
JORDAN, Frederick, Petty Officer Telegraphist, P/J 90355, MPK
JORDAN, Henry D, Corporal, PO/X 930, MPK
JUDGE, Peter R, Able Seaman, P/J 111868, MPK
KANE, Raymond C, Marine, PO/X 3015, MPK
KEARY, Arthur, Leading Supply Assistant, P/MX 51127, MPK
KEEL, Jack, Marine, PO/X 1736, MPK
KEEL, William, Act/Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 59117, MPK
KEMP, Lewis H, Act/Ordnance Artificer 4c, P/MX 55921, MPK
KEMPSTER, Arthur, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27412, MPK
KENNEDY, Richard H, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27280, MPK
KENNEDY, William T, Petty Officer, P/J 132255, MPK
KENNETT, Ernest H, Chief Petty Officer Stoker, P/K 61050, MPK
KENT, Herbert A J, Marine, PO/ 20891, MPK
KENWORTHY, James, Able Seaman, P/SSX 18204, MPK
KERSEY, Henry A, Petty Officer, P/J 97949, MPK
KIDBY, William F, Supply Petty Officer, P/MX 45898, MPK
KING, Cyril E M, Able Seaman, P/SSX 15872, MPK
KING, Frederick W, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95920, MPK
KING, William L, Marine, PO/X 2889, MPK
KIRKBY, Desmond E, Boy 1c, P/JX 155948, MPK
KNIGHT, Geoffrey E W, Boy 1c, P/JX 157202, MPK
LABAN, Kenneth G, Boy 1c, P/JX 158866, MPK
LARDNER, Frederick M, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 24802, MPK
LAWRENCE, James E, Marine, PO/X 3128, MPK
LEACH, Eric C, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95656, MPK
LENZ, Bernard H, Canteen Assistant, NAAFI, MPK
LESTER, Robert, Boy 1c, P/JX 158468, MPK
LEWIS, Clifford E, Marine, PO/X 2864, MPK
LEWIS, Donald J, Boy 1c, P/JX 159120, MPK
LIDDELL, Robert, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 84334, MPK
LILLEY, Harold G, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95861, MPK
LIPTROT, Frederick, Leading Cook, P/MX 49455, MPK
LISTER, Harvey G, Boy 1c, P/JX 158887, MPK
LITTLEJOHN, James B M, Ordinary Telegraphist, P/SSX 25727, MPK
LLOYD, Ronald G, Stoker 1c, P/KX 85406, MPK
LLOYDS, Sidney R N, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95856, MPK
LOATS, Thomas R, Electrical Artificer 3c, P/MX 47370, MPK
LOCK, Leslie F, Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 54369, MPK
LOCKWOOD, William, Stoker 1c, P/K 588886, MPK
LOGAN, Frank, Able Seaman, P/J 111301, MPK
LONG, Arthur, Marine, PO/X 2878, MPK
LOWERY, David, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 80824, MPK
LYNCH, Hugh C, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 157285, MPK
LYONS, John, Able Seaman, RFR, P/J 101188, MPK
MACANGUS, Donald, Seaman, RNR, P/X 19367 A, MPK
MACDERMOTT, Antony D, Cadet, killed
MACKINNON, Donald, Boy 1c, P/JX 159078, MPK
MACREADY, James A, Boy 1c, P/JX 157296, MPK
MAHER, Christopher, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27543, MPK
MALYON, Sydney H, Leading Stoker, P/K 66951, killed
MAMO, Francis, Officers’ Cook 2c, E/L 6426, MPK
MANGION, John P, Petty Officer Steward, E/LX 20458, MPK
MANNING, James, Stoker 1c, P/KX 85396, MPK
MANSFIELD, William H, Stoker 1c, P/KX 87490, MPK
MANWARING, Douglas, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25253, MPK
MANWARING, William R, Stoker 1c, P/KX 81251, MPK
MARSH, James W, Marine, PO/ 21181, MPK
MARSH, Owen F, Corporal, PO/ 22158, MPK
MARSHALL, Frederick, Boy 1c, P/JX 158482, MPK
MARTIN, Edward J, Midshipman, MPK
MARTIN, Horace J, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 154873, MPK
MARTIN, Leonard G, Boy 1c, P/JX 159173, MPK
MATFIELD, Albert H, Marine, PO/X 3136, MPK
MATHER, George, Act/Cook, P/MX 56974, MPK
MATHEWS-SHEEN, Thomas, Leading Seaman, P/JX 150561, MPK
MATTHEWS, Francis H, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 158095, MPK
MCARTHUR, Archibald, Engine Room Artificer 5c, P/MX 60114, MPK
MCBAIN, Donald, Cook, P/MX 56184, MPK
MCBROWN, Ralph S, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95854, MPK
MCDONALD, Albert, Boy 1c, P/JX 158570, MPK
MCGIBBON, Thomas H, Ordinary Seaman, RNVR, P/UD/X 1391, MPK
MCGREGOR, George D, Stoker 1c, P/KX 88050, MPK
MCGREGOR, Robert, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26301, MPK
MCLAREN, William, Boy 1c, P/JX 158506, MPK
MCLENNAN, Alexander J, Stoker 1c, P/KX 84974, MPK
MCMILLAN, George A, Boy 1c, P/JX 159096, MPK
MCPHERSON, Charles J, Marine, PO/X 2218, MPK
MCTAGGART, Duncan, Ordinary Telegraphist, P/SSX 24564, MPK
MEADEN, Frederick E B, Chief Petty Officer Stoker, P/K 60273, MPK
MEDLEY, Bertie, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 135922, MPK
MELLOR, Sidney, Stoker 1c, P/KX 88438, MPK
MERIFIELD, William J, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19204, MPK
MIDDLETON, Andrew F C, Boy 1c, P/JX 157019, MPK
MILBORN, Philip, Boy 1c, P/JX 160588, MPK
MILES, Alfred W S, Boy 1c, P/JX 157754, MPK
MILES, Arthur, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26941, MPK
MILES, Ewart H, Marine, PO/ 21396, MPK
MILES, Patrick, Boy 1c, P/JX 158631, MPK
MILFORD, Albert E, Able Seaman, RFR, P/J 108786, MPK
MILLER, Albert E, Boy 1c, P/JX 158589, MPK
MILLER, Joseph H, Able Seaman, P/SSX 18397, MPK
MILLIGAN, John J McI, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26419, MPK
MILLIS, Ronald, Marine, PO/X 2873, MPK
MILLMORE, Francis, Petty Officer, P/J 102821, MPK
MILNES, Ronald W, Boy 1c, P/JX 158116, killed
MINNS, Frederick A, Boy 1c, P/JX 157931, MPK
MIRFIN, George D, Marine, PO/X 3091, MPK
MITCHELL, John H, Shipwright 2c, P/M 38662, MPK
MITCHELL, John S, Boy 1c, P/JX 154752, MPK
MOAR, James W, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95674, MPK
MOFFAT, James B, Marine, PO/X 3038, MPK
MOONEY, Paul, Cook, P/MX 56481, MPK
MOORE, Irving, Able Seaman, P/SSX 15878, MPK
MOORE, John E, Lieutenant, killed
MOORE, Leonard G, Marine, PO/ 20158, MPK
MOORE, William J, Chief Petty Officer, P/J 96299, MPK
MOREY, Francis J M, Leading Seaman, P/JX 132152, MPK
MORRIS, Charles H, Able Seaman, P/J 06035, MPK
MORRISON, James, Boy 1c, P/JX 157031, MPK
MORRISON, Joseph, Sergeant, PO/X 672, MPK
MORSE, David L G, Boy 1c, P/JX 154996, MPK
MOSES, Leonard D, Marine, PO/X 2758, MPK
MOSLEY, James H, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 154557, MPK
MOULD, Reginald W, Able Seaman, P/J 96164, MPK
MOUNTAIN, Francis, Able Seaman, P/JX 140052, MPK
MOUNTFORD, Harry C L, Bugler, PO/X 2262, MPK
MOYLAN, Thomas, Able Seaman, P/J 94942, MPK
MULLEN, Thomas G, Ordnance Artificer 3c, P/MX 51028, MPK
MULLIN, Christopher T, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27407, MPK
MUNRO, John, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 157163, MPK
MURPHY, Peter, Signalman Boy, P/JX 155203, MPK
MURPHY, Thomas, Stoker 1c, P/KX 91411, MPK
MURRAY, William R, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95899, MPK
MUTLOW, Leslie C, Stoker 1c, P/KX 85555, MPK
MYERS, George E, Marine, PO/X 151, MPK
NAISBY, Thomas F, Leading Seaman, P/JX 131082, MPK
NEEDHAM, Eric, Ordinary Signalman, P/SSX 25069, MPK
NEWMAN, Walter H, Marine, PO/ 214643, MPK
NEWNHAM, Ernest E, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 126947, MPK
NEWNHAM, Keith G, Signalman, P/JX 144850, MPK
NEWSHAM, Harold, Boy 1c, P/JX 15933, MPK
NEWSOME, George, Marine, PO/X 2552, MPK
NIBLETT, Charles H, Marine, PO/X 1712, MPK
NICHOL, Gerald, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19330, MPK
NICHOLS, Arthur H, Shipwright 1c, P/M 35192, MPK
NICHOLSON, William D, Act/Petty Officer, P/JX 125169, MPK
NIXON, Harry, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95262, MPK
NUTTALL, Francis R M, Stoker 1c, P/KX 83842, MPK
O’BRIEN, Arthur E, Leading Seaman, P/J 89832, MPK
OFFER, Charles H, Able Seaman, P/JX 142039, MPK
OGDEN, Gordon R, Boy 1c, P/JX 159104, MPK
OSBORNE, Thomas G, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95901, MPK
O’SHEA, Michael, Canteen Assistant, NAAFI, MPK
OVERTON, John J, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27548, MPK
OXLEY, George R, Act/Petty Officer, P/JX 128126, MPK
OXLEY, Harry, Able Seaman, P/SSX 21053, MPK
PAICE, Harold F, Colour Sergeant, PO/ 216276, MPK
PALFREYMAN, Joseph, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95850, MPK
PALMER, Charles J, Able Seaman, P/J 101960, MPK
PALMER, George J, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95678, MPK
PAPE, Eric W A S, Leading Supply Assistant, P/MX 55400, MPK
PARK, Albert A, Stoker 1c, P/K 59438, MPK
PARKER, Albert G, Able Seaman, P/JX 138168, MPK
PARKER, James, Marine, PO/X 294, MPK
PARKER, Ronald T, Marine, PO/X 1450, MPK
PARKINSON, George H, Chief Ordnance Artificer 1c, P/M 35427, MPK
PARR, William A, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95937, MPK
PARRISH, William H, Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 51193, MPK
PARRY, George J, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19098, MPK
PARSONS, George E, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95858, MPK
PARTLETT, Edwin G, Marine, PO/X 847, MPK
PATCH, Denis G, Boy 1c, P/J 159119, MPK
PATERSON, Walter D, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20750, MPK
PATTERSON, Norman M, Midshipman, MPK
PAUL, Leslie W C, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95907, MPK
PEARSON, Alfred R, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 151198, MPK
PENNEL, John A, Marine, PO/X 3117, MPK
PENNYCORD, John A, Leading Stoker, P/K 66257, MPK
PERCY, Kenneth B, Boy 1c, P/JX 157749, MPK
PERKINS, Ernest E G, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95857, MPK
PERKINS, Reginald J, Boy Telegraphist, P/JX 154704, MPK
PERRY, Dennis W, Boy 1c, P/JX 157775, MPK
PESCI, Emmanuel, Cook (O), E/LX 22099, MPK
PETERS, Edward R, Stoker Petty Officer, P/K 66790, MPK
PETERS, George, Boy 1c, P/JX 157762, MPK
PHELPS, Cyril E, Leading Telegraphist, D/J 114261, MPK
PHIPPS, Charles P, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 155858, MPK
PICKARD, Sydney E, Steward, D/LX 21755, MPK
PIDDINGTON, Peter G, Midshipman, MPK
PIERSON, Albert J, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 139301, MPK
PIKE, Albert C, Marine, PO/X 1148, MPK
PILKINGTON, Harold, Act/Stoker Petty Officer, P/KX 76666, MPK
PINE, Bertie, Chief Petty Officer Writer, D/M 38954, MPK
PITKIN, Frederick, Leading Seaman, RNVR, P/LD/X 371, MPK
POLLARD, Geoffrey R, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 154997, MPK
POLLARD, George C, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95936, MPK
POPE, George A, Petty Officer, P/JX 128921, MPK
PORTER, Ebenezer R, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27298, MPK
PORTER, Henry W, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19615, MPK
PORTER, Jack S, Shipwright 4c, P/MX 54444, MPK
POTTER, Arthur, Boy 1c, P/JX 159658, MPK
POTTER, Stanley, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27414, MPK
POTTLE, Robin V T, Boy Telegraphist, P/JX 153772, MPK
POULTER, Richard, Ordinary Signalman, P/JX 155715, MPK
POWELL, Arthur, Commissioned Gunner (T), MPK
POWELL, William D, Boy 1c, P/JX 158593, MPK
POWLES, William, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26940, MPK
PRAGNELL, Stanley L, Marine, PO/X 3016, MPK
PRATT, Cyril, Ordinary Telegraphist, P/SSX 24525, MPK
PRESTON, Frederick H, Sergeant, PO/ 21824, MPK
PRIEST, William C, Act/Leading Seaman, P/J 96617, MPK
PRIESTLEY, Aubrey J, Bugler, PO/X 3072, MPK
PRINCE, Gerald A, Able Seaman, P/SSX 21148, MPK
PRYOR, Ronald A, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 30156, MPK
PUDDY, Robert G, Petty Officer, P/J 101385, MPK
PYE, Philip K, Stoker 2c, P/KX 96929, MPK
QUANTRELL, Oswald P, Stoker 1c, P/KX 89997, MPK
QUIGLEY, Archibald, Able Seaman, P/JX 132173, MPK
QUINN, Harold, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19042, MPK
QUINNEY, George, Marine, PO/X 153, MPK
RADFORD, Roy, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95270, MPK
RAINE, George H, Seaman, RNR, P/X 10792 B, MPK
RAMSAY, William D, Able Seaman, P/SSX 17948, MPK
RANN, Frank, Chief Petty Officer, P/J 100664, MPK
RAZEY, Arthur E, Able Seaman, P/JX 127189, MPK
READ, Reginald V, Stoker Petty Officer, P/K 60121, MPK
REED, William G F, Seaman, RNR, P/X 20506 A, MPK
REID, David, Marine, PO/ 21663, MPK
RESTELL, Albert E, Chief Ordnance Artificer 2c, P/M 36685, MPK
REYNOLDS, Donald A, Ordnance Artificer, P/SSX 26182, MPK
RICHARDS, William M, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95672, MPK
RIDSDALE, George H, Leading Stoker, P/KX 84011, MPK
RILEY, Joseph, Boy 1c, P/JX 158451, MPK
RITCHIE, Robert C, Seaman, RNR, P/X 20398, MPK
ROBBINS, Cecil F, Able Seaman, P/JX 157894, MPK
ROBERTS, Arthur, Chief Petty Officer Stoker, P/K 60785, MPK
ROBERTS, Frederick W, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20191, MPK
ROBERTS, Thomas O, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19617, MPK
ROBERTSON, Morris G, Boy 1c, P/JX 158089, MPK
ROBERTSON, Robert U, Able Seaman, P/SSX 17975, MPK
ROLLO, David, Able Seaman, P/SSX 16686, MPK
ROPER, Snelling D, Lieutenant Commander, MPK
ROSS, Gordon I McL, Able Seaman, P/J 37612, MPK
ROSS, Theodore W, Marine, PO/X 1687, MPK
ROUPELL, Michael P, Lieutenant (E), MPK
ROUSE, Peter, Boy 1c, P/JX 158024, MPK
ROWELL, Arthur W, Able Seaman, P/J 115538, killed
ROXBOROUGH, Thomas, Stoker Petty Officer, P/K 66591, MPK
ROYAL, William D, Engine Room Artificer 2c, P/M 39389, MPK
RUCK, Winston S, Cook, P/MX 51331, MPK
RUSSELL, William F E, Joiner 3c, P/MX 51551, MPK
RUSTELL, Stanley, Marine, PO/X 2727, MPK
RUTHERFORD, John J, Stoker 1c, P/KX 89430, MPK
RUTTER, William, Able Seaman, P/JX 139992, MPK
RYALL, Maurice G, Boy Signalman, P/JX 156282, MPK
RYAN, Michael J, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 30164, MPK
RYAN, William D, Stoker 1c, P/KX 85189, MPK
SALIBA, Lawrence, Steward, E/LX 20769, MPK
SANDFORD, Frederick W C, Marine, PO/ 22370, MPK
SANDHAM, Gordon M, Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 54378, MPK
SAVAGE, Clarence H, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19352, MPK
SAVAGE, William J B, Boy 1c, P/JX 159095, MPK
SCARLET, Arthur, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27277, MPK
SCHIAVONE, Emmanuel, Assistant Cook, E/LX 22979, MPK
SCHOFIELD, Ronald, Marine, PO/X 1560, MPK
SCOTT, William, Leading Stoker, P/KX 80944, MPK
SEARLE, John G, Able Seaman, P/JX 131202, MPK
SEATON, Ernest F, Boy 1c, P/JX 158880, MPK
SEELEY, Ernest J, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19529, killed
SENIOR, Frederick, Marine, PO/X 2827, MPK
SHARP, Ronald, Boy 1c, P/JX 158031, MPK
SHAW, Stephen, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 141569, MPK
SHEPHERD, George, Seaman, RNR, P/X 20406 A, MPK
SHEPPARD, Ernest W, Able Seaman, P/J 34385, MPK
SHERIFF, John G, Act/Petty Officer Telegraphist, P/JX 128543, MPK
SHORROCK, Kenneth W, Leading Seaman, P/JX 129839, MPK
SHORT, William, Officers’ Cook, E/L 5468, MPK
SIBLEY, Arthur, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95661, MPK
SIBLEY, Cyril, Stoker 1c, P/KX 86227, MPK
SIMMONS, John S, Boy 1c, P/JX 159502, MPK
SIMMONS, Oliver A J, Joiner 4c, P/MX 56735, MPK
SIMPSON, George R, Able Seaman, P/JX 140390, MPK
SIMPSON, John R, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 141579, MPK
SIMPSON, Richard H, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95852, MPK
SIMPSON, Stanley, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 133851, MPK
SINCLAIR, George W, Stoker 1c, P/KX 88487, MPK
SINCLAIR, William, Blacksmith 1c, P/MX 45546, MPK
SLADE, Stephen J, Petty Officer, P/JX 127212, MPK
SLAWSON, Walter, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26105, MPK
SMALL, William, Chief Petty Officer Cook, P/M 38157, MPK
SMITH, Charles J, Able Seaman, P/J 50165, MPK
SMITH, David E, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26920, MPK
SMITH, Donald H, Boy 1c, P/JX 156673, MPK
SMITH, George, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 154847, MPK
SMITH, George W, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 29666, MPK
SMITH, Harold, Able Seaman, RFR, P/J 29524, MPK
SMITH, Harold, Electrical Artificer 1c, P/MX 56803, MPK
SMITH, James A, Boy 1c, P/JX 158761, MPK
SMITH, Robert, Able Seaman, P/SSX 15285, MPK
SNELLOCK, Ralph A, Boy 1c, P/JX 158388, MPK
SORLEY, James N, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95913, MPK
SPALDING, Robert F J, Boy 1c, P/JX 157875, MPK
SPARROW, Leslie P, Electrical Artificer 4c, P/MX 54961, MPK
SPELMAN, Dennis B T, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27553, MPK
SPENCE, William G, Leading Signalman, P/JX 130049, MPK
SPENCER, Arthur K, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25971, MPK
SPENCER, Cecil J, Boy 1c, P/JX 157889, MPK
SPENCER, Harry, Boy 1c, P/JX 158255, MPK
SPENCER, William H, Boy 1c, P/JX 157230, MPK
SPICER, Hugh H, Marine, PO/X 2976, MPK
SQUIRES, Leslie G, Leading Seaman, P/J 104906, MPK
STABLES, George, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20322, MPK
STANBRIDGE, Harry W, Sick Berth Attendant, P/MX 57010, MPK
STANDEN, George H, Boy 1c, P/JX 159110, MPK
STANLEY, Augustus G, Stoker 1c, P/KX 85657, MPK
STANLEY, Cyril J, Boy 1c, P/JX 158947, MPK
STANNARD, William E, Petty Officer, P/J 110914, MPK
STEELE, Cecil A, Marine, PO/X 2216, MPK
STEELE, Ronald F, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 146409, MPK
STEMP, Norman H, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95855, MPK
STEPHENS, Henry, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 30167, MPK
STEPHENS, Mark W, Act/Cook, P/MX 56897, MPK
STEPHENSON, John G, Able Seaman, P/SSX 18433, MPK
STEVENS, Harold J, Chief Petty Officer, P/J 94527, MPK
STEVENSON, Edward J, Boy 1c, P/JX 158949, MPK
STEVENSON, John, Marine, PO/X 1654, MPK
STEWART, Donald C C, Writer, P/MX 58102, MPK
STEWART, Hugh, Instructor Lieutenant, MPK
STOKES, Henry J, Able Seaman, P/J 112767, MPK
STOKES, Joseph L, Stoker 1c, P/KX 89470, MPK
STONE, William F, Stoker Petty Officer, P/K 64962, killed
STRICKLEY, Harry F, Stoker 1c, P/KX 86345, MPK
SUMMERSBY, Frank, Stoker 1c, P/KX 87711, MPK
SUMNER, Percy, Chief Engine Room Artificer 2c, P/MX 59525, MPK
SUTHERLAND, Herbert J, Stoker 1c, P/KX 81907, MPK
TALBOT, Frederick G, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95688, MPK
TANNER, Benjamin C, Sergeant, PO/X 238, MPK
TARGETT, Thomas H, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 157496, MPK
TAYLOR, Donald, Telegraphist, P/JX 145839, MPK
TAYLOR, Edmund G, Act/Stoker Petty Officer, P/KX 84538, MPK
TAYLOR, Reginald J, Act/Stoker Petty Officer, P/KX 84944, MPK
TAYLOR, Sidney, Able Seaman, P/SSX 21131, MPK
TAYLOR, William MacI, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25616, MPK
TEE, James G, Petty Officer, P/JX 131118, MPK
TESTER, Charles A, Seaman, RNR, P/X 20598 A, MPK
THIRKELL, Ronald, Able Seaman, P/SSX 21283, MPK
THOMAS, Robert A, Marine, PO/X 1709, MPK
THOMPSON, Joseph, Able Seaman, P/SSX 24082, MPK
THOMPSON, Robert, Boy 1c, P/JX 158648, MPK
THOMPSON, Roland, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27236, MPK
THOMSON, James, Boy 1c, P/JX 158996, MPK
THORNE, Leonard F, Boy 1c, P/JX 15791, MPK
THWAITES, Raymond W, Telegraphist, P/SSX 17545, MPK
TIDEY, Albert E, Seaman, RNR, P/X 21415 A, MPK
TIPLADY, Thomas, Stoker 1c, P/KX 90011, MPK
TODD, Gilbert, Ordinary Telegraphist, P/SSX 25723, MPK
TOUSE, John W, Able Seaman, P/J 104829, MPK
TOWNSEND, Terence H, Marine, PO/X 3049, MPK
TRAYFOOT, Albert G, Chief Electrical Artificer 2c, P/M 33204, MPK
TRELEAVEN, Cyril N E, Musician, RMB/X 687, MPK
TRENHOLM, Thomas W, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25965, MPK
TREVETT, Edward M, Able Seaman, P/JX 152469, MPK
TRUSSLER, Leonard G, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95904, MPK
TUCK, Robert W, Able Seaman, P/J 78102, (aka Robert W Bell), MPK
TUCKWOOD, William S, Marine, PO/X 2247, MPK
TURNER, Sidney V, Stoker 2c, P/KX 96741, MPK
TUTTON, Roy E, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19630, MPK
USMAR, Harry W B, Petty Officer, P/J 74184, MPK
VASS, Bertie, Seaman, RNR, P/X 20051 A, MPK
VASS, David, Seaman, RNR, P/X 20058 A, MPK
VASS, Hugh, Seaman, RNR, P/X 6771 C, MPK
VASS, Hugh, Seaman, RNR, P/X 7361 C, MPK
VINE, James, Stoker 1c, P/KX 87119, MPK
WADSWORTH, Alfred H, Boy 1c, P/JX 158595, MPK
WAKEFIELD, Harry, Marine, PO/X 3201, MPK
WALKER, Cecil E, Boy 1c, P/JX 157882, MPK
WALKER, Donald, Ordinary Signalman, P/JX 154029, MPK
WALKER, Eric, Boy 1c, P/JX 158499, MPK
WALKER, Frederick, Leading Stoker, P/KX 75252, MPK
WALLACE, Andrew J, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 142260, MPK
WALTON, John H, Marine, PO/X 2023, MPK
WARD, George, Boy 1c, P/JX 158964, MPK
WARD, George, Petty Officer, P/JX 130440, MPK
WARD, Roy D, Act/Warrant Ordnance Officer, MPK
WARNER, Leonard J, Act/Shipwright 4c, P/MX 59316, MPK
WARRINER, Edward B, Leading Seaman, P/JX 129645, MPK
WATERFIELD, William A, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 29667, MPK
WATERMAN, Victor P, Marine, PO/X 3043, MPK
WATKINS, Stanley M, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25962, MPK
WATSON, George, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 24091, MPK
WATSON, James, Stoker 1c, P/KX 89501, MPK
WATSON, Reginald H, Able Seaman, P/SSX 19981, MPK
WATSON, William, Leading Stoker, P/KX 82326, MPK
WATTS, Herbert C, Able Seaman, P/J 55400, MPK
WEATHERBURN, Stanley, Stoker 1c, P/KX 84088, MPK
WEBB, Dudley H, Boy 1c, P/JX 158895, MPK
WEBB, Richard S, Musician, RMB/X 842, MPK
WEBB, Stanley R, Musician, RMB/X 842, MPK
WELLER, Henry A, Stoker 1c, P/KX 94918, MPK
WEST, David, Seaman, RNR, P/X 9734 B, MPK
WESTBROOK, Patrick E, Marine, PO/X 2487, MPK
WESTELL, Sidney A, Stoker 1c, P/KX 86251, MPK
WESTERN, Raymond J, Boy 1c, P/JX 157755, MPK
WESTNUTT, Ernest, Able Seaman, P/SSX 21440, MPK
WHEELER, Edward, Able Seaman, P/J 60235, MPK
WHITE, Ernest, Boy 1c, P/JX 156470, MPK
WHITE, George, Leading Seaman, P/JX 152159, MPK
WHITE, Harold J W, Canteen Assistant, NAAFI, MPK
WHITE, James B, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26031, MPK
WHITE, Joseph, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 79403, MPK
WHITE, William R, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25964, MPK
WHITMORE, Eric, Able Seaman, P/JX 152710, MPK
WHITTAKER, Walter J, Marine, PO/X 367, MPK
WIGGINS, Leslie W, Act/Ordnance Artificer 4c, P/MX 55597, MPK
WILCOCK, Ellis A, Ordinary Telegraphist, P/JX 156336, MPK
WILKINS, Joseph P, Able Seaman, P/J 103298, MPK
WILKINSON, Joseph, Boy 1c, P/JX 158624, MPK
WILLARD, Leonard F, Boy 1c, P/JX 158998, MPK
WILLETER, John C, Marine, PO/X 3132, MPK
WILLIAMS, Cyril E, Boy 1c, P/JX 160593, MPK
WILLIAMS, Francis M, Act/Regulating Petty Officer, P/M 40137, MPK
WILLIAMS, George A, Able Seaman, P/SSX 16334, MPK
WILLIAMS, Jonah, Chief Petty Officer Stoker, P/K 56624, killed
WILLIAMS, Joseph, Boy 1c, P/JX 157723, MPK
WILMINGTON, Frederick H, Stoker 1c, P/KX 84259, MPK
WILMOT, David G, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 30166, MPK
WILSHAW, John T, Able Seaman, P/SSX 20377, MPK
WILSON, Arthur, Marine, PO/X 3282, MPK
WILSON, Arthur R, Boy 1c, P/JX 158594, MPK
WILSON, George R, Leading Seaman, P/J 105080, MPK
WILSON, Robert, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 26184, MPK
WILSON, Ronald V, Stoker 2c, P/KX 95922, MPK
WILSON, Stephen R M, Midshipman, MPK
WILTSHIRE, Edward G, Act/Leading Seaman, P/KX 84332, MPK
WOOD, Jack, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 157026, MPK
WOOD, Reuben P, Stoker 1c, P/KX 89507, MPK
WOOD, Stanley, Boy 1c, P/JX 158960, MPK
WOOD, William J, Corporal, PO/X 1766, MPK
WOODCOCK, Albert G, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 25894, MPK
WOODFORD, George, Leading Stoker, P/K 65607, MPK
WOOLGAR, Denis R, Marine, PO/X 3047, MPK
WORMALD, James L, Able Seaman, P/J 73986, MPK
WREN, Victor G, Stoker 1c, P/K 50154, killed
WRIGHT, Frank E, Act/Leading Seaman, P/JX 145920, MPK
WRIGHT, William G, Ordinary Seaman, P/SSX 27430, MPK
XUEREB, John, Cook (O), E/LX 22100, MPK
YATES, John A, Boy 1c, P/JX 158149, MPK
ZAHRA, John, Steward, E/LX 20554, MPK

HMNZS Manawanui, sunk

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The HMNZS Manawanui (A09), the Royal New Zealand Navy’s specialist dive and hydrographic vessel and the fourth to carry the name hit a reef, caught fire, and sank off Samoa over the weekend, leaving two of her complement hospitalized and 12-15 slightly injured.

The 5,700-ton Norwegian-built vessel was fairly young, constructed in 2003 as the commercial oil field survey vessel MV Edda Fonn, and entered the RNZN in 2019.

Her official portrait via the RNZN:

Via Dave Poole:

As described by the NZ Herald:

The actions of the commander of the HMNZS Manawanui have been credited with saving lives during a nighttime evacuation in heavy seas and winds on a reef near the southern coast of Upolu in Samoa last night.

The Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Garin Golding, said the ship ran aground at 6.46pm and tried unsuccessfully to get off the reef.

It then began to list and at 7.52pm Commander Yvonne Gray decided to evacuate the ship.

Golding said the 75 people on board, including seven citizens on scientific work and four foreign personnel, got on liferafts and tried to move away from the reef so they could be rescued.

This is a big blow to the RNZN, not having lost a ship since WWII, and the Samoans, who aren’t loving a 5,700-ton shipwreck on their pristine reefs.

Last of the Rising Sun

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Masamitsu Yoshioka, the last of Japan’s Pearl Harbor attack force, has passed at 106.

He was an enlisted navigator/bombardier on a Kate from the light carrier Soryu. He dropped a torpedo into the target ship USS Utah (AG-19), the “Forgotten Ship of Pearl Harbor” and was remorseful over that action for decades after. 

Via the Washington Post.

When Pearl Harbor came into view, black smoke was already rising from the U.S. ships hit by the first wave of Japan’s surprise attack. The crew of a Nakajima B5N2 torpedo bomber readied for its run.

The 23-year-old navigator and bombardier on board, Masamitsu Yoshioka, had practiced his part of the maneuver for months without knowing the mission. He was stunned when he was told his carrier group was part of a massive strike on American territory that included more than 300 Japanese warplanes. “The blood rushed out of my head,” Mr. Yoshioka recalled. “I knew that this meant a gigantic war.”

More here.

It is estimated that there are still around 19 American Pearl Harbor survivors. 

The worst kind of firewood

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These recent images via the Botswana Police Service, show stands of impounded and surrendered rifles and shotguns given the hard goodbye.

Sure lots of these look to be Chinese pellet rifles, cottage industry-made smokepoles, and cobbled together “Dane Guns” but on closer look, you can see plenty of old Martini-Henrys, Enfields, and boxlocks. There are likely a few Rigbys, big game Mausers, and Holland & Hollands there as well.

A pity.

RIP SS United States, we all knew this was coming

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The Liner SS United States Departing, circa 1952.

When she hit the water in 1952, the 990-foot, 53,000-ton ocean liner SS United States was a beauty to behold and was seriously fast by any nautical standard. Rumored capable of up to 44 knots— she had a 247,785 shp steam turbine plant– she could make 32 knots sustained on an ocean crossing. By comparison, the 80,000-ton RMS Queen Mary only had 200,000 shp on tap and needed 24 boilers to get it while the United States only carried eight.

Capable of carrying 1,928 passengers in elegance and style, it was planned she could be used as a military asset during a war in Europe, able to cram a 14,000-man infantry division aboard and race them across the Atlantic in four days. With a range of 10,000 miles without refueling, she could also race to the Pacific, although not via the Panama Canal due to her size.

Constructed at Newport News Shipbuilding, there was an aura of secrecy around her with her top speed, hull form, screws, and the full power of her plant long a closely guarded military fact.

The Liner SS United States on Nov. 28, 1952, at Norfolk Naval SY for inspection after initial voyages.  

Due to its hidden military objective (though the SS United States was never ultimately employed for wartime purposes), the construction of the ship was shrouded in secrecy. The ship was the first major liner to be built in a dry dock, away from prying eyes, and was unveiled to the public already in the water, ensuring its knife-like hull and propellers couldn’t be studied by foreign enemies.

However, the United States only sailed for 17 short years and was laid up unexpectedly in 1969.

Then followed a series of almosts over the past 55 years.

She has been looted of all of her furniture and artwork in a 1984 fire sale to pay for years of back pier rent. For better or worse this means that thousands of relics from her glory days are already on display around the globe. 

She was further stripped to the bare bulkheads during asbestos remediation in 1994.

She had deteriorated to the point that there was realistically nothing left to save– just 990 feet of floating hulk.

The stripped 1st-class enclosed promenade, which runs for most of the ship’s length, as it appears in 2024, wiki commons

The SS United States Conservancy, which has owned her since 2011, has not been able to raise enough money to do anything worthwhile with the old queen and the ship is facing eviction this month due to court order. The Conservancy apparently didn’t even have the funds on hand at first ($500,000) to tow her off the evicted pier.

Now, it is too late for anything except reefing her. Escambia County and Okaloosa County, Florida have submitted bids to turn the liner into the world’s largest artificial reef.

Okaloosa, which has the USS Oriskany off nearby Pensacola already, is voting Tuesday on a $9 million outlay for the acquisition ($1 million purchase), remediation, transport, and deployment of the liner off Destin.

The county has identified three active permitted areas (Large Area Artificial Reef Sites A, B, and C) that can accommodate the SS United States, all less than 25 miles from shore. These sites offer depths and clearance requirements suitable for divers of various skill levels, from beginners to technical divers.

The deal would include a land-based museum.

The statement from the Conservancy, which is heavy on blaming the pier owner (Penn Warehousing) without taking responsibility for not being able to pull off anything but host very expensive individual tours of the old girl in the past decade:

We understand that many of you are deeply concerned about the fate of the SS United States as the September 12 eviction deadline looms. These anxieties have been compounded by today’s media coverage about the prospect of the SS United States‘ potential conversion into an artificial reef in Florida. We are reaching out to share that the next chapter of the ship’s history is still being written and to provide additional background on the current situation.

As we explained in our last e-update, earlier this month the U.S. District Court denied the Conservancy’s request for a three-month extension at the ship’s Philadelphia pier, ruling instead that we have until September 12 to present a formal agreement to the court to remove the ship from Pier 82.

Now legally obligated to comply with the Judge’s rulings, the Conservancy has been in discussions on a range of scenarios for the ship’s future, including proposals to deploy the SS United States as an artificial reef in tandem with a land-based museum and immersive experience incorporating iconic components from the ship. To comply with the court’s ruling, we have entered into a contingent contract with Okaloosa County, Florida, to advance this vision. We must emphasize that this proposal remains subject to various contingencies, including a successful negotiation with pier operator Penn Warehousing to extend the ship’s stay beyond the September 12 deadline, while the complex logistics of moving and reefing the ship are worked out. Unfortunately, some media outlets have published misleading stories today suggesting that such a deal is a fait accompli. It is not. There are multiple discussions underway and many unresolved matters that make both the outcome and timing uncertain at this point.

Reefing is not the Conservancy’s preferred scenario for the SS United States. In an intense and all-hands-on-deck effort to keep the ship safely afloat, we have conducted a massive nationwide search for a new temporary location—a search that has thus far yielded no viable alternatives. With our hand being forced by Penn Warehousing, and scrapping being the only other viable option, we believe reefing is the more dignified outcome.

Since its founding, the Conservancy has worked tirelessly to raise public awareness about the ship’s historic importance, organize exhibitions and events, and care for a major museum collection of artwork, archival documentation, and historic components from the vessel. Our primary goal has always been to repurpose America’s Flagship and celebrate her legacy as a symbol of innovation, strength, and pride. Redeveloping the SS United States has always been a uniquely complex, costly, and challenging undertaking. We worked in close partnership for five years with prominent real estate development firm RXR Realty, and more recently MCR Hotels, to advance a commercially viable development plan for the ship. In the end, Penn Warehousing’s actions ended our ability to continue searching and advocating for a viable location for the project and we are unlikely to realize our shared dream. We are now working diligently to salvage that dream as best we can, albeit not in the way we had originally envisioned, but in a way that allows the story of our nation’s ship to inspire generations to come.

We completely understand that the prospect of reefing the SS United States may be challenging to contemplate. Many members of the Conservancy’s Board of Directors have been working to avoid such an outcome for over a decade. We vow to continue to do everything we can to best preserve her legacy each day leading up to the Court-imposed September 12 deadline, and we remain eternally grateful for your support and partnership in our shared mission.

So long, Pascagoula Ice House

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Figured some of you old steam/diesel heads may enjoy this a bit.

As a bit of background, the Pascagoula Ice House and Freezer Company was established in the 1880s and its primary building was constructed in 1903 as a streetcar, railway, and power company in addition to its principal ice-making operation.

Pascagoula Ice House postcard, 1907

As noted by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History: “It is the only example of Mission Revival Style architecture in Pascagoula and one of the oldest in the state. This campus once housed business offices, a fifty-ton ice machine, three dynamos, each with a fourteen-foot flywheel, two large engines, and a street car service, which ran from 1903 to 1921.”

“Engine room at the Pascagoula Ice and Freezer Company on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Leather-belted flywheels are 10 feet high.”

You can be sure that shipbuilders at Ingalls in both world wars, along with their plankowner crews, sipped lemonade and sweet tea cooled with the old Ice House’s products.

The Ice House remained in operation until 2012 when it was closed after a fire, and at that time was the last of the old-school block ice plants still operating in the state in the 21st century. A multi-million dollar plan to save the historic structure endorsed by the city a couple of years ago fell through, as things often do in Pascagoula, and the Ice House was recently demolished.

I stopped by last week and took some snapshots of all that is left, a well-rusted circa 1921 Fairbanks-Morris 200 hp stationary diesel power unit and a pair of very stripped Frick reciprocating ammonia refrigerant compressors from roughly the same era.

Word is a local university is looking to save at least one of these old beasts but I’d wager that would likely tank as well. A better option may be to have one as a macro display at the Maritime Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi, a logical choice as the Ice House was key to the local shrimp and oyster concerns for decades. 

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