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The following Note is an addition to the entry for Cedric Naylor in the listing of Those Who Served in The Great War. It goes far beyond Cedric Naylor’s School and 1914-1918 careers. He was in the Royal Navy’s Special Service and this Note is intended to illustrate the dangers and the discipline which all the Special Service volunteers had to face, and those serving with Cedric Naylor faced more for longer than any other ships’ companies. Naylor was not the only Old Boy who served in the Special Service: in WW2 at least one Old Boy is known to have lost his life when his Q-ship was torpedoed. Admiral Dönitz was fully aware of how the Q-ships had operated in the Great War and had given specific orders to his submarine commanders to ensure they did not risk damage or destruction. Q-ships had a short and disastrously unsuccessful service in WW2 before Churchill in September 1940 ordered their withdrawal.
[The proliferation of names, places, and events should ensure this will be picked up and cross-referenced to many websites, thus increasing the chances of Old Boys or their families making contact with PGSA.]
CEDRIC NAYLOR
Captain Cedric Naylor, RN, CVO, DSO and two Bars, DSC and Bar, Mentioned in Despatches. He may well have more awards for Service in the face of the enemy than any other Old Boy.
Admiral Lord Jellicoe, shortly after the end of the Great War, stated that in the ‘mystery ships’ there had been displayed a spirit of endurance, discipline, and courage, the like of which the world had never seen before.
When I was putting together Cedric Naylor’s biographical notes for the Great War, the handful of cursory notes in the School sources gave no indication of what was to add up to something unusual. Despite over 50 years membership of the World Ship Society (WSS) which has an unrivalled Central Record (the Soviet Union joined during the Cold War!), I had limited interest in and knowledge of Royal Navy activities during 1914-1918. I have extensive Merchant Navy records but the library and bookshops had to provide a very rapid acquisition of RN information.
Cedric Naylor was born on 12th June 1891 and was the eldest son. In 1892 William Naylor, a civil engineer, lived at 45 Watling Street Road, Fulwood, Preston. When Cedric entered PGS in September 1900, the family lived at 3 West View, Fulwood, Preston. His father had indicated a preference for education on the Classical side. [He entered the School at the time when Brooks had recently taken over as Head Master from Beaven and reduced to a bare minimum the expansive reports which Beaven had annually presented to the Corporation. It may be some time before any School details are dug out for Cedric Naylor.]
Cedric Naylor was educated at Preston Grammar School and Manchester Grammar School. He then served with the Leyland Line (Frederick R Leyland), which operated cargo/passenger ships on scheduled services from, principally, Liverpool but also London to New England, the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. He joined the Royal Naval Reserve at Christmas 1914, served with the Fleet for eight months, then was promoted to Lieutenant before joining the Royal Navy’s Special Service.
William Naylor is given in Preston directories in 1898 as a Fellow of the Chartered Surveyors and AMICE. In the 1892 directory and later editions he was the Chief Inspector to the Ribble Watershed Joint Committee, offices at 16 Walton’s Parade, off Fishergate Hill. Home address was 3 West View, Fulwood. That is, West View, Garstang Road. On the right hand side going north towards Withy Trees up the A6 from Addison Road, now Blackpool Road, beyond the Bowling Green (Fulwood Conservative Club), the first two houses on the right, standing in isolation and more or less surrounded by the large planting of trees, are West View, by 1922 re-numbered 1 and 3 Garstang Road, Fulwood. In 1917 and 1922 he was at the same address, as a Consulting Engineer. Barron’s definitive history of the Ribble Navigation and Preston Dock refers to joint committees concerning drainage, fisheries, pollution from industrial sources, conservation; there is no specific reference to the Watershed JC, nor to any of its officials, but he states the “Ribble Joint Committee” came into existence in 1891, and within the context which includes a highly detailed map of the Ribble Watershed, is almost certainly the same one.
Cedric Naylor was in the Royal Naval Reserve, not as previously understood the RNVR. The Reserve was not pensioned-off elderly officers but serving officers and seamen in the Merchant Navy who had undertaken to serve in the Royal Navy in times of emergency. Merchant ships where the Master and a specified minimum number of crew were RNR flew the RNR Blue Ensign. His Merchant Navy career is not yet known (May 2008) but now see above, Leyland Line. The first notes of his Naval service are in The Hoghtonian indicating that he was a very junior officer on a battleship, Sub-Lieutenant, HMS Conqueror, April 1915 (H4-1915) and January 1916 (H1-1916) editions. He is next shown in May 1916 (H5-1916) edition as a ‘First Lieutenant’ on HMS Cyclops. On 13th December 1915 he was on the books of HMS Cyclops as an Acting Lieutenant RNR.
HMS Conqueror was a Dreadnought-type battleship which was at Jutland. HMS Cyclops was the Indrabarah, a cargo ship being built by Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, for T B Royden’s Indra Line, Liverpool. Principal services were UK-New York and Far East so Indrabarah was to have been a comparatively large ocean-going vessel. She was launched on 27th October 1905 but whilst fitting out was bought by The Admiralty and completed as an 11,500-ton, 3,500 hp, 11.75 knots Fleet Repair Ship. Reports that she was operating as the merchant ship Indiabarrah or numerous variations of that name are incorrect. In 1915 she was refitted as a Depot Ship for Auxiliary Patrols based at Scapa Flow. She was the Flagship of Admiral Sir Stanley Colville who on 19th August 1915 had written to the Admiralty urging the need for a large number of all types of merchant ships to be commissioned, armed, and placed on patrol on the trade routes around UK. The ships to be officered by specially selected officers, and the gun crews should also be specially selected men. Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, C-in-C Grand Fleet, at the same time in support of Colville sent a stronger minute to the Admiralty requesting Q-ships. For centuries the Navy had used the convoy system to assemble and defend merchant ships which an enemy had to find rather than send warships to search for the enemy. Searching for submarines with virtually non-existent underwater search technology was not very productive so let a heavily armed Q-ship amble along a shipping lane until a submarine found it. (‘Heavily armed’ quickly became something of a misnomer and early submarines did not have powerful deck guns, which the Germans rapidly rectified.)
Due to the provisions of Naval Disciplinary Acts, everyone serving in the Royal Navy had to be borne on the books of a warship in commission and there were Nominal Depot Ships to which many men could be assigned. (In the 1950s the maintenance crews of the entire Reserve Fleet moored at Portsmouth, which included the battleship Vanguard, were nominally serving on board a motor launch.) Despite what may happen in some other countries, in the British Armed Forces a junior officer does not have a chest full of medals for sitting on board a Depot Ship moored at Scapa. A Reserve Lieutenant would not be a “First Lieutenant” - that is, second-in-command, of a Flagship. Cedric Naylor was on “Special Service” and for him and all the others to be borne on the books of a Depot Ship would be done for security reasons. Information on the existence and activities of the Q-ships - “Mystery Ships” - was extremely restricted. “Q-ship” most probably arose out of the Navy’s normal abbreviation of Q for Queenstown (Cobh), the Naval Base and HQ for the Irish Sea Command, and originally denoted a submarine decoy vessel. U-boats were unlikely to waste a torpedo on a small coaster or trawler, surfacing to sink them by gunfire. The Q-ship could, hopefully, out-gun them. On 28th April 1917 the Admiralty sent a signal that all “Q” prefixes were abolished and the vessels would be known in future as Special Service Ships.
The first references to Cedric Naylor - RN - Q-ships - Penshurst - raised questions. Naval reference books did not list HMS Penshurst, whilst a merchant navy reference book showed her as having been torpedoed as a merchant ship. Q-ships frequently masqueraded under the flag of a neutral country. Merchant ships of a combatant country usually had one gun on the stern for self-defence as they tried to sail away from an attacker. If they mounted a number of guns and opened fire under the Red Ensign they would be classed as privateers and in fact the earliest Q-ships (up to 24th July 1915) were legally defined as pirates because they had not been commissioned. This was in the days when War Conventions and Prize Ordinances expected merchant ships to be stopped, crew and passengers removed safely and the ship scuttled, sunk or taken prize by a commissioned ship. Leaving the crew and passengers in ships’ boats at sea a distance from land was not “removed safely”. Penshurst, Q.7, obviously had at least a Royal Navy contingent on board. She could not open fire unless she was flying the White Ensign, which she could not do unless she was commissioned HMS. She could not have a man standing at the stern waiting to replace a neutral ensign nor could she have a White Ensign furled at the masthead waiting to be broken out. Both would have been clearly visible through a submarine’s periscope. The White Ensign had to be concealed ready to be hauled up and once she was flying her Battle Ensign she could open fire. Q-ships operated against merchant ships carrying cargoes into Germany and its allies. They also acted as stragglers at the tail-end of convoys inviting an attack. All the Q-ships, and there were probably over 350 of them in many operational areas, were commissioned warships of the Royal Navy.
HMS Penshurst, Q.7, also used the alias Manford. She was built in 1906 by Montrose Shipbuilding Co., Montrose, as ss Penshurst for J Power & Co., London, of 1,191 gross tons, 2,035 tons full load; 232’ x 35’ x 14’6”; had, eventually, 2 x 4inch, 2 x 12 pounder and 2 x 6 pounder guns and a 3-pounder on the stern. She was commissioned at the remote Longhope inlet in the Orkneys on 9th November 1915. She fought eleven actions against U-boats, sinking UB19 on 30th November 1916 - one of only two submarines sunk by Q-ships that year - and UB37 on 14th January 1917. She was sunk by U110 in the Bristol Channel at 8.05pm on Christmas Eve 1917. There is a report that it may have been U87, apparently based solely on the fact that this submarine was sliced in half by PC56 in the same area on Christmas Day. References to it being UB110 are incorrect as that submarine was not commissioned until 23rd March 1918. In appearance, anyone who saw the typical Irish Sea colliers taking coal to the Irish ports, engine and tall funnel aft, bridge amidships or threequarters aft, one mast forwards and perhaps a second midships mast, would recognise Penshurst as being of the same type. U-boats carried German ex-merchant navy seamen familiar with the shipping likely to be found in the intended patrol area. The ship’s appearance and the story prepared for the panic party to deliver to the submarine had to be exactly right. Any submarine which had a good look at a Q-ship and survived would probably return to the same patrol area looking for the same ship.
The Q-ships were particularly vulnerable to identification at the time of, or because of, three ‘give-away’ actions. When the ship reached the end of its patrol and turned round without going on to a port to load or unload - not a normal merchant ship procedure. When the disguise was being changed and bright shiny new paintwork was not the typical “Dirty British coaster with a salt stained smoke stack....” During the daily routine of cleaning all guns and firing them to ensure full working order.
Commander Francis H Grenfell, a retired physical training lieutenant, was the first Commanding Officer of HMS Penshurst and gained the reputation of being one of the greatest of all Q-ship captains. For the first year of the war he had been First Lieutenant on HMS Cedric in the 10th Cruiser Squadron, made up of Armed Merchant Ships. Cedric was the largest ship in the world when she was built in 1903 for the White Star Line. He ended his service as Captain F H Grenfell, DSO (1st January 1917) and Bar (23rd March 1917). He seems to have been invalided off his ship and promoted Captain wef 8th March 1917. The crews of Q-ships received Special Service enhanced rates of pay. The former collier had a Q-ship complement of 45 - 4 Officers; 2 Engine Room Artificers; 2 Stoker Petty Officers; 2 Wireless/Telegraphy Operators; 1 Petty Officer; 2 Leading Seamen; 1 Shipwright; 18 Seamen; 2 Signalmen; 2 Cooks; 2 Stewards; 7 Stokers. The all-volunteer crews did not wear uniform on board and were not allowed to wear uniform in port or ashore. They wore War Service Badges to establish their combatant status in the event of capture. From 1917 every Special Service officer and man had to have a cap badge or ribbon sewn into his clothes.
One of the Q-ship tactics (although no report has been seen of its use by Penshurst) was to remain in the track of a torpedo attack so as to ensure damage in the hope the ship would stay afloat long enough for an inquisitive U-boat to present itself as a target. So many engine room crew survived torpedoing that captains felt able to give the order to remain in the track. No order was or is given in the Royal Navy which carries with it no possibility of survival. In an attempt to make the Q-ships virtually unsinkable the holds frequently were filled with timber - some Q-ships making the trans-Atlantic round trip to fill up with Canadian timber. Earlier, they had been filled with coal which provided the coal-burning ships with considerably increased endurance. However, if they had not been built as colliers with ventilated holds they risked spontaneous combustion from densely packed coal and coal dust. At one stage Penshurst had such a growth of weeds on her bottom that her speed was reduced to five knots, three knots slower than a submerged submarine.
For a year after commissioning Penshurst patrolled the western and southern coastal waters without any contacts. On the morning of 29th November 1916, steaming westwards off The Lizard in the English Channel, the ss Wileyside was about 7 miles to port (left) and a submarine had been in the area the previous day. A small indistinguishable object was also to port against the glare of the rising sun but at 7.52am (the RN used the 12-hour clock) she was straddled by two shells from a submarine, the second passing over the mainmast. The submarine altered course to cut off Wileyside, Penshurst changed course and the submarine again fired. Penshurst stopped engines and the ‘panic party’ abandoned ship into the boats in a deliberately shambolic non-Naval manner. The submarine was 3,000 yards off when Penshurst opened fire, submarine crash dived and Penshurst moved to drop a depth charge. She then headed towards Alderney where a submarine had been reported the previous day. During the night her funnel was painted a different colour and her collapsible mizzen-mast dropped.
Morning of the 30th off the Dorset coast, 39 nautical miles southwest of Portland Bill, she intercepted a wireless report that a submarine was off the Casquets. With the submarine in sight a seaplane out of Portland (No 3789, Flight Sub-Lieutenant J R Ross, wireless/observer J Redman) flew over the submarine’s position and dropped a bomb. Grenfell tried signalling that the seaplane should indicate the submarine’s position but it alighted alongside. Arranged for Ross to guide Penshurst to a position to drop a depth charge. The seaplane took off, crashed back into the water, broke a wing and knocked off her floats. A gig (boat) was lowered, rescued the airmen and salvage of the seaplane had begun when the submarine opened fire from 6,000 yards, which continued without reply for nearly an hour. Salvage work stopped, the gig was towed alongside out of sight of the submarine, which closed to 1,000 yards. UB19, a small coastal submarine which could patrol for three weeks, had one gun, two bow tubes and carried four torpedoes. She had sunk four steamers and a sailing vessel on this patrol. She had left Zeebrugge on November 22nd for the Western Channel and eight days later met HMS Penshurst. It was Oberleutnant sur Zee (=Lieutenant, RN) Erich Noodt’s first and last patrol in command. Exit the panic party, the submarine moved across her stern with the intention of taking the ship’s papers from the ship’s “Master” in one of the lifeboats before sinking her. The panic party stopped rowing, Penshurst turned and there was no name on her stern. ObltzS Noodt became suspicious and was about to dive when Penshurst opened fire at 250 yards range, firing 83 shells in ten minutes before UB19 foundered. Survivors, including the wounded Noodt, reported that the first shell, a 3-pounder, had penetrated into the engine room so she could not submerge. Grenfell received the DSO, an un-named officer the DSC (in fact it was Naylor) and a seaman the DSM; £1,000 was awarded to the crew and a further bounty of £115 for this action was awarded on 28th July 1919.
Press report in February 1917 of the award of the DSC to Cedric Naylor, 25 years of age, decorated for work on special service. No citation, a very low-key report. His two younger brothers had enlisted on the outbreak of hostilities and (February 1917) were serving in the Royal Engineers in Egypt.
On 14th January 1917 Penshurst met up with a larger and more modern U-boat between Isle of Wight and Alderney. At 3,000 yards the German opened fire but fell short. Penshurst’s panic party abandoned ship, which could be hazardous. They always mishandled the lifeboats, fell off the ropes, the sea conditions could be bad, and they were within machine gun range. The U-boat, which earlier that day had sunk ss Norma, came within 700 yards, stopped broadside on and continued firing, killing both the concealed 6-pounder gun-layer and loader, wounding the breech-worker and a signalman waiting to hoist the White Ensign; severed the engine-room telegraph and the hydraulic release gear for the depth charges. On all Q-ships even the most severely wounded stayed where they were in silence until the disguise was dropped. No sounds could be made on the ‘abandoned’ ship, sound travels far underwater and the submarines used hydrophones. The U-boat continued firing for over an hour. When the submarine was in the gun sights at under 700 yards Penshurst’s first shot was a 12-pounder shell which destroyed the base of the conning tower, the second shot damaged the hull whilst the starboard 3-pounder was stitching holes in the hull. UB37, ObltzS P Günther, sank by the stern and depth charges were dropped over her. No survivors. The first U-boat to be sunk anywhere in 1917. More awards were made but details have not yet been found.
(Note: A recently published report repeats much of the action described in the preceding paragraph as having been in January 1916 culminating in sinking a U-boat. It then reports on the sinking of U37 in January 1917. The author seems to have produced two reports of the same action. UB is a Type-designation and not an alternative abbreviation for U-boat. U37 was UB37, a Type UBII.)
Following this action, Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly (that is a PGS name of the 1950s) referred to the necessity of the most perfect discipline and organisation of Q-ships, and to the ability of the submarines to hit them with 88mm shells at a range beyond their 12-pounders. Some submarines had a 150mm (5.9”) gun with a range of 6,000 yards. The Q-ship had to wait until the submarine closed. Each U-boat had crew members scrutinising through binoculars the Q-ship for any tell-tale error. One Q-ship was sunk because a Naval signaller hoisted an ensign too efficiently for it to be a merchant seaman. Many Q-ships did not survive their first encounter with a U-boat. It is not known how many battles were fought or how many seriously damaged submarines (contemporary Admiralty estimates were more than sixty) returned to German dockyards for repair. Damaged submarines occupied drydocks, dockyard berths, equipment, skilled labour, and constituted a serious drain on resources. Specialist research of German records over many years has established that in all probability 11 submarines were sunk by Q-ships in one-to-one combat, whilst about 40 Q-ships are believed to have been sunk.
Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly commanded the Irish Sea area. His operations room at Queenstown was the basement of his cottage, his billiard table was his operations board, he had a staff of three officers and his niece looked after the housekeeping. At one stage he had 450 assorted ships under his command. He began the Q-ship force with three ex-colliers and quickly added the hardest fighter of all the Q-ships. HMS Penshurst entered service in November 1915 and between 29th November 1916 and Christmas Eve 1917 fought eleven submarines, a record for both the length of service and number of battles. Her captains were Commander F H Grenfell and then Lieutenant Cedric Naylor, the latter serving throughout her career, as First Lieutenant (second-in-command) and then captain. Commanding Officers of RN ships are captain of the ship regardless of their rank.
In the Western Approaches on 20th February a U-boat surfaced and after 15 minutes began firing. When Penshurst opened fire her 6-pounder scored a hit, she closed to 100 yards and fired all guns which could be brought to bear. As the submarine submerged she was depth charged. Despite this, she returned to her base. Submarines have an outer casing and an inner pressure hull both of which have to be penetrated. The fearsome German 88mm and the British peashooters faced each other again in the early years of 1939-1945 in tanks and artillery. The 88mm could put three shells within 18-inches at a mile range. The Centaur tank was armed with the 6-pounder (weight of shell), assessed as being unfit for combat, and relegated to training duties. Apart from the Royal Marines who replaced the gun with a 95mm howitzer for the D-day landings. The 12-pounder was 28 or 40 ‘calibre’ with a 3” (76mm) bore/calibre. The 6-pounder was 40 or 42.3 calibre and 2.24” (57mm) bore/calibre. The 3-pounder was 40 or 45.4 calibre and 1.85” (47mm) bore/calibre. (Calibre = bore. 28 ‘calibres’ x 3”calibre = 84” length of barrel; 40 x 3” calibre = 120” length of barrel.)
On 22nd February off the south coast of Ireland Penshurst couldn’t steam fast enough to come up to U84, a modern submarine, 800 tons, with a surface speed of 16 knots and 9 knots submerged with an underwater endurance of an hour. (Type U87. Commissioned 6th June 1916, lost 26th January 1918, St George’s Channel, rammed by Patrol-craft PC62, no survivors.) The sloop HMS Alyssum was about 8 miles away escorting a large four-masted sailing ship, Penshurst then sighted a lifeboat from a sailing ship torpedoed earlier that day, and U84’s periscopes were seen 400 yards away and then the track of a torpedo, turned away from it, missed by 15 feet. The panic party made the boats ready, the U-boat opened fire and the party abandoned ship. The enemy submerged and closed to 1500 yards to carry out a periscope inspection. Obviously satisfied, it surfaced 600 yards away broadside on and the “Master”, a Petty Officer, was told to bring his boat alongside with the ship’s papers. The Petty Officer responded that he would bring the boat round by the stern, the crew rowed towards the stern leaving Penshurst with a clear broadside and she instantly opened fire. The hull was damaged, U84 submerged but surfaced at a steep angle with shells going into her side before submerging. Two depth charges were dropped, she again reared up at a steep angle before levelling off. Some crew came onto the casing to the gun, Penshurst resumed firing and U84 replied with her 88mm. HMS Alyssum approached and opened fire so the submarine departed on the surface, being faster than the sloop and twice the speed of Penshurst.
U84 escaped. There is a detailed account by her Commanding Officer, Kapitänleutnant (between a Lieutenant and a Lieutenant-Commander, RN) Walter Roehr, quoted by Admiral von Scheer. Roehr identified the collier as an oil tanker of about 3,000 tons. Fired a torpedo and missed by 700 metres having underestimated the speed of Penshurst. Surfaced, Penshurst opened fire with four guns. Conning tower hit five times, one exploded inside the tower destroying most of the equipment; circulating water tubes smashed; tower abandoned; submerged. The panic party lifeboat crews dropped depth charges (- little more than hand grenades). The main switchboard had to be held in place by hand; electric lighting partially failed. The conning tower was full of water making the boat top heavy, oscillating about its transverse axis, connections between the tower and hull were not watertight. The holes were plugged with rags, clothing, and a French tricolour taken when the sailing ship Bayonne was sunk a few days earlier. Short circuit caused failures of gyro compass, lighting circuit, main rudder, communications; forward horizontal rudders (hydroplanes controlling depths) jammed; 14 degrees down by the stern, engines at full speed, boat sinks by the bows to 40 metres. Blew tanks, steering underwater not possible. Starboard electric motor failed. Could not operate submerged so surfaced to fight it out. Penshurst opened fire with several hits whilst the ‘destroyer’ Alyssum opened fire but couldn’t maintain speed. (Ship recognition was not one of Roehr’s strong points - even badly damaged, with 10 torpedoes on board he could have sunk the slow sloop and Penshurst at leisure.) Repairs were made, boat could dive but was leaving an oil track. She stayed on the surface, out-ran the two RN ships and returned on the surface safely to base where Admiral von Scheer inspected the damage and declared her survival to be a miracle. Others, later, were even more severely damaged and returned to base. U84 was repaired, returned to sea, and in August sank the brand new Flower-class sloop Bergamot in the Atlantic but later was rammed and destroyed. The Admiralty rather whimsically initially referred to the Flower-class as the Herbaceous Border-class!
(Submarines are “boats” and those things which float on the surface are “ships” unless they are small craft, or can be rowed, in which case they also are “boats”.)
Penshurst fought another submarine in March 1917 in the eastern English Channel where she was badly damaged by a torpedo attack and had to be towed into Portsmouth. She had a long refit. Commander Grenfell had been invalided ashore and command given to Lieutenant Cedric Naylor - two ranks below a Commander. He was awarded his second DSC for the actions on 20th and 22nd February and 8th March. On 2nd July Penshurst was making her stately 8 knots - under 10mph - off the Scillies when a submarine crossed her bows at 6,000 yards. She dived, waited for Penshurst to progress innocently along, fired a torpedo from 500 yards and by a deft touch of helm Naylor let the torpedo run 10 feet away down the side. The concealed crew suffered half an hour of shelling before opening fire, claiming sixteen hits almost certainly causing serious damage before the submarine moved out of range. That was a DSO for Naylor. The Paymaster was one of the concealed crew, and amongst his duties during actions kept detailed records of the actions and photographed the enemy. A glance through the Navy List will reveal that RNR Paymasters with a medal were scarce, whilst this one had a DSO, three DSCs and a Mentioned in Despatches, all in under two years.
On 19th August in the same area a submarine was seen, dived at 5.08pm and Naylor estimated the torpedo would be about 5.45pm. The track was seen at 5.44, smart handling of the ship resulted in a glancing blow immediately below the bridge instead of smashing into the engine room further aft. A huge column of water went up and fell, flooding the upper and lower bridges and after deck, overwhelming the gun crew concealed there. Filled the lifeboat in its davits 70 feet away. The ship took a heavy list to starboard, the sea poured in, then she rolled to port and the sea poured in on that side. Some crew members were hurled against cabin ceilings. Torpedoed in No 2 hold, starboard side of the lower bridge had been stripped and the 12-pounder exposed, the dummy boat concealing another 12-pounder had collapsed, the magazine was flooded and all controls from the bridge were out of action. With the guns exposed Naylor kept the panic party on board, re-erected some of the disguise out of sight of the U-boat, attempts made to re-connect the steering gear, wireless repaired and a general signal for help sent at 5.58pm. Shortly afterwards, the submarine surfaced on the undamaged port side, the normal merchant ship’s stern-mounted 3-pounder opened fire which was returned until at 6.21 Penshurst opened fire with her concealed portside guns, making hits, and the U-boat submerged. Penshurst was not under control, steaming round in circles, and the destroyer HMS Leonidas radioed her eta as 7.30pm. The submarine observed from a distance and then left. At nightfall water was still gaining in Penshurst so all non-essential crew transferred to the destroyer whilst their ship headed for Plymouth. A tug and two armed trawler escorts from the Channel Islands took Penshurst to Devonport jetty, with no casualties throughout the engagement.
Naylor received a Bar to his DSO, his ship received 4-inch guns to take on the German 88mm (4.1”). The U-boat is not identified in several reports of this action but there is a claim it was U72. It wasn’t. U72, a large, slow and clumsy ocean minelayer of a Class of dolorous memory to all concerned, and known as the ‘Children of Sorrow’, during 1916 went on long term deployment in the Adriatic based with Germany’s allies in that region. As they began to sue for peace, faced with dodgy engines, no spares, and a difficult return through anti-submarine defences in the Mediterranean, Straits of Gibraltar, Biscay, the Channel and the Dover barrage, her crew sailed her into deep water north of Cattaro (Montenegro) and destroyed her there on 1st November 1918. UB72 was commissioned on 9th September 1917, so it wasn’t her.
UC72 (ObltzS Voigt) left Zeebrugge on 12th August 1917 laying mines off the French coast whilst heading for an unrestricted warfare patrol in the Bay of Biscay. She survived the fight with Penshurst, continued towards the Bay and the following day, 20th, met up with the Q-ship Acton. After a prolonged periscope inspection at very short range of the ‘abandoned’ and very realistically on fire (the captain’s special effects!) merchantman, which at one stage included colliding with her, Voigt surfaced, hatches opened, the gun crew came onto the casing, Acton dropped her disguise and at point blank range destroyed the U-boat. That was the last U-boat to be sunk by a Q-ship in single combat. No submarine would now risk a gun action, torpedoes became first choice.
Under Lieutenant Naylor’s command, the refitted ship resumed patrols until on Christmas Eve 1917, midday, passing down towards the southern end of the Irish Sea looking for a known submarine, and sighted a U-boat about 5 miles ahead as it commenced its attack approach. It submerged at 12.12pm, Penshurst zig-zagged but the U-boat stayed down and fired a torpedo from only 300 yards. The track was seen, hard avoiding action taken but was hit between boiler and engine room. The ship stopped dead and began to settle by the stern. Some of the camouflage had collapsed exposing a midships 4-inch and the stern guns. The panic parties abandoned the ship with the U-boat slowly circling to inspect her through the periscope until surfacing at 2.40pm, and began firing at 250 yards range. Penshurst had settled so much she could not depress her guns to bring the submarine into her sights until she rolled or pitched sufficiently to enable shots to be fired. Six rounds only were fired, the second and fourth hitting and causing damage. Submarine submerged and at 3.47pm surfaced with a PC arriving on the scene. The Patrol Craft were feared - comparatively fast with specially hardened bows for ramming. Submarine departed but one was sunk in the area when rammed by a PC on Christmas Day. Penshurst sank at 8.05pm on Christmas Eve in the Bristol Channel, all the crew being saved. Naylor received a second Bar to his DSO. The position of Penshurst’s last action is known, her wreck having been found and identified.
All reports I have seen state all the crew were saved but that might properly mean all the surviving crew were saved. The crew would be borne on the books of a Nominal Depot Ship and none of the ratings have been named in any of the reports I have seen. However, two deaths in this final action have been traced. CWG: Reginald Arthur Marlton, RN, Cook’s Mate. Age 18. HMS Penshurst. Died 24th December 1917. Service Number M/14855. Son of Robert John and Jessie Louise Marlton of 411 Grosvenor Buildings, Manisty Street, Poplar, London. Memorial Reference 22, Plymouth Naval Memorial. CWG: Albert Brewer, RN, Stoker 1st Class. Age 23. HMS Penshurst. Service Number K/15525. Died 24th December 1917. Memorial Reference 23, Chatham Naval Memorial. Son of Charles and the late Mary Brewer, of Belfast. Tracing the crew is of interest in order to find references to events and awards which help to fill gaps in the career of Penshurst and, therefore, of Cedric Naylor.
Penshurst, a quite ordinary collier, became probably the most famous of all the Q-ships. She was the longest serving, she had been in more actions than any other, she had been repeatedly damaged and repaired. Her crew had displayed the highest levels of skill and discipline. Many officers on Q-ships had left the Special Service suffering from stress and possibly no other Commanding Officer served as long as Naylor. Penshurst sank two of the eleven submarines known to have been sunk by Q-ships. In none of the actions does she appear to have been identified as a decoy until she opened fire. Eight officers and men of the Q-ships were awarded the VC, some posthumously. Apart from those, Naylor appears to be the most highly decorated of those who served in the Special Service.
After Penshurst was lost, Cedric Naylor took command of the Q-sloop Polyanthus serving on the Atlantic convoys. Care is needed with this name. Peverill, Q36, a 1904 1,459-ton cargo ship was returned to Owners as unsuitable but was later re-commissioned, and then sunk by U63 west of the Straits of Gibraltar on 6th November 1917 - whilst Naylor was still commanding Penshurst. Peverill used the alias Polyanthus. Q-sloop Polyanthus used the alias Deverill. HMS Polyanthus, built 1917, a Flower-class sloop, in service from 10th November 1917 to Armistice Day, ended her war at Dundee. A Flower-class sloop, HMS Saxifrage, can still be seen at the Victoria Embankment on the Thames - (HMS) President.
Cedric Naylor:
London Gazette 16th February 1917, DSC: Actions with enemy submarines 29th/30th November 1916, 2nd December 1916.
On the occasion of sinking a German submarine on 30th November 1916.
London Gazette 23rd May 1917, Bar to DSC: Action with German submarines 20th-22nd February 1917 and 8th March 1917.
Was in action with an enemy submarine on 20th February 1917 and severely damaged her. Again on the 22nd February 1917 engaged another enemy submarine and damaged her. On a third occasion, the 8th March 1917, damaged an enemy submarine. In the first action his judgement in steering so as to find the submarine is deserving of all praise. His coolness in withholding fire on this occasion, as on so many occasions, was well repaid. In the second action, the operation of sending away the boats, done at just the right time. Only a quick-eyed, cool and able officer would have seen and by immediate action avoided the torpedo fired at Q.7. Excellent discipline and great care was taken on the ship’s disguise. The third action was a remarkably cool and well carried out manœuvre.
Their Lordships’ appreciation expressed of the way in which officers and men carried out their duties. Lt Naylor was admirable throughout the above actions on 20th and 22nd February and of 8th March 1917.
London Gazette 29th August 1917, DSO:
The action with an enemy submarine on 2nd July 1917 was worked by Lieutenant Naylor with great coolness, excellent judgement and ability.
London Gazette 12th October 1917
Action with enemy submarines 29th September 1917.
Transferred to Royal Navy at Lieutenant 19th December 1916 “For distinguished services in actions with enemy submarines 1916-1917”.
London Gazette: “Special promotion for distinguished service in action.”
He had been Lieutenant RNR, then was a Lieutenant RN dating from 9thOctober 1917, the Gazette notice back dated his Seniority (date of promotion) to 19th December 1916.
London Gazette 2nd November 1917: Bar to DSO.
Action with enemy submarines 19th August 1917.
On the 16th August 1917, encountered an enemy submarine, fighting a very plucky action under the most difficult circumstances. Although his ship was seriously damaged he reserved fire until he had got the submarine into a favourable position.
London Gazette 22nd February 1918: Second Bar to DSO.
This citation has not been found but it was part of the decorations awarded when the career of Penshurst ended.
London Gazette 25th August 1942 : Mentioned in Despatches.
Operation Ironclad, commanding HMS Karanja at Diego Suarez, Madagascar.
The citations to other Officers and Men are not known in their entirety but the following add to the way in which HMS Penshurst was fought and the difficult conditions of several actions. Some citations commence with comments about the action fought then add the specific details of the actions of the individual receiving the award. King George V took an interest in the Special Service and the awards, intervening on several occasions. Against that background it is most probable that Ratings serving on Penshurst were decorated as much as were their Officers.
Action on 30th November 1916.
Commander F H Grenfell DSO, 1st January 1917
Unidentified Rating for action on 30th November 1916 DSM
Possibly Michael Murphy RNR 3792C.
Ernest Hutchinson, Sub-Lieutenant RNR:
London Gazette 29th August 1917
Actions with enemy submarines 2nd July 1917. Mentioned in Despatches.
Displayed excellent spirit and perfect discipline, on the occasion of an action with an enemy submarine on 2nd July 1917.
London Gazette 2nd November 1917 Penshurst was off the coast of Iceland.
Action with enemy submarines 19th August 1917. Mentioned in Despatches.
On the 16th August 1917 encountered an enemy submarine, fighting a very plucky action under the most difficult circumstances. Although his ship was seriously damaged he reserved fire until he had got the submarine into a favourable position.
London Gazette 22nd February 1918
24th December 1917 DSC
For services in action with an enemy submarine on 24th December 1917.
The whole matter shows the excellent discipline and organisation of the ship due principally to Lt Naylor who has been through eleven actions in her. His ship was lost in this action.
The setting of the depth charge to safe after the water was some depth over it was very plucky and certainly saved life.
Felix Byrne, Lieutenant RNR:
London Gazette 2nd November 1917 (Posthumous)
Action with enemy submarines 19th August 1917 Mentioned in Despatches
On the 16th August 1917 encountered an enemy submarine, fighting a very plucky action under the most difficult circumstances. Although his ship was seriously damaged he reserved fire until he had got the submarine into a favourable position.
For the efficient way he carried out his duties, both during the action and afterwards in bringing the ship safely into harbour, in her water logged condition.
Lieutenant Byrne was serving in HMS Begonia when he was killed on 12th October 1917. CWG states 6th October 1917.
Joseph Russell Stenhouse, Sub-Lieutenant RNR:
London Gazette 29th August 1917
Actions with enemy submarines 2nd July 1917 Mentioned in Despatches
Displayed excellent spirit and perfect discipline, on the occasion of an action with an enemy submarine on 2nd July 1917.
He also has a DSC, possibly from earlier service, see below.
William Strickland Harrison, Lieutenant RNR Navigating Officer:
London Gazette 29th August 1917
Actions with enemy submarines 2nd July 1917 Mentioned in Despatches
Displayed excellent spirit and perfect discipline, and rendered the most valuable assistance to his CO on the occasion of an action with an enemy submarine on 2nd July 1917.
London Gazette 2nd November 1917
He is shown as having the DSC
Action with enemy submarines 19th August 1917 Mentioned in Despatches
On the 16th August 1917 encountered an enemy submarine, fighting a very plucky action under the most difficult circumstances. Although his ship was seriously damaged he reserved fire until he had got the submarine into a favourable position.
For the efficient way he carried out his duties, both during the action and afterwards in bringing the ship safely into harbour, in her water logged condition.
(William Harrison apparently has DSC and Bar and two Mentioned in Despatches but all the details are not known.)
William Richard Ashton DSC Paymaster RNR:
London Gazette 2nd November 1917, Penshurst was off the coast of Iceland.
Action with enemy submarines 19th August 1917 Second Bar to DSC
On the 16th August 1917 encountered an enemy submarine, fighting a very plucky action under the most difficult circumstances. Although his ship was seriously damaged he reserved fire until he had got the submarine into a favourable position.
In this action Paymaster Ashton rendered valuable assistance to his CO by his conduct and coolness on the bridge.
London Gazette 29th August 1917
Actions with enemy submarines 2nd July 1917 Mentioned in Despatches
London Gazette 16th March 1918
Action with enemy submarines 1917 DSO
For gallant and continuous services in action with enemy submarines when in HMS Penshurst.
(Details of two DSCs are missing.)
Stephen P R White DSC Lieutenant RNR:
London Gazette 2nd November 1917, Penshurst was off the coast of Iceland.
Action with enemy submarines 19th August 1917 Second Bar to DSC
On the 16th August 1917 encountered an enemy submarine, fighting a very plucky action under the most difficult circumstances. Although his ship was seriously damaged he reserved fire until he had got the submarine into a favourable position.
In the same action Lt White, who was lying concealed on the deck, when a torpedo struck the ship and though knocked about a good deal, at once promptly and most efficiently set about restoring communications with the bridge and engine room.
London Gazette 16th March 1918
Action with enemy submarines 1917 DSO
For gallant and continuous services in action with enemy submarines when in HMS Penshurst.
(Details of a DSC is missing.)
Navy List 1918 shows ranks and promotions, several being back-dated:
William Richard Ashton, Staff Paymaster, Seniority 2nd July 1917 (The salary of a Staff Paymaster was higher than that of a Lieutenant.)
Felix Byrne, Acting Lieutenant, Seniority 28th February 1916 Temporary. Listed as “Missing”
William Strickland Harrison, Lieutenant, Seniority 16th February 1917 Temporary.
Ernest Hutchinson, Acting Lieutenant 13th April 1917.
Joseph Russell Stenhouse, Acting Lieutenant RNR 1st August 1914.
He had been on Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition 1914-1915. His collection of papers is in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University. He was born on 15th November 1887 in Dumbarton. Entered the Merchant Navy and was one of the last men to gain a Master’s certificate in square rigged ships. In August 1914 he was commissioned a Sub-Lieutenant, RNR, and the same month joined Shackleton’s expedition as Chief Officer of Aurora. In January 1915 Captain Mackintosh went ashore with a party and Stenhouse took command of the ship for the long period of drifting in the ice before safely arriving in New Zealand in 1916 and then to UK and Penshurst. Died 12th September 1941 when as a Commander was working on the salvage of scuttled merchant ships in a former Italian Red Sea base. He was on a tug which hit a mine. He had the OBE DSO DSC Croix de Guerre, RD, Polar Medal, from continuing Antarctic exploration, Royal Navy/ French involvement in Russia post-Revolution, and WW2.
Stephen Philip Robey White, Lieutenant 25th June 1917 Temporary.
Ratings:
Reginald Arthur Marlton, RN, died 24th December 1917, HMS Penshurst, Bristol Channel.
Albert Brewer, RN, died 24th December 1917, HMS Penshurst, Bristol Channel.
Possibly Michael Murphy, RNR, DSM.
Robert Arnold Conway, born 2nd February 1888, of Golftyn. Married Esther Elizabeth Mary Graham about 1925. The Conways of Connah’s Quay - a family with a long history of mariners.
HMS Penshurst’s actions:
29th November 1916 ss Wileyside
30th November 1916 Seaplane crash, UB19 sunk
2nd December 1916 Referred to in London Gazette 16th February 1917
14th January 1917 UB37
20th February 1917 Unidentified submarine damaged
22nd February 1917 U84
8th March 1917 damaged by torpedo attack
2nd July 1917 torpedo attack, many hits on submarine
19th August 1917 torpedoed by UC72
29th September 1917 Referred to in London Gazette 12th October 1917
24th December 1917 sunk by U110
Cedric Naylor:
On 26th March 1918 to Command of HMS Polyanthus, Q-sloop, Flower-class; Atlantic convoy escort.
2nd October 1920 Commander of the Royal Victorian Order - CVO. (This is for personal service to the Monarch or the Royal Family. What did he do? This is the only reference to the award.)
Navy List July 1921 HMS Dryad, Navigational School, Portsmouth. On qualifying course in Navigational duties from 1st October 1920
Navy List September 1921 HMS Godetia, sloop, China Station, First Lieutenant, from 19th August 1921.
22nd September 1924 Executive Officer, HMS Wistaria, sloop, North America and West Indies Station.
Lieutenant Commander 19th December 1924
Flag Captain, HMS Calcutta, Flagship, 8th Light Cruiser Squadron, North America and West Indies Station in June 1925. Date of appointment not known but Calcutta was on Station in October 1924 or earlier.
16th October 1926 HMS Emperor of India, battleship, Atlantic Fleet.
9th January 1928 Commanding Officer, HMS Scarab, gunboat, China Station
17th November 1930 To HMS Titania, depot ship for submarines 6th Submarine Flotilla.
9th January 1933 To Staff, Rear Admiral Submarines (HMS Dolphin, Submarine Depot, Gosport).
Retired in the rank of Commander, 12th June 1935.
10th January 1940 HMS Calliope RN Base Tyne.
2nd September 1941 Commanding Officer HMS Karanja, Landing Ship Infantry - Large. Mentioned in Despatches, Operation Ironclad - Diego Suarez 1942. HMS Karanja was one of the 31 ships awarded the Battle Honour. The invasion fleet began its 9,000 mile journey from the Clyde in the military convoy WS17 end-February / early-March 1942, fully laden with troops and supplies, heading for Durban and thence, ostensibly, Burma! The convoy had the Fleet Aircraft Carrier HMS Illustrious, the battleship Ramilles gave cover, together with cruisers and destroyers. Karanja and her sister ship HMS Keren (ex BI’s ss Kenya but the Navy already had a ship of that name) were the only two LSI(L) in the convoy. In addition to the commissioned ships were converted passenger liners serving as troop ships. The convoy stopped at Freetown, Sierra Leone and then (according to some reports) stopped at Cape Town. Slow Convoy Y, cargo ships with supplies, a Fleet oiler to refuel the smaller warships at sea, and the world’s first ever Tank Landing Ship, sailed from Durban on 25th April. On 28th April fast Convoy Z sailed from Durban up to the Vichy French pro-German colony of Madagascar. Seen by the Allies as a possible base for Japan which would endanger a vital sea route for the Allies. The convoys, backed by powerful RN forces, arrived at and invaded Diego Suarez on 5th May. Karanja carried 1,100 troops, 32 vehicles, 11 motor cycles, 55 tons of stores. On 30th May Japanese midget submarines attacked and damaged Ramilles, and the tanker British Loyalty; those two and Karanja were the only ships named as being in the harbour during the attack.
Acting Captain 17th August 1942 (?)
17th August 1942 Commanding Officer Combined Operations Base Bombay, HMS Salsette.
Reports on web sites that he was captain of and survived the bombing, fire and sinking of HMS Karanja in Bougie in Operation Torch, landings in North Africa, on 12th November 1942 are unlikely to be accurate. Primarily because he was in Bombay!
June 1943 Commanding Officer Royal Navy Base Bombay, HMS Braganza.
21st February 1945 HMS Spartiate, Royal Navy Base Glasgow (The Royal Navy controlled the entire Port of Glasgow and the Clyde.)
The “ships” at Bases such as HMS Braganza are “stone frigates” - land bases. The airfield HMS Nightjar later became the radio station HMS Inskip, which at approximately one mile square was the largest ship in the Royal Navy!
Reverted to Retired 1945/1946. It is not yet known whether he retired in his substantive rank of Commander, or whether he was promoted from Acting to Captain during the time he was at Bombay or Glasgow, or on the date of his retirement.
Died at Deal, Kent, 12th January 1949.
It would appear from the following obituary notices that he was a substantive Captain, RN.
Deal, Walmer, Sandwich and East Kent Mercury:
Friday, January 14th 1949
Found dead in bed on Wednesday morning, a retired Naval captain, Mr Cedric Naylor, of “Redholme”, London Road, had lived in Deal only a few months. We understand his relatives were not in Deal at the time of his death.
Friday, 28th January 1949
Capt. CEDRIC NAYLOR
The ashes of Capt. Cedric Naylor, of “Redholme”, London Road, whose death had been recorded in our columns, were committed to the deep on Saturday at mid-day, being conveyed to the Downs in “Dr Bailey’s” motor-boat “Lady Irene”, in charge of Mr Jack Attwater, who was accompanied by relatives of Capt. Naylor, and the Rev W S Skidmore, RN, who carried out the committal service, and representatives of Messrs Jefford and Newing, the undertakers.
The photocopy Death Certificate shows: Twelfth January 1949 Redholm, London Road, Deal UD. Male 57 years Captain RN (Retired) Coronary Thrombosis. Certified by W Marull, Coroner for County of Kent after Post Mortem without Inquest. S M Naylor Widow of the deceased. Redholm, London Road, Deal. Twenty seventh January 1949. D C Allen, Registrar.
(The Coroner’s name is a guess, as is the initial S for Mrs Naylor)
HMS Karanja F128, was a big, fast, cargo/passenger ship. One of only ten merchantmen converted into Commissioned Landing Ship Infantry - Large, and which played a major and leading role in seaborne invasions, capable of operating worldwide:
British India Line’s Karanja 1931-1942. Official Number 162554. 9,891 gross; 4,646 net; 8,370 deadweight tons. 471 x 64 x 26’9”. Twin screw, two sets of 3-stage Parsons turbines, 12,000 shp, 18.48 knots. Passengers - 1st class 66, 2nd class 180; 2,329 deck passengers on coastal service. Launched 18th December 1930, delivered 13th March 1931, Alex Stephen & Sons Ltd, Govan, for the Bombay-East Coast Africa-Durban service. Requisitioned twice as a Personnel Ship in 1939 (troops or other personnel) and in 1940. Commissioned as a Landing Ship Infantry - Large on 24th July 1941; fitted with 1 x 6”, 1 x 3”, 12 single mounted 20mm AA cannon; 297 crew; 1,500 troops; 20 to 24 landing craft on gravity davits. She successfully took part in the Madagascar landings in May 1942, Operation Ironclad, and was awarded the Battle Honour.
E&OE There may be deliberately misleading errors in the London Gazette reports, see several citations 19th August/16th August 1917.
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