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Auction: 24003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 155

The Great War D.S.M. awarded to Chief Petty Officer R.S. Blair who was serving on the destroyer Zubian and assisted in dropping depth charges which resulted in the sinking of the German submarine UC50

Royal Navy Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (180443. R.S.Blair, C.P.O. "Zubian" English Channel. 1. Mar.1918.), minor contact marks, very fine

D.S.M. London Gazette 6 April 1918:

'HMS Zubian sinking of German submarine UC50 by depth charges off Dungeness 4 February 1918. He assisted dropping depth charges. This Chief Petty Officer was responsible for the efficient condition of the depth charge and then releasing them.'

Robert Scott Blair was born at Glasgow on 23 August 1878. He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 20 July 1894, serving in a variety of shore bases and vessels prior to the Great War. He was serving on Hyacinth when war was declared before being posted to Vernon until 28 April 1916 followed by Zubian on 28 June 1917, serving aboard her until the end of the war. Blair was shore pensioned on 19 June 1919.

Zubian started out life as two separate Tribal class destroyers. Nubian was the first of the two ships that formed the 'Franken-ship', the other half of Zubian came from Zulu. Zubian joined the 6th Flotilla and served there until the end of the war. During this period, Zubian and the rest of the Flotilla rotated through nighttime patrols of the Dover Strait in groups of four, supported by flotilla leaders; these patrols were intended to catch German torpedo boats that were conducting night bombardments of Allied positions in the Channel.

While in the Dover Strait on 4 February 1918, she encountered the mine-laying U-boat UC-50, which was surfaced about 400 yards off Zubian's port bow with her radio antennae up. Zubian attempted to ram the submarine, but the Germans managed to submerge. The destroyer then dropped depth charges over the submerged U-boat and a significant amount of oil and wreckage was observed. Zubian marked the location with a buoy and an hour later, the patrol vessel HMS P12 dropped additional depth charges there. Trawlers later located an object that divers confirmed was UC50.

Zubian also participated in the First Ostend Raid two months later on the night of 23-24 April. The attack was intended to close the German-held ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge, which were being used as bases for the U-boats. Zubian was assigned to the bombardment force, and along with the destroyers Mentor and Lightfoot, provided the close escort for a group of six monitors. The bombardment unit was covered by the Harwich Force in the Channel. For further information: https://www.twz.com/royal-navy-once-created-a-franken-ship-from-two-destroyers.

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Sold for
£600

Starting price
£400