WW1 Royal Navy Medals Submariner WW2 Long Service & Bar William John Chewter

Description: WW1 trio and LSGC and bar (HMS Blanche) and WW2 1939-1945 star, Atlantic star, Africa star with North Africa 1942 - 43 clasp and war Age 59 when he received his long service bar. WJ Chewter was born in Uckfield Sussex 1896. He enlisted in the RN in 1912, from the copy papers it appears he was one of 3 boys accepted even though under height. In 1934 he was renumbered, the new number being on his LSGC, the service papers confirm. Served on various submarines including M1, H52, L71, and in WW2 Thunderbolt (refitted Thetis that had previously sunk), Tribune. He was fortunate to have moved submarines in time to have survived as some were later sunk in accidents losing all hands. He was onboard when HMS Tribune and crew starred in the 1943 British wartime propaganda film "Close Quarters", 'playing' HMS Tyrant on a North Sea patrol off Norway. She survived the war, was sold for scrap in July 1947, and was broken up in November 1947 by Thos. W. Ward, of Milford Haven. Her pennant number N76 was 'posthumously' re-used for an unnamed submarine in the 1951 film "Appointment with Venus", taking British troops out to the Channel Islands to rescue a pregnant pedigree cow from the German occupiers. HMS H52 was a British H class submarine built by HM Dockyard, Pembroke Dock. She was laid down on an unknown date, launched on 31 March 1919 and commissioned on 16 December 1919, the last Welsh-built fighting ship to enter the British Royal Navy. HMS H52 was sold on 9 November 1927. HMS L71 was laid down on 29 August 1917 by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at their Greenock shipyard, launched on 17 May 1919, and completed on 23 January 1920. On commissioning, L71 joined the 2nd Submarine Flotilla, based at Devonport.The boat was sold for scrap on 25 March 1938 at Milford Haven. HMS M1 was a submarine of the British Royal Navy, one of four vessels of her class ordered towards the end of the First World War. She sank with the loss of her entire crew in 1925. In 1923, water leaking into the barrel of the gun resulted in extensive damage to the muzzle when it was fired. She sank with all 69 hands in 70 metres (230 ft) of water on 12 November 1925 while on an exercise in the English Channel when a Swedish ship, SS Vidar, struck her while she was submerged. The collision tore the gun from the hull and water flooded the interior through the open loading hole. The crew members appear to have tried to escape by flooding the interior and opening the escape hatch, but their bodies were never found. A diving team led by Innes McCartney discovered her wreck in 1999 at a depth of 73 metres (240 ft). Later that year, Richard Larn and a BBC TV documentary crew visited the wreck, and the resulting film was broadcast in March 2000. The wreck is designated as a "protected place" under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. HMS Thetis (N25) was a Group 1 T-class submarine of the Royal Navy which sank during sea trials in Liverpool Bay, England on 1 June 1939. After being salvaged and repaired, the boat was recommissioned as HMS Thunderbolt in 1940. It served during the Second World War until being lost with all hands in the Mediterranean on 14 March 1943. The Thetis accident happened after the inner hatch on a torpedo tube was opened while the outer hatch to the sea was also open. Four men successfully used the aft escape chamber to reach the surface and be rescued. A total of 99 men died as a result. The sinking led to the redesign of all torpedo tubes on British and Australian submarines. A latch, known as the "Thetis clip", was added to the inner torpedo tube door so it could be fractionally opened to check the tube was not open to the sea before being fully opened. With copy service papers. His later service papers can be obtained from the MOD, given his birthdate they shouldn’t be redacted.

Price: 595 GBP

Location: Cheshire

End Time: 2024-11-18T18:57:14.000Z

Shipping Cost: 60.62 GBP