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Auction: 18001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 405

(x) The mounted group of six miniature dress medals worn by Captain C. B. 'Hurricane Hank' Alers-Hankey, D.S.C., Royal Navy, a distinguished destroyer and carrier C.O. whose wartime record included valuable work at Dunkirk

Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star; Burma Star; War Medal 1939-45, mounted as worn, together with his miniature riband bar, very fine and better (6)


PROVENANCE:
DNW, March 2013, when sold alongside his full-size awards.

Conrad Byron 'Hurricane Hank' Alers-Hankey was born in British Columbia, Canada in February 1904, the son of Gerald Cramer Alers-Hankey, a descendant of the banking dynasty Hankey & Co.

Entering the Royal Navy as a Cadet in the early 1920s, young Conrad was advanced to Sub. Lieutenant in January 1925 and to Lieutenant in March 1927, winning in the interim high praise for an act of bravery in the cruiser H.M.S. Capetown during a hurricane at Bermuda - hence his nickname.

As Captain of H.M.S. Vanquisher by May 1940, he won his first D.S.C. and mention, the latter for 'good services in the withdrawal of the Allied Armies from the beaches of Dunkirk' (London Gazette 16 August 1940, refers).

Removing to the destroyer depot ship H.M.S. Tyne in August 1940, Alers-Hankey is believed to have commanded the destroyer Nestor in the Bismarck action in May 1941. Be that as it may, he added a second "mention" to his accolades (London Gazette 1 January 1943 refers), before taking command of the destroyer Limbourne, in September 1943. As it transpired, the latter appointment was short-lived, Limbourne falling victim to an enemy torpedo boat in the Channel, near Guernsey, on 23 October 1943, with a loss of 42 of her ship's company - a victim of a disastrous attempt to intercept a blockade runner which also witnessed the loss of the cruiser Charybdis. For his gallant example under trying circumstances, Alers-Hankey was awarded a Bar to his D.S.C.

Having been advanced Captain he ended the war as C.O. of the escort carriers Campania and Trumpeter, out in the Far East from May 1945.

Post-war, Alers-Hankey held a variety of appointments, among them Naval Attache at Buenos Aires 1949-50, C.O. of the Diamond 1951-53, and Naval A.D.C. to the Queen. The Captain, who was placed on the Retired List in June 1954, died in Chelsea, London, in November 1984.


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Sold for
£65