HMCS
HAIDA |
HMCS
HAIDA |
THE ALTMARK
INCIDENT
THE ALTMARK INCIDENT
(L03) |
The following eye witness
account of the scene at the Admiralty in London as the drama concerning the
COSSACK and the ALTMARK unfolded, was related by Rear-Admiral R K Dickson, DSO,
in 'The Ditty Box' in March , 1946. It shows Winston Churchill at his best in a
tense and complicated situation, his determined attitude and his signals
triggering the action.
'The fleet
auxiliary ALTMARK was slipping down the Norwegian coast on her way to Germany.
She was inside territorial waters, but we'd every reason to believe that she
was carrying 400 British merchant seamen battened under hatches - victims of
the pocket battleship GRAF SPEE in the South Atlantic. Our destroyers were at
sea, and the man on the spot was Captain Philip Vian, in the COSSACK. He had
the situation well in hand, till suddenly the ALTMARK entered Jossing Fjord
with the British destroyers glaring at her on one side and the Norwegian
men-of-war on the other. It was apparent to the Admiralty that a situation had
arisen which no naval officer could be expected to handle. It needed the
immediate intervention of a Minister, ready to take responsibility, because the
landslide of the nations of Europe had not yet begun, and the significance of
Norwegian neutrality could only be fully appreciated in London.
At 5 o'clock the
First Lord Mr (Winston)Churchill, came down to the War Room, and he dictated a
signal to Vian to the effect that he was to get those prisoners off at all
costs. "Get that ciphered up," he said, "and be quick about it! I've told the
Secretary of State that those orders are going at quarter to six unless we hear
to the contrary". He walked up and down chewing his cigar, and we all
waited.
At 5.20 he suddenly
turned to me (I was the Duty Captain on watch that afternoon), and he said, "I
can't wait. Get me Lord Halifax". I got him the Foreign Secretary in a few
moments, and he sat down with the telephone in the little green armchair which
used to stand alongside the duty captain's desk. He talked to the Foreign
Secretary for about a minute. Then he rang for the Duty Signals Officer and he
said, "Add this to the signal, 'Suggest to the Norwegian destroyers that honour
is served by submitting to superior force.' Now get that off at once!" he said,
and he lounged off upstairs to carry on with his papers. But at the door of the
War Room he stopped, and he said to all of us, "That was big of Halifax".
The signal was made
a few minutes later and so the COSSACK went into the fjord. That story was the
start of Vian's great career at sea in this war, but I've always thought of it
also as a personal triumph for the man who became Prime Minister three months
later, when Mr Alexander relieved him as First Lord (of the
Admiralty).' |
*Click on the small image to
view full size picture.* |
Photograph taken by RAF Coastal
Command aircraft showing the Altmark hiding in Jossingfjord when the search to
find her was at its height.
Taken from "Coastal Command"
HMSO 1942 |
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Photograph of the acclaimed
painting by Norman Wilkinson of HMS Cossack going alongside Altmark. The
painting was hung in the National Maritime Museum for some years and is still
there, although not necessarily on display. It is now understood that a second
version of the painting was commissioned by J. Harvey & Sons with the
intention that it should be presented to the Cossack. With Cossack having been
sunk the painting was presented to the Wardroom of the Royal Navy barracks,
Portsmouth (then HMS VICTORY, now HMS NELSON). Cossack was a Portsmouth manned
ship and it was also her home port. At some point the painting went into the RN
Trophy Store and was later on loan to the RNR HQ at Liverpool. With its close
connections with the Merchant Navy and many of those rescued from the Altmark
this was a very suitable place for its display. When a purpose-built building
for the RN Board & Serch School was opened in 1997 in HMS CAMBRIDGE, the
gunnery school at Wembury Point, Plymouth it was named the "Cossack Building".
The Captain, HMS CAMBRIDGE was able to get the painting transferred there. In
2003 HMS CAMBRIDGE closed and its functions were moved to HMS RALEIGH and a new
Cossack Building erected. However, the painting was not transferred but was
returned to the Trophy Store and then was re-hung in the Wardroom of HMS NELSON
where it currently remains. |
 |
Jossingfjord with the double-sided
notice erected by the Germans. Subsequently this was 'liberated' by the British
Airborne forces. One side was presented to Admiral Vian, the other retained by
them. |
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Detail of the notice
shown above, which was on display at the Airborne Forces Museum at Aldershot,
Hampshire, England until it closed in 2010 after the transfer of the Parachute
Regiment to another part of the UK. With other artifacts from the museum, the
board was transferred to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. However, it is not
on permanent display there but may form part of a rotational display at some
stage. But see below! |
 |
The side of the
board which was presented to Admiral Vian was bequethed in his estate to his
daughter Mrs. Susan Keate. In 2009 she expressed a wish tht the HMS Cossack
Association should have the board and some other memorabilia. However, with
nowhere to display or store such items, the Association suggested that they
should be given to the RN Museum at Portsmouth where they will get a wider
audience. At our reunion in April 2010 Admiral Vian's daughters, Mrs. Susan
Keate and Mrs. Polly Thellusson, handed over the items to Dr. Dominic Tweddle,
seen here accepting it for the RN Museum. The board is not currently on display
there but will be as soon as the new extensions to the museum are completed.
|
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Der Reichmaster Terboven
alongside the above notice 18th June 1942.
Courtesy of Norway's Resistance
Museum, Oslo. |
 |
Civilians viewing the spot where
Altmark grounded and was boarded by HMS Cossack.
Photo from Bunderesarchiv,
Koblenz, courtesy of Dreyer Bok, Stavangar. |
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The monument erected
by the Norwegians in the late'50s, showing the memorial
plaque |
 |
Close up of the
memorial plaque on the above monument.
Translation -"Here took
place the fight between the British destroyer Cossack and the German support
ship Altmark on February 16th 1940". |
 |
Click here: to read the full story off
line.
A list of the merchant
seaman rescued from the Altmark can be accessed
by clicking on this
button:
____________
AWARDS
FOR THE ALTMARK INCIDENT
____________
Companionship of the Bath
Captain P. L.
Vian
________
Companionship of the Distinguished Service
Order
Lieutenant Commander
B.T.Turner
_______
Distinguished Service Cross
Paymaster Sub-Lieutenant
G.Craven, RNVR
Mr J. F. Smith, Gunner,
HMS AURORA
Lieutenant Commander
H.C.D. Maclean
_______
Distinguished Service Medal
Petty Officer
Atkins
Petty Officer
Barnes
Able Seaman P.J. Beach
Able Seaman J. Harper
Able Seaman A.W. Marshall
Able Seaman S. D. Bennett,
HMS AURORA
Signalman D.P.S. Davies,
HMS AFRIDI
Stoker First Class N.L.
Pratt, HMS AURORA
_________
Mention in
Despatches
Petty Officer R.
Asciak
Petty Officer Cook (O) D.
Spiteri
Petty Officer Steward C.
Sammut
___________
Additionally:
Lieutenant Commander G.A.Gore-Ormsby and Paymaster
Lieutenant E.F. Burkitt were recommended to the Royal Humane Society for
Gallantry in trying to save the life of a drowning German
sailor.
_____________________________________________________________
EXTRACTS FROM LOCAL
NEWSPAPERS
SECOND BATTLE OF NARVIK

One of the battle honours
proudly worn by HMS COSSACK was the Second Battle of Narvik. Bill Bartholomew
put together a brief history of this action, thanks mainly to the Imperial War
Museum, who gave him permission to use a transcript of an audio tape -
painstakingly copied by Peter Harrison, of a discussion between ex-Chief Petty
Officer A. D. Grant, D.S.M., and the Curator of the Museum. This provided an
eye witness account, as Leading Seaman Grant (as he then was), was manning the
Torpedo Tubes (his Action Station), on the central part of the upper deck. This
gave him a good view of the events as they unfolded, whereas others were so
busy concentrating efforts on their own particular job that they were oblivious
to anything else. It was he who first met the two young Norwegians and accepted
the German flag from them. Before he died David's daughter, Mrs Anne Smith,
managed, through the Norwegian Embassy, to contact Lief Hansen (Torsten had
died), and he and David corresponded regularly after that.
David Grant was a Member of
our Association. His daughter Anne is an Associate Member of the Association. A
copy of a story published in the Anglo Norse Review in 1990 about David Grant,
Lief and Torsten can be seen or downloaded by clicking on the button
below.
Click here:
to
read the story off line.
THE SECOND BATTLE OF NARVIK
-LO3 |
*Click on the small pictures to see the larger ones*
|
Captain R. St. V.
Sherbrooke, the Commanding Officer. Later awarded the Victoria Cross when
commanding HMS ONSLOW, defending Russian Convoy JW51B on
31/12/42.
Cossack aground but
still fighting. |
Midshipman Royal Naval Volunteer
Reserve at the back of the bridge |
Aground. View from
COSSACK's Bridge |
Damage Port side aft
on the Forecastle |
Bridge from B Gun
Deck |
Shell and shrapnel
damage |
More shell and
shrapnel damage |
Enemy destroyer after receiving
salvo from COSSACK - Merchant ship on
right |
Shell and shrapnel holes
Port side forward |
Shell hole and shrapnel damage
B Gun Deck. Tarpaulin covers hole in Petty
Officer's Mess |
Shell hole Port side of
B Gun Deck and Petty Officer's Mess |
Close up of shell hole Port
side of B Gun Deck and Petty Officer's
Mess |
Splinter damage to the forward
funnel |
The Port side looking
aft |
HMS WARSPITE seen
through shell hole in COSSACK |
HMS FOXHOUND who
stood by COSSACK |
Skelfjord, Lofoten
Islands where COSSACK was repaired and
where her dead were committed to the
deep |
While the COSSACK was in
Skelfjord, in the Lofoten Islands being repaired, she was assisted by 8
Norwegians from Kabelvaag. Two of them, Mr Rothli and Mr Lorentzen are still
alive and we have been delighted to enrol them as Honorary Members of the
Association as a gesture of appreciation for the work they did. Other than the
children's party, there was no acknowledgement of the assistance given to our
ships in Skelfjord by the Norwegians. A sad ommission. At least the Association
has done something to make two old men happy.
During the battle Lord
HAW-HAW (William Joyce the Irishman the Germans used to broadcast English
language propaganda), announced that COSSACK had been captured and her crew
were all prisoners. Yet another he got wrong!. Joyce was executed for treason
after the war.
Click here: to read the
story off line.
Another incident
concerned the Bismarck. The much feared German battleship had been sighted in
the Denmark Strait on 21st May 1941 in an attempt to break out into the
Atlantic but when brought to battle it was the British who had come off worst.
The loss of our battleship HMS Hood with enormous loss of life and only three
survivors was a black day for Britain. Bismarck got away and for several days
her whereabouts were unknown. On the 26th, Cossack was escorting a convoy when
Captain Vian received orders to leave the convoy and take four other
destroyers, the Sikh, Zulu and Maori and the Polish ship Piorun, to relieve
other destroyers which were escorting the Home Fleet battleships King George V
and Rodney.
Seven hours later a
message from an aircraft was intercepted which reported the position of the
Bismarck. Without breaking radio silence, Captain Vian decided to head for that
position instead of continuing on to join the battleships. In appalling weather
and very heavy seas they battled towards the position and ten hours later
sighted Bismarck. Throughout the night the destroyers attacked and harried the
German battleship despite being heavily out-gunned. It was important that they
held her until the British battleships could arrive, which they did at eight
o'clock the next morning. Bismarck was sunk and, despite attacks from large
formations of German aircraft, the ships safely returned to
U.K.
The BISMARCK
Courtesy of the
Bismarck Website

Telegraphist Eric Farmer who wrote a
personal story of the action which can be read by clicking on this button:

In October 1941 Cossack
was one of the escorts for a convoy from Gibraltar to the U.K. when, on the
night of the 21st she was struck by a torpedo from a German U-boat. The
explosion just forward of her bridge blew off her bows and about a third of the
forward section of the ship killing 159 officers and ratings. Survivors were
picked up by two other escorts, the Legion and the Carnation, the latter
staying close to the hulk of the ship whilst it remained afloat. Some of the
survivors and some men from Carnation, went back aboard the following morning,
put the fires out and attempted to get her engines going again. On the 25th a
tug arrived from Gibraltar and took Cossack in tow stern first. In worsening
weather the salvage party were taken off the following evening and the next
morning conditions were so bad that they could not get back aboard. As the
weather deteriorated the tow had to be slipped and Cossack sank soon
after.
Pictures and further
details can be found in 'GALLERY'. Click here:The HMS
Cossack Association - Picture Gallery
HMS COSSACK - No 6
The Sixth HMS COSSACK was
completed and commissioned in August 1945 by which time the war in Europe was
over and the Japanese had just surrendered. She was still to go to the Far East
though and was to become the leader of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla for a while
forming part of the occupation forces. In the main though her duties in the Far
East were to be those peacetime functions of showing the flag, patrolling trade
routes, exercises and training for war and the many other duties which befall a
Royal Navy destroyer.
Pennant No D57
Builder |
Vickers-Armstrong, Newcastle on
Tyne |
Laid Down |
18 Mar 1943 |
Launched |
10 May 1944 |
Commissioned |
22 Aug 1945 |
Displacement |
1730 tons (2550 fully
loaded) |
Length |
362 feet 9 inches |
Beam |
35 feet 8 inches |
Draught |
15 feet 10 inches |
Armament |
4 x 4.5" Guns
4 single 40 mm Bofors Guns 1 twin 40 mm Bofors Gun 1 x 4
Torpedo Tubes (21" MkIX Torpedoes) 2 Depth
Charge Throwers 2 Depth Charge
Rails |
Shaft Horsepower |
40,000 |
Maximum Speed |
33 knots |
Complement |
15 Officers, 213 Men in
Peacetime 15 Officers, 248 Men in
Wartime |
One incident that took
place during her time in the Pacific was the rescue of the passengers of the SS
LING YUNG. Click here: to read the full story off
line. Pictures of this episode can be found in the Picture
Gallery.
THE TRAGEDY OF HMS
COSSACK'S SIDE PARTY
All Royal Naval ships based
in Hong Kong had a Side Party consisting of a number of Chinese girls. They
were contracted, through a contractor ashore, to carry out duties such as being
responsible for the disposal of all rubbish and helping to paint the ship's
side - which as I remember seemed to be a fairly frequent occurrence! They were
held in high regard and looked on as a valuable part of the ship's company. It
is good to hear of their fortunes after all these years.
Geoff Lilley was my
Quartermaster (I his Bosun's Mate), and we had just come off the Morning Watch
at 0800 that morning. I had gone down to my Mess down aft and was having
breakfast when the light coming through the porthole dimmed and I heard
shouting coming from above. Looking up through the porthole I saw the side of a
ship sliding past about three feet away. Looking down I saw broken bits of wood
and the two girls in the water. Geoff had stayed on the upper deck and so was
fully involved in what occurred. It is this story of the accident that had
fatal consequences to the Party that has been written by Geoff.
Click here to read the story
off line :
From June 1950 until 1953
Cossack was involved as part of the United Nations force in the Korean War and
aquitted herself well. With many changes of her ship's company taking place
over the years, Cossack remained on the Far East Station until the beginning of
November 1959 when she left Singapore to return to the U.K. Arriving at
Devonport on 9th December 1959 she finally paid off and was eventually scrapped
in 1961.
Life aboard a ship of war
has never been an easy one, with conditions even in peacetime worse than would
now be tolerated for animals in transit. In fact the conditions laid down by
the Admiralty for the payment of "hard-lying money" to men in small ships, was
that conditions had to be inferior to that in a trawler in normal service in
the North Sea. The allowance was paid to those serving in the Cossack. From
1945 until 1954 the normal period that a man would be on the ship was two and a
half years. From 1954 it became one year and a half. It is not surprising that
during those 14 years which Cossack spent in the Far East many close
friendships were made.
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The
H.M.S. Cossack Association reunions allow those friendships to be renewed each
year. For further details, and news of the most recent reunion, click on the
crest. |
For information on
how to join the Association, click here:
E-Mail:
cossack.assn@tiscali.co.uk
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Designed by Rob Bartholomew, and maintained
by Peter Harrison
|