Auction: 22003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 378
THE SECOND WORLD WAR
14 OCTOBER 1939: LOSS OF THE "ROYAL OAK"
Family group:
'Inside of Scapa Flow, the harbour of the English sea force, it was absolutely dead calm in there. The entire bay was alight because of bright northern lights. We then cruised in the bay for approximately one and a half hours, chose our targets, fired our torpedoes. In the next moment there was a bang and the next moment the Royal Oak blew up. The view was indescribable. And we sneaked out, in a similar fashion as we got in, close past the enemy guards, and they did not see us. You can imagine the excitement and happiness we all felt, about the fact that we managed to fulfil our task and achieve such a huge victory for Germany.'
Günther Prien, captain of the U-47, summarises his momentous foray into Scapa Flow on the night of 14 October 1939.
A poignant Second World War campaign group of three awarded to Assistant Steward Ovidio Church, Royal Navy, who was among those lost in H.M.S. Royal Oak when she was torpedoed and sunk by the U-47 at Scapa Flow on 14 October 1939
For a moving documentary on the loss of the Royal Oak, see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpTQaf-5IxY&t=178s
1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, in their original O.H.M.S. card forwarding box addressed to the recipient's father at Msida, Malta
The Great War campaign pair awarded to Petty Officer Steward James Church, Royal Navy, his father
British War and Victory Medals (365395 J. Church, O.S., R.N.), very fine (5)
Ovidio Church was the son of James and Carmela Church of Msida, Malta and followed in his father's footsteps by joining the Royal Navy as a Steward shortly before the Second World War; his father, who witnessed active service in the Great War, had risen to the rank of Petty Officer Steward prior to being pensioned ashore in March 1934.
Loss of the "Royal Oak"
A summary of Royal Oak's loss appears on the 'Scapa Flow Wrecks' website, from which the following extract has been taken:
'The German submarine U-47, under the command of Günther Prien, approached Scapa Flow through the narrow approaches at Kirk Sound with surprising ease. It was high tide and a little after midnight on 14 October 1939. U-47 first sailed towards Lyness but, finding no ships in the area and encountering no resistance, then turned to the north where H.M.S. Royal Oak, H.M.S. Pegasus and possibly H.M.S. Iron Duke were spotted. A total of 51 ships were in Scapa Flow at the time, 18 of which can be described as fighting ships.
When the first torpedo struck the Royal Oak at 12.58 a.m., the dull thud confused the sailors - they thought the muffled explosions were an on-board problem, perhaps an explosion in the paint store. They certainly did not think it was a U-boat attack. A second salvo failed to deliver a hit but the confusion surrounding the first hit gave Günther Prien an additional 20 minutes to return to his firing position, reload, and fire a third salvo. This third discharge landed direct hits amidships.
Such was the ferocity of the explosions, the ship heeled over alarmingly and all the lights went out. It had been fine weather so all of the ship's hatches were open. Undoubtedly Royal Oak would have taken longer to sink and more lives would have been saved if the watertight hatches had been closed; but it is not normal procedure to have all hatches closed when in a supposedly safe harbour with no alerts.
When the ship rolled its gun barrels shifted, pulling the ship faster beneath the surface. Water crashed through the open hatches and men asleep in their bunks were unable to get out in time. It took just minutes for the battleship to sink. Hundreds fought for their lives in the water, trying to swim for shore through thick fuel oil and in freezing temperatures. A total of 834 men lost their lives, some of whom were buried in the Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery on Hoy.'
But not Ovidio Church, who was just 18 years of age. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.
Postscript
Prien did not survive the war: he and U-47 were lost on 7 March 1941, possibly as a result of an attack by the destroyer H.M.S. Wolverine. News of the loss was kept secret by the Nazi government for ten weeks. Several U-47 crew from the Royal Oak mission did survive, having been transferred to other vessels. Some of them subsequently met with their former enemies from Royal Oak and forged friendships with them.
A memorial at St. Magnus Cathedral in nearby Kirkwall displays a plaque dedicated to those who lost their lives, beneath which a book of remembrance lists their names. This list of names was not released by the Government until 40 years after the sinking. Each week a page of the book is turned. The ship's bell was recovered in the 1970s and, after being restored, was added to the memorial in St. Magnus.
The H.M.S. Royal Oak Association holds an Act of Remembrance annually at Portsmouth, the Royal Oak's home port, on the Saturday nearest to 13 October; originally at the Naval Memorial at Southsea, but in later years at St. Ann's Church, Portsmouth Naval Base. At the service on 9 October 2019, eighty years after the sinking, a memorial stone was unveiled in the church by Anne, Princess Royal, the Commodore-in-Chief of H.M.N.B. Portsmouth. Some 150 relatives and descendants of the crew were in attendance.
Despite the relatively shallow water in which she sank, most of bodies could not be recovered from Royal Oak. Marked by a buoy at 58°55?44?N 2°59?09?W, the wreck has been designated a war grave and all diving or other unauthorised forms of exploration are prohibited under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. In clear water conditions, the upturned hull can be seen reaching to within 5m. of the surface.
The brass letters that formed Royal Oak's name were removed as a keepsake by a recreational diver in the 1970s. They were returned almost twenty years later, and are now displayed in the Scapa Flow visitor centre in Lyness.
Royal Oak's loss is commemorated in an annual ceremony in which Royal Navy divers place the White Ensign underwater at her stern.
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Sold for
£240
Starting price
£130