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Auction: 1006 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 27

A Scarce Great War Tigris Flotilla ´Gunboat´ D.S.M. Group of Four to Able Seaman W. Stephenson, H.M.S. Tarantula Royal Navy, For Services During the Advance on Baghdad, 1916-17 a) Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (234863. W. Stephenson, A.B. H.M.S. Tarantula. Mesopotamia. 19167 [sic]), ship partially officially corrected b) British War and Victory Medals (234863 W. Stephenson. A.B. R.N.) c) Royal Fleet Reserve Long Service & G.C., G.V.R. (234863 Ch. B. 13718 W. Stephenson. A.B. R.F.R.), darkly toned, nearly extremely fine (4) Estimate £ 1,000-1,200 D.S.M. London Gazette 21.9.1917 Able Seaman W. Stephenson, O.N. 234863 (Ch.) (H.M.S. Tarantula) 234863 Able Seaman W. Stephenson, D.S.M. born Ripon, Yorkshire, 1889; joined the Royal Navy as Boy Second Class, 1907; served during the Great War in H.M.S. Tarantula, during the Mesopotamian Campaign, from 1916; earlier that year four gunboats of the Insect Class, including Tarantula, had been towed out to the Persian Gulf to join the Tigris Flotilla under the command of Captain W. Nunn, C.M.G., D.S.O., R.N.; the Tarantula (Commander H.G. Sherbrooke) took a leading role in the operations on the Tigris which culminated in the capture and occupation of Baghdad, 11.3.1917; over the course of the advance the gunboats cooperated with the Army in many bombardments on Turkish positions on either side of the river and frequently engaged with enemy aircraft; the Tarantula particularly distinguished itself, with Stephenson aboard, at the assault of the Sannaiyat position 22nd-23rd February 1917, when Nunn directed the naval operations from her and ´on the forenoon of 24th February I moved up river with Tarantula, Moth, Mantis, Butterfly, Gadfly and arrived at Kut el Amara at 9.30pm, where I landed and hoisted the Union Jack´ (Captain W. Nunn´s despatch of 21.3.1917 refers); she also came to the fore with H.M.S. Moth and Mantis when on the 26th February, ´just above Bghailah we now began to come up to numbers of Turkish stragglers on the left bank of the Tigris.... We opened fire on all who did not surrender... The smoke of steamers had been seen ahead and we were soon able to distinguish several steamers, including H.M.S. Firefly, which we had to abandon on 1st December, 1915, when her boiler was disabled by a shell during the retreat from Ctesiphon and we were surrounded by the Turkish Army... We shortly.... got into gun range... and opened a heavy fire, particularly on Firefly and the armed enemy ship Pioneer, who both replied. The Firefly made some good shooting at us with her 4-inch gun...... The enemy were firing at us from three directions, and on approaching Nahr Kellak bend I observed a large body of enemy on the left bank at the head of the loop in the river, and gave orders for all guns to be fired on them. They proved to be a strong rearguard, and opened on us with field and machine guns and heavy rifle fire. At this close range there were casualties in all ships, who were all hit many times, but our guns must have caused immense damage to the enemy, as we were at one time firing six-inch guns into them at about 400 to 500 yards.... There were casualties in all three ships, Moth... had three officers wounded - all severely- out of four, and two men killed and eighteen wounded, which is about 50 percent of her complement´ (Ibid); the three gunboats were riddled with bullets but powered on passed the retreating Turkish Army and continued to inflict misery on any targets that materialised - they eventually caught up with the enemy vessels that they had encountered earlier, ´the vessels were now in easy range, and several small craft stopped and surrendered, including the armed tug Sumana, which we had left at Kut during the siege..... About 5.20pm the large Turkish steamer Basra stopped and surrendered when brought to by a shell from H.M.S. Tarantula, which had, I was afterwards informed, killed and wounded some German machine gunners. The Firefly kept up a heavy fire from her 4-inch gun, but our reply began to tell on her,and having been hit several times she ran into the bank and fell into our hands about 6.15pm in the north-west part of the Zaljah reach, to the westward of Umm al Tubul´; the flotilla continued its advance beyond Ctesiphon on the 6th March, eventually seizing the Baghdad railway and the Citadel six days later; Stephenson continued to serve in H.M.S. Tarantula until 15.3.1918, being discharged from service at the end of the War.

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