We manned the guns of the HMS Rawalpindi.
The first real naval engagement of the war the battle between
the HMS Rawalpindi and the
Deutschland
(wrongly reported actually it was,
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau),
on
23 November
1939 was an epic fight in the finest naval traditions.
Of the crew of 276, only 28 were known to be saved, and the
story of some of these gallant survivors is here reprinted
from The Daily Telegraph.
Ten survivors of the HMS Rawalpindi worked loudly cheered
in London on
29
November 1939 following their arrival from Scotland. They
were marched out, bare, in double file on to the horseguards
parade, to wait the arrival of the second Sea Lord and Chief
of Naval personnel, Admiral Sir Charles J. C. Little. The
men were led by a stocky gunner with the grey stubble of beard.
Admiral Sir Charles Little came out of the Admiralty buildings
to express the Admiralty's thanks and appreciation for their
services. Graphic accounts of the HMS Rawalpindi 40 minute
flight were given by some of the survivors. One of them, who
was in HMS Malaya at the Battle of Jutland and joined the
HMS Rawalpindi as an A.B. Seaman Gunner said that he was on
the aft starboard 6 inch gun. Action stations were sounded
when the enemy was sighted, he went on, and those of us who
were below deck, rushed up and manned the guns. In the fading
light of the afternoon we could see the enemy ship on the
horizon about 10,000 yards away. She began to bombard us,
and with 6 inch guns we could see that we would be out ranged
We got nearer, however and shells began to hit us. We were
given the order to fire, and we got three rounds off. Other
guns around me were also firing. We might have hit the enemy.
I cannot say, but shell after shell hit us, and before long
the HMS Rawalpindi caught fire. Another enemy craft began
firing at us and a shell fell near my gun. I think several
of my mates were hurt. The gun layer was hit in the kneeand
was laid out. I do not know what became of him when the order
to abandon ship was given. With another chum, I jumped into
the sea. The ship was burning like a piece of paper. A boat,
empty but waterlogged, came near. I think that about 30 of
us jumped from the ship's side, and I believe only about 10
got to the boat. How we clung on and I do not know. It was
getting darker every minute, and it seemed a long time before
we were picked up.
Another of the survivors, a first class Petty Officer and
Royal Marine reservist, who has had 25 years service, said
my job was in the aft magazine. Well below the watermark.
With three others I opened the magazine and began sending
up ammunition. Our guns were firing and then we felt several
hits. After one hit, the lights in the magazine went out.
Then we realised that a fire had broken out amidships. It
was an inferno. I was in charge and realised that there was
nothing else to do but flood, the magazine to prevent the
ammunition exploding. I called for eight men to come up with
me to B deck. Live shells and cordite were in the path of
the sparks and flames shooting from the fire amidships. We
began throwing shells overboard. Our guns were still firing.
I can't remember how we reached the deck. The ship was ablaze
all over and was being abandoned. About 30 or 40 of us went
over the side. We saw a waterlogged boat floating past. It
was they thousand to one chance of being able to reach it.
Some of us did. One of the first men I saw in the boat was
annulled Townie of mine, who was one of the gun crews. The
only thing we could find in the boat was a pocket handkerchief
with which to try to attract attention. We tied it on the
end of a boat hook, and hung it up, but the boat was rolling
heavily. Then we tried to fix up a jury rig sail with oilskins,
hoping to make land. We thought that we might make the Hebrides,
but luckily we were picked up by the Chitral.
Crowds gathered in Seabright Street, Bethnal Green, E., an
29 November
1939, to cheer 21-year-old Harry Fleming, a survivor of
the HMS Rawalpindi, who had just been reunited to his wife,
whom he married an
25
September 1939. He said that their honeymoon only lasted
six days. Then he put to sea as a steward. Describing the
fight with the
Deutschland
(wrongly reported actually it was,
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau)
he said, the Nazis, I estimate, came to within 200 or 300
yards of us and fired at point blank range. One of our gunners
scored three direct hits, before his gun jammed. When he turned
round to call on his mates for assistance, he found them lying
around him dead. He was one of the survivors, and it was a
great disappointment having to leave his gun. Many men were
walking or sitting about with severe wounds, refusing to go
to the surgeons who were attending to those totally disabled.
I saw one man, with his arm and shoulder torn off. Calmly
sitting on a locker smoking. When a burst of flame, enveloped
in him he was too weak to get out of its way. The whole ship
was ablaze from stem to stern, and I was thrown into the sea
trying to launch one of the boats. Four of us scrambled on
to an overturned lifeboat, but gradually, one by one the others
fell off. I flattened myself against the hull and when I was
picked up unconscious and cold and sea had frozen my body
to shape of the hull. One of my rescuers said they had a job
to drag me off the boat, so firmly, as I fixed myself rigid
with cold.
Royston A. Ledbetter, another of the survivors, arrived at
his home of Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, a week after the action.
He said that he and his brother, Jack were members of the
gun crews in different parts of the ship. When my gun was
put out of action by a shell. He went on. It killed practically
every member of the gun crew. I escaped only because I had
moved away to fetch ammunition. His brothers gun crew was
also put out of action, and he put a lifebelt round him and
took him to the boat deck. I left him there to search for
a friend. I had no clear recollection of what happened after
that, but I did not see either my brother or our friend again.
As the ship was sinking. I saw a half submerged lifeboat about
70 yards away from the ship. Although I could only swim, a
few strokes. I jumped into the water and somehow or other
got to the boat. Altogether there were 10 of us in this boat
and the Germans, having thrust their searchlight on us, called
us to go alongside. We could not make much progress as we
had only three oars, but when we got near the
Deutschland
(wrongly reported actually it was,
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau).
Members of her crew shouted, is it called down there ?. The
Germans must buy this time have heard that one of our cruisers
was coming to the spot, for they never gave us any real chance
of going on board. They put on speed and vanished.
Other:
Articles:
The Second Great War.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
The War Illustrated.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
2194 Days Of War.
ISBN-10: 086136614X
For a complete list of
sources
