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Auction: 24002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 179

A very fine 'sinking of U-8 1915' D.S.M. group of seven awarded to Petty Officer O. S. Scholey, Royal Navy, whose award-winning excellence with the 6-inch guns of H.M.S. Hermes undoubtedly stood him in good stead: later captured when Maori was mined off Dunkirk, he was interned at Giessen for the remainder of the Great War

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (205660 O.S. Scholey. P.O., H.M.S. Maori.); Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Persian Gulf 1909-1914 (205660. O.S. Scholey. P.O. H.M.S. Espiegle.); 1914-15 Star (205560 O.S. Scholey, P.O., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (205660 O.S. Scholey. P.O.R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R. (205660 O.S. Scholey. P.O. H.M.S. Dolphin.); Naval Good Shooting Medal, G.V.R. (205660. O.S. Scholey, A.B. HMS "Hermes" 1907, 6In. Q.F.), overall good very fine (7)

D.S.M. London Gazette 10 April 1915.

Oswald Sydney Scholey was born at Greenwich, London on 23 May 1883 and was an electrician when he joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class in May 1901. He served on various vessels before the war including Hermes before being posted to Maori on the outbreak of the Great War.

This tribal class destroyer was assigned to the 6th Destroyer Flotilla at the time with the Dover Patrol. Maori was patrolling with her sister ship Gurkha on 4 March 1915 when they came upon the U-Boat U8. The action marked a successful use of early anti-submarine nets which allowed the destroyers to trap their prey.

The engagement is outlined in Norman Friedman's British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War, which states:

'The modified sweep enjoyed its first, and perhaps only, success on 4 March 1915, when HMS Viking spotted U8. The submarine dived, and the destroyer was unable to hit her with her sweep. Later, HMS Maori spotted the periscope, and HMS Gurkha caught an obstruction on her sweep five hours after the first sighting. The charge was fired, and U8 surfaced and surrendered.'

In fact U8 was scuttled before she could be taken however 28 of her crew were made prisoner in the action. This success was to prove short-lived, as on 7 May 1915 Maori struck a mine and sunk off the coast of Dunkirk. The vessel was successfully evacuated however the ship's complement was captured and taken to Zeebrugge as prisoners of war. Scholey spent the remainder of the war as a POW held at Giessen. He was shore pensioned on 24 July 1919.

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Sold for
£1,900

Starting price
£800