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Auction: 24111 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 631

Three: Lieutenant H. R. W. Twynam, H.M. Submarine Narwhal, Royal Navy, who was killed in action on 23 July 1940

1939-45; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf, good very fine (3)

M.I.D. London Gazette 26 June 1940.

Humfrey Reginald Woodriff Twynam was commissioned Sub-Lieutenant on 1 July 1938. He served aboard the Narwhal. She helped Imogen and Inglefield to sink the German U-boat U-63 south east of the Shetland Islands and in May she torpedoed and sank the German troop transport Buenos Aires and torpedoed and damaged the troop transport Bahia Castillo. She reached port but was declared a total loss.

Most of Narwhal's sinkings were caused by her mines. The German auxiliary minesweepers M 1302 / Schwaben, M 1102/H.A.W. Möllerthe, Gnom 7, Kobold 1 and Kobold 3; the German minesweeper M 11; German auxiliary submarine chaser UJ D / Treff VIII; the armed trawler V 1109 / Antares and the Swedish merchant Haga were all sunk on mines laid by Narwhal.

On the afternoon of 23 July, the Dornier Piloted by Lieutenant Bernhard Müller attacked and sank the Narwhal, with none coming away with their lives. Nobody knew exactly what had happened at the time and thus Twyman is recorded by CWGC as having lost his life on 1 August 1940. Her wreck was found by by Polish deep-sea explorers in 2017, sitting upright on the seabed about 300ft down around 150 miles east of Edinburgh.

Sold together with his Warrant of Appointment as Sub-Lieutenant, Buckingham Palace condolence slip, besides several original photographs.

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Sold for
£140

Starting price
£70