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Auction: 22133 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 964

'Although my ears were singing from the pressure under water, I could hear the hissing of a hundred serpents. I turned and fifty yards away I could see the bows of the Hood vertical in the sea. It was the most frightening aspect of my ordeal and a vision which was to recur terrifyingly in nightmares for the next forty years. Both gun barrels of B turret were slumped hard over to port and disappearing fast beneath the waves. My experience of suction seconds before forced me to turn in sheer terror and swim as fast and as far as I could away from the last sight of the ship that had formulated my early years.'

The testimony of Ted Briggs, one of only 3 survivors of the Battleship Hood's final battle in the Demark Straight, Flagship Hood, The Fate of Britain's Mightiest Warship, refers.

Three: Attributed to Engine Room Artificer Class III H. J. Mepham, Royal Navy, who was killed in the destruction of H.M.S. Hood, 24 May 1941, by the German Battleship Bismark

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Borough of Barry Certificate of Honour and named and addressed envelope, good very fine (3)

Henry Joseph Mepham was born in 1909 the of Henry and Sarah Mepham of 33 Caradoc Avenue, Barry, Glamorgan. He married Helen Irene Mepham and together the couple had a son named George. Mepham worked at Hodges and Co. on Barry Docks as a Boiler Maker prior to enlisting in 1931 as a Stoker Class IV.

Promoted to the rank of Engine Room Artificer Class III by the outbreak of the Second World War Mephem was stationed aboard H.M.S. Hood. Notably he may have been acting in the rank of Chief Petty Officer as the Barry and District News attributes this rank to him in an article entitled ‘Barry Victim of H.M.S. Hood Explosion’.

Hood together with the Prince of Wales and two heavy cruisers engaged the Bismark and Prinz Eugen during the Battle of the Denmark Straight on 24 May 1941. The British opened fire first, causing good several hits on the Bismark with one shell from the Prince of Wales even holing her below the waterline.

However when the German vessels returned fire a volley from Bismark struck Hood amidships, a point between x turret and the mainmast exploded, launching a pillar of smoke and flame into the sky. The ship split in two and sank in approximately three minutes, the speed and violence of the destruction leaving little room for survivors.

Only three of the Hood’s crew lived to be picked up, Mepham was not among them however, he perished with the Battleship. He is commemorated upon the Portsmouth Naval Memorial; sold together with an original named Borough of Barry Certificate of Honour and a family photograph of the recipient along with copied research including photographs, the H.M.S. Hood roll of honour and extracts from the Barry and District News as well as census data, Commonwealth War Graves certificates and handwritten research.

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Sold for
£450

Starting price
£70