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Auction: 22001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 604

The Royal Navy L.S. & G.C. Medal awarded to Chief Stoker C. J. Ford, Royal Navy, who was present in the cruiser H.M.S. Jamaica in her telling encounter with the Scharnhorst at the battle of North Cape in December 1943

On that memorable occasion, Jamaica's broadsides and torpedo strikes contributed significantly to the German battleship's destruction

Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (K. 65625 C. J. Ford, S.P.O., H.M.S. Bridgewater), very fine

Cecil John Ford was born at Redruth, Cornwall on 16 June 1925 and joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in January 1925.

By the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939, he was serving as a Stoker Petty Officer in the sloop H.M.S. Bridgewater, and he remained likewise employed until removing to the cruiser Jamaica in December 1941. He was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in the same period.

As verified by his service record, he was still serving in the Jamaica at the time of his advancement to Chief Stoker in March 1944, the intervening period seeing him witness considerable action, including the battle of Barents Sea in December 1942, when, as part of Force R, Jamaica closed and engaged the pocket battleship Lutzow and her consort Admiral Hipper.

However, it was at the battle of North Cape, in December 1943, that Jamaica really got to grips with the enemy, when, under the command of Captain J. Hughes-Hallett, D.S.O., R.N., her broadsides and torpedo strikes contributed to the destruction of the Scharnhorst. Towards the close of the action, she, and her consort, Duke of York, hit the enemy battleship continually over a period of 20 minutes, severe punishment that was followed up by torpedo strikes delivered from Jamaica's port and starboard batteries - the latter appears to have been decisive.

Ford ended the war with an appointment at the Ceylon shore base Highflyer.

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Sold for
£200

Starting price
£70

Sale 22001 Notices
Photograph incorrect online. Please refer to description.