At the end of 1941 the pocket
battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau together with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen
had gathered at Brest where they could put to sea and wreak carnage
upon the Atlantic convoys. Fortunately they were within range of Bomber
Command and were subjected to continual bombing raids which failed to
sink them but did at least prevent them from putting to sea. The
Admiralty believed Hitler would decide to move these ships back to
Germany for refitting and then send them to Norway, which he considered
the pivotol area, and began to make plans to intercept them, which
became known as Operation Fuller.
The German High Command came to the same conclusion and decided that
the best route for the ships to take would be the most direct one,
through the English Channel, and proceeded to make plans for Operation Cerberus.
The thinking of one Command was mirrored by the other, both selected
the same route and the same period for the operation, the only
difference being in the time of day the ships would pass through the
Straits of Dover.
The Admiralty saw this as a golden
opportunity to remove the threat posed by the German Battle fleet and
issued orders which should see the German ships were detected as soon
as they moved, torpedoed by M.T.Bs, attacked by torpedo carrying
aircraft, bombed, shelled by the big guns at Dover, mined at intervals
on their passage and, if anything was left, torpedoed by destroyers
east of Dover. Orders were issued, units moved to their positions and
everyone settled down to wait for this golden opportunity.
The German High Command also issued
its orders, the route was swept by minesweepers piecemeal to conceal
the planned route, the swept areas were gradually joined up to give a
clear run, destroyers, torpedo boats and E-Boats gathered at ports
along the route and the Luftwaffe moved aircraft to suitable bases and
everything was set for 12 February 1942.
The big ships prepared to move at dusk but were delayed by an air raid
and finally set off at 22.00 accompanied by six destroyers, five more
to join them off Le Havre, a further five from Dunkirk, five more from
Flushing and three flotillas of E-Boats along the way forming a
considerable armada guarded by night fighters. A British
submarine patrolled the approaches to Brest to report any movements by
the German ships and to attempt an attack should they leave but she had
to be withdrawn to charge her batteries and the German Battle Fleet
left Brest unobserved. There were also three Coastal Command aircraft
on patrol around Brest but as luck would have it all three suffered
malfunctions and returned to base leaving the area open and so the
Battle Fleet sailed on into the night.
By 8.00am the following morning, 12
February, the German ships had steamed about 250 miles with another 40
miles to go before reaching the Straits of Dover, about an hour
away. The night fighters were replaced with continual cover by
Me 109s which leap-frogged along the coast, dropping in at a series of
airfields to replenish fuel and ammunition. This massive array of
ships and aircraft was still undetected. The Admiralty thought the big
ships were still at Brest but that was about to change. Spitfires
routinely flew a coastal patrol each morning and evening to discover
any ship movements. The pilots were under orders not to break radio
silence but to report after landing and, more crucially, they had no
knowledge of the imminent breakout of the German forces. One of the
pilots spotted some E-Boats leaving Boulogne to join the fleet but was
15 minutes too early to see the main body of ships which steamed on
unchallenged.
The Radar station at Swingate picked
up three big blips at about 10 am and connected these with Operation Fuller
but attempts to telephone this information to Dover Castle came to
nothing as the telephone line was defective. Two Spitfires flew off
from Kenley on a routine sweep and at 10.30 am ran into the Me 109’s
providing air cover and in evading them flew over the big ships but
didn’t break radio silence to report them but waited until returning to
base. The news was finally out but Scharnhorst,
Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen
were approaching the Straits of Dover. The weather worsened as
the day wore on, by now there was low cloud, rain and so poor
visibility. By noon the armada was off Cap Gris Nez and about to enter
the narrowest part of the Straits and face the heavy guns; these guns
fired a few shots but to no effect. The next attack came from
five MTB’s which left Dover and sighted the German ships at a distance
of about 5 miles; they risked everything to close the range, fired
their torpedoes and managed to retire but no hits were scored.
The next attack was by the
Fleet Air Arm’s 825 Squadron which had flown their Swordfish biplanes
against the Bismark
the previous year. They had been training for this but had not
expected to make their attack by day as the Admiralty believed the
German ships would pass through the Straits at night. Daylight, a
slow aircraft and a massive array of fighters waiting to shoot them
down, it could only be described as a suicide mission. Lt. Cdr. Esmonde
knew this, requested fighter cover, was promised five squadrons to
cover his single squadron and set off. Only one squadron of fighters
accompanied him, the others never arrived. All the Swordfish were shot
down without scoring a hit. The Channel Dash carried on unscathed.
Back at Harwich Captain (D) Pizey
and his destroyers had been coming to instant readiness every night and
stood down to 4 hours notice at dawn but Cpt. Pizey felt that today was
likely to be the day and had taken his destroyers out for a practice
shoot that morning. At 11.56 am he received a signal informing
him that the enemy battle cruisers were passing Boulogne at about 20
knots. The targets were cast adrift and Campbell, Vivacious, Worcester, Mackay,
Walpole and Whitshed
set off to intercept. They, like the Swordfish, had been
expecting to attack at night, off the Hinder Banks, but a further
signal gave the enemy’s speed as having increased which meant the only
chance of catching them was by crossing our own minefield which they
did without damage. Walpole’s
engines broke down and she had to return to Harwich leaving the
remaining five to steam on at 28 knots, though being bombed by
Luftwaffe and RAF alike.
By now the weather had deteriorated
still further; there was a choppy sea and it was snowing when at 1517
Campbell’s radar showed two large blips at a range of between 9 and 10
miles followed a couple of minutes later by a third. As they
closed the range gun flashes were seen and at 15.43 the enemy ships
were sighted about 4 miles away and the destroyers, already in 2
divisions, turned in to attack. Campbell,
Vivacious and Worcester
attacking the leading ship while Mackay
and Vivacious attended
to the second. Cpt. Pizey in Campbell
led the First Division. As they steamed in they were fired on by the
battle cruiser’s main armament and attacked by aircraft guns and
torpedoes, at 3,300 yards a shell dive under Campbell, feeling that their luck
couldn’t hold out much longer Pizey turned to fire her torpedoes and Vivacious followed suit.
Last in line Worcester
pressed in even closer before turning to fire at 2,200 yards. Her 12
pounder gun (which had replaced the aft torpedo tube) and the starboard
Oerlikon locker below the bridge were hit, causing many casualties and
destroying the bridge communications. Cd. Gunner Wellman, assuming the
bridge (and torpedo sight) was out of action fired the torpedoes by
local control. Worcester was
hit repeatedly and lost power, drifted round to expose her port side
and received more hits. Lt. Cdr. Coats gave the order ‘prepare to
abandon ship’ but due to the lack of communication and the deafening
noise of the explosions some took the order to be 'abandon ship' and
took to the water. The ship was on fire, without power, low in the
water and seemed ready to sink. The Gunnery Officer aboard Gneisenau
ordered cease fire, it seemed a waste of ammunition to fire at a ship
that was going to sink. The German Battle fleet moved on.
Barney Barnett ERA (left) and Vic Green Wireman (centre)
are interviewed by Radio 4 on the 60th Anniversary of the Channel Dash in 2002
Chaos reigned aboard Worcester.
She had taken six hits from 11-inch and 8-inch shells, had holes from 6
inches to 2 feet in size made by large splinters, both boiler rooms
were flooded and there were many dead and injured. Gradually order was
restored, the engineers, working by torchlight in icy-cold waist-deep
water managed to get up steam in one boiler, got the water pumped out
and, though low in the water Worcester
started to move again. Campbell
and Vivacious picked up the
men in the water but while doing this were attacked by a Beaufort which
dropped a torpedo. Campbell
had to go hard astern to avoid being hit and the wash swept some of the
survivors away. After an hour or more in the water they were too weak
to cling to a rope and some were lost. The undamaged destroyers
had been ordered back to Harwich to refuel and re-ammunition and Worcester
was left to make her own way back. Anything moveable was jettisoned to
keep the ship afloat, the boilers had to use salt water, the damaged
feed pumps broke down but somehow she stayed afloat and limped home to
Harwich.
Meanwhile the German Battle Fleet
steamed on, Scharnhorst hit 2
mines, Gneisenau hit another
but they all continued, Scharnhorst
arriving at Wilmhelmshaven and Gneisenau
at Brunsbuttel, both on Friday 13 February.
Vic Green
Secretary of the V & W Destroyer Association and son of
Vic Green, Wireman of the Torpedo Branch, HMS Worcester
Sub Lt J.F.N. "Bill" Wedge, RNVR
John F.N.Wedge was born on 13 July 1921
and has been known since birth as Bill. He joined Barclays Bank in
August 1938 and a year later "finally managed to get on the RNVR
waiting list". He was mobilised in September 1939 and trained as a
Telegraphist. He served in the minesweeper HMT Norse, in the Thames estuary and elsewhere, from March 1940 to February 1941. After officer training he joined HMS Worcester as a Midshipman in May 1941. He is the last surviving officer in Worcester who took part in the Channel Dash and this account was first published in Hard Lying, the magazine of the V & W Destroyer Association. "Following a boiler clean alongside at Parkeston Quay, we had been
coming to 15 minutes notice for steam each evening, though at my lowly
level I did not know why. It was therefore something of a welcome
change that the 16th destroyer flotilla sailed on the morning of the
12th February for gunnery practice at sea with a tug-towed
target.
As Officer of quarters, Pom-Poms, mine was a passive role, but my
mental peace was severely shattered when Sub' Lieut; Bill Bowmer
R.N.V.R. Came down from the bridge to say "Roll on my *****
V.C."Proceed in execution of previous orders." We are to intercept the
pocket battle ships!!!
I went down the hatch in the iron deck to my cabin to get my bible, which fell open at an agreeable reassuring passage.
We crashed our way at full speed through a choppy sea under low cloud,
with little said, aircraft appeared through the clouds every now and
again, mainly British and some apparently of the opinion that we were
German.
"Enemy In sight" battle ensign hoisted, and a tense silence at the
pom-poms which had earlier been in action against threatening aircraft.
Dark shapes in the misty distance and our 4.7's began firing and the
flotilla attacked. As I recollect Worcester
was centre ship of the five and thus became the main target for the
enemy. The others released their torpedoes, but Lt, Comdr., E.C.
'Dreamy' Coats R.N. pressed on for what seemed an eternity before
firing our torpedoes. The last RDF (Radio Direction Finder) reading was
just over 2,000 yards.
We were already being hit, but it was a relief at least to be turning
away. However we continued to be straddled and hit and quite shortly we
were lying stopped. The shelling ceased. In the silence which followed
no one appeared to move. From the Pom-Pom it seemed inconceivable that
anyone on the bridge could still be alive, given the battering that the
structure had taken. I walked aft to the twelve pounder, which had been
hit. Gunner 'T' L.G.C. Wellman R.N. was lying on the deck, conscious
and not too badly wounded. For a moment I thought he and I were the
only Officers left alive, but miraculously our Number one Lieut Anthony
Taudevi R.N.V.R appeared, and then began to take order, unhappily not
before some people had gone over the side.
As we wallowed, a Junkers 88 flew above, firing recognition flares,
then later an R.A.F. plane dropped torpedoes, aimed at us!
Quiet bodies lay in flats, and Surgeon Lieut D.C. Jackson R.N.V.R. And
the S.B.A. (Sick Bay Attendant) Shelley worked heroically on the
wounded in various parts of the ship.
The Chief Commissioned Engineer, Hugh Griffiths RN, and his team were
achieving miracles and an engine started turning; two destroyers
approached, Vivacious and Campbell
(not German ones sent to finish us off as I had feared) and rescued
some of the survivors from the sea. On satisfying himself (Captain Mark
Pizey in the Campbell, the
flotilla leader) that we were under way they returned to Harwich to
replenish their torpedoes etc. Later, we lost power again and
languished very anxiously in the dark before the engine room again
triumphed. Then slowly but surely we made our way home to Harwich.
It had been a long, cold and a very uncomfortable night on the
Pom-Poms, and throughout the ship. As we approached land a 16th
Destroyer Flotilla, Hunt Class destroyer, Hambledon
appeared and offered assistance, this was proudly turned down by the
Captain who indicated that we had managed so far on our own and would
like to finish the job.
Alongside at Parkeston and after the sad disembarkation of the dead and
wounded, we were all checked over by a medical team. I was completely
deaf for a time, someone even tried semaphore to talk to me! Incongruously, most of my hearing returned sufficiently to play word games that evening in the Railway Hotel with Bill Bowser and Sub Lt. Guy Agard-Butler R.N. along with Beatrice Lilly, her agent and her sister, after they had performed at an E.N.S.A. concert.
Among those killed was telegraphist Denis Gibson in the W/T office
which was in part of the Bridge structure that had been so badly
damaged. Denis and I had trained together at the beginning of the war
after mobilisation of the R.N.V.R.
Of the officers of Worcester Lieut W.F.L. Winterbottom R.N. was later
to lose his life in a submarine. Guy Agard-Butler died whilst serving
in the Fleet Air Arm at Gibraltar and Bill Bowmer was lost in HMS Martin
off the North African Coast. 'Dreamy' Coats became a Commander and went
to a shore job. Anthony Taudevin eventually commanded a 'Captain' Class
frigate as a Lieut Cmdr R.N.V.R. 'Doc' David Jackson went on to HMS Dolphin and after the war returned to Australia to practice in Brisbane. It was there that he wrote the book One Ship, One Company (1996) which is a history of all the seven R.N. Ships named 'Worcester' and his own fascinating account of the 'Channel Dash'."
Bill Wedge served in HMS Mistral
from March to July 1941 while she was based at the Isle of Arran as a
training and as an FAA target ship. He suffered a "war injury" when he
broke his leg playing Rugby and in November joined HMS Iron Duke, a depot ship at Scapa. In August 1943 he was sent to USA to join the newly built Captain Class frigate HMS Garlies, based on Belfast and operating in Western Approaches and the English Channel until June 1945. He joined HMS Wheatland
in Plymouth and went into reserve with her at Saltash. He "got engaged
to a Plymouth Boatscrew Wren to whom I am still married" and in April
1946 rejoined Barclays.
Bill Wedge autographing programmes at the innauguration of the Channel Dash Association, 10 June 2007
HMS Worcester Courtesy of Bill Wedge
The Channel Dash
Harold Barnett, Engine Room Artificer (ERA) on HMS Worcester Worcester had just completed
a boiler clean alongside at Harwich, and
on 12 February 1942 we happened to be exercising together with
our flotilla leader HMS Mackay,
Captain P.J. Wright, and two other V&Ws, Whitshed and Walpole. Captain 'D' of the 21st
flotilla was Captain Pizey and as senior Officer he was in command in
HMS Campbell, also of the
21st was Vivacious.
We were just off Harwich. I was keeping the forenoon watch. Some time
towards the end of the watch the bridge ordered an increase of rev's
and by the time I had handed over the watch, we were very close to full
power. It was about then that the skipper told us what we were about to
do.
It seemed that we were on our way to intercept three German capital
ships off the Scheld estuary. This meant crossing an uncharted
minefield, a risk Captain Pizey was prepared to take with his six
ships. It was a dull murky day with poor visibility. About mid
afternoon we were closed up at action stations. Word went round that we
had two big ships on the Radar at about nine miles range. Twenty
minutes later the enemy was in sight at about four miles. Walpole
had turned back earlier with engine trouble (condenseritis). an endemic
disease in V&Ws, that left just the five of us to carry out the
attack. The two large ships turned out to be Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The poor visibility had
helped to cover our approach, but we now came under heavy fire, Campbell and Vivacious who were ahead of us had
fired their torpedoes at about 3,000 yards, when out of the murk came
the Prinz Eugen.
We came under fire from her, but we set course to intercept and fire
our torpedoes at 200 yards and as we made our approach and turn we were
hit several times and 'A' & 'B' guns were put out of action. The
bridge, radio room and sick bay were badly damaged, and we were on fire
from right forward to abaft the bridge.
My action station at that time was with the forward fire and repair
party. As we started to fight the fires, we were hit and straddled by
another salvo, it seemed to me at the time that this had the effect of
reducing the fire, whether it was the deluge of water from the
straddle, or concussion from the explosion, who knows? But the fire was
reduced and the fire party was bringing it under control. Only trouble
was, the hit as we made our turn, and after firing our torpedoes, had
added to our problems, and this took me away from the fire. A shell had
entered the forward boiler room at the base of the forward funnel Port
side, it had gone across the boiler room and exploded in the Starboard
boiler water feed tank, blowing a hole in our ships side. We of course
lost all of our feed water and the boiler room started to flood. The
Stoker PO And his stoker were able to shut down main and auxiliary
steam and the isolating valves between the forward and the after boiler
rooms before evacuating. We sealed the hatches and reported the damage
and our actions to the Engineer. He sent me to the bridge to report the
damage and the situation to the Skipper.
It was then that I saw the
damage that we had suffered forward and on the bridge and the
casualties that we had sustained, they were quite
considerable. The immediate task was to secure the bulkhead
between the forward and after boiler rooms. In the after boiler room
this was in hand and I joined in when I got back from the
bridge. Shrapnel had pierced the bulkhead and water was
leaking through. We managed to plug these holes and reduce the level of
water by using hand pumps. All the damage we had suffered meant that we
had lost steam and had stopped. But now we were able to commence
raising steam again, trouble was we had no distilled water for the
boiler feed, so were forced to use salt water. "To be done only in
extreme emergency" as the engineering manual puts it. We figured we had
one.
By now it was completely dark. Campbell
had been
standing by us for a long time, and fought off one attack from the
R.A.F but had been ordered back to base. When we had raised
enough steam, we set course slowly back to Harwich, over the minefield
again. The next twelve to fifteen hours are a vague jumble
of memories of things we had to do. Spells at the evaporator trying to
make
distilled water to dilute the salt to reduce the salt damaging our
machinery. A hopeless task really, that evaporator was a temperamental
beast at the best of times, but we had to try. Spells at the throttle
whilst the other E.R.A's were off doing some other essential tasks.
Blowing down boilers to get rid of the deposits left by the salt water,
and so to keep them priming, inspecting the damaged bulkhead and
re-plugging the holes as required. There was so much to do and not many
of us on our feet to do it.
We brought the ship into
Harwich at about 1800hrs on the 13th and put her alongside at Parkeston
Quay where the base staff immediately put salvage pumps aboard as we
proceeded to shut down. They worked on tidying away the
damage and getting her reasonably seaworthy for us to take to dock,
meanwhile we were able to rest and reflect on what had overtaken
us. Our casualties were high, we had lost 27 killed or died
of their wounds on our way in, 46 seriously injures and 24 slightly
wounded. We buried our dead in the little churchyard at
Shotley close to HMS Ganges.
One poor lad had married
whilst we were on the five day boiler clean leave. I quite distinctly
heard his young wife say as his coffin was lowered into the grave,
"He'll get cold down there". There she was, sweetheart, bride, and now
widow all in about ten days, and possibly mother too before the war was
over. The white poppy wearers say we old fellows glorify war on
Remembrance Sunday. They have no idea, have they?
When the
ship was ready, we took her into dry dock in London docks. The damage
to her was so great that it meant that she would be there for some
considerable time, so she was paid off and those not 'standing by' were
returned to depot. We came into R.N.B. Pompey on the 18th February
1952. I think of Worcester
with a great deal of affection. She was my
first ship, and I definitely 'grew up' in her. When her
story was published in the newspapers they called her "The ship that
refused to die". A great deal of effort and dedication went into
keeping her alive. In some ways I am sorry that I did not go back to
her when she sailed again. But I may not have been quite so lucky next
time round.
During our set to off Dunkirk, I was in the
engine room with the Chief who told me to keep my eye on the water
level of the drain tank. It had no practical use, because the watch
keeper was doing it anyway. It was simply giving me
something to do and to keep my mind off what was going on up top. When
we were back in Dover, I was following him around as we were shutting
down (part of learning process) he took me aside and said "You are not
to worry about what has gone on today, when this is all over and you
are back home, you'll tend to think only of the good times" for me that
is largely true, but I often think of Mr Smillie and that young widow
at Shotley in her distress. "Thanks Sid". I would not have
dared to call him that way back in 1940 - 42.
Two anxious hours to contemplate bleak death At thirty knots consuming cold grey seas. Action Stations, duffel coats, tin hats — Below a throbbing engine room reprise.
Junkers aircraft bombing from the clouds Brought urgency, then “Enemy in Sight!” The forward four point sevens bellowed out Their challenge to the battlecruisers’ might. Tall shell-spouts cased her as she turned to fire Torpedoes. As they leapt, cacophony Erupted, brute bombardment wrenched apart The bridge, chewed steel in vicious gluttony.
Five minutes’ devastation. Sudden peace, Uncanny, as she wallowed without power. Miraculously the lower hull survived But Gibson, Dow and Grant, and twenty more Lay dead. Doc Jackson’s needle eased the pain Of others. Pom-poms warned the RAF away. Bizarrely, Junkers’ recognition flares Confirmed the wild confusion that day.
So, vulnerable, rolling helplessly She lay for seeming hours. Then nervous ears Rejoiced at turning screws. By fits and starts She staggered home, a frozen fifteen hours.
John (Bill) Wedge Sub. Lieut. RNVR
For more of Bill Wedge's wartime poems see his blog
To view and read the Press Cuttings on left full size
double click on the image.
The ships assemble for the laying of the wreath on the anniversary of the Channel Dash
There was a memorial service to commemorate the 75th. anniversary of the Channel Dash on Sunday February 12th. 2017 at the 825 Squadron Memorial, Ramsgate.
Rear Admiral Keith Blount (Fleet Air Arm) attended as did
representatives of 825 Squadron, 72 Squadron RAF and civic
dignitaries. There was a
flypast by Wildcat helicopters of 825 Squadron and Tucarnos of 72
Squadron. Vic Green represented HMS Worcester and the V & W Destroyer Association.
If
you want to find out more about the wartime service of a member of your
family who served on HMS Worcester
you should first obtain a copy of their service record To
find out how follow this link:
http://www.holywellhousepublishing.co.uk/servicerecords.html
If
you have stories or photographs of HMS Worcester you would like to
contribute to the web site please contact Vic Green
The Admiralty saw this as a golden
opportunity to remove the threat posed by the German Battle fleet and
issued orders which should see the German ships were detected as soon
as they moved, torpedoed by M.T.Bs, attacked by torpedo carrying
aircraft, bombed, shelled by the big guns at Dover, mined at intervals
on their passage and, if anything was left, torpedoed by destroyers
east of Dover. Orders were issued, units moved to their positions and
everyone settled down to wait for this golden opportunity.
By now the weather had deteriorated
still further; there was a choppy sea and it was snowing when at 1517
Campbell’s radar showed two large blips at a range of between 9 and 10
miles followed a couple of minutes later by a third. As they
closed the range gun flashes were seen and at 15.43 the enemy ships
were sighted about 4 miles away and the destroyers, already in 2
divisions, turned in to attack. Campbell,
Vivacious and Worcester
attacking the leading ship while Mackay
and Vivacious attended
to the second. Cpt. Pizey in Campbell
led the First Division. As they steamed in they were fired on by the
battle cruiser’s main armament and attacked by aircraft guns and
torpedoes, at 3,300 yards a shell dive under Campbell, feeling that their luck
couldn’t hold out much longer Pizey turned to fire her torpedoes and Vivacious followed suit.
John F.N.Wedge was born on 13 July 1921
and has been known since birth as Bill. He joined Barclays Bank in
August 1938 and a year later "finally managed to get on the RNVR
waiting list". He was mobilised in September 1939 and trained as a
Telegraphist. He served in the minesweeper HMT Norse, in the Thames estuary and elsewhere, from March 1940 to February 1941. After officer training he joined HMS Worcester as a Midshipman in May 1941. He is the last surviving officer in Worcester who took part in the Channel Dash and this account was first published in Hard Lying, the magazine of the V & W Destroyer Association.
Alongside at Parkeston and after the sad disembarkation of the dead and
wounded, we were all checked over by a medical team. I was completely
deaf for a time, someone even tried semaphore to talk to me! Incongruously, most of my hearing returned sufficiently to play word games that evening in the Railway Hotel with Bill Bowser and Sub Lt. Guy Agard-Butler R.N. along with Beatrice Lilly, her agent and her sister, after they had performed at an E.N.S.A. concert.
