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Auction: 8016 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 443

A Naval General Service Medal to Petty Officer Stoker G.E. Chalkley, Royal Navy, Who Shared in H.M.S. Firedrake´s Appalling Luck, December 1942, When She Was Hit By A Force 12 Storm and Sunk By An Enemy Torpedo All in the Space of 24 Hours; He Was Lost At Sea With 170 Others of Her Complement Naval General Service 1915-62, G.VI.R, one clasp, Palestine 1936-1939 (KX. 83683 G.E. Chalkley. Sto.1. R.N.), extremely fine Estimate £ 180-220 KX. 83683 Chief Petty Stoker George Edgar Chalkley, native of Wood Green, Middlesex; was serving in the H.M.S. Firedrake, an "F" class Destroyer, on the 16th December 1942, when she was part of a fleet of fourty-three ships bound for Canada in the ON153 convoy. The Firedrake was hit by a force twelve storm at 20.10 hrs, and to add to her poor luck was also hit by a torpedo from the German U-boat U211. The ship broke in two and the bow section sank immediately, with the stern just managing to stay afloat. At 00.45 hrs on the 17.12.1942, after a series of failed rescue attempts by the H.M.S. Sunflower, due to the waves breaking as high as sixty feet over the two ships, the stern finally sank. 171 of the H.M.S. Firedrake´´s crew were lost at sea. Petty Officer Stoker G.E. Chalkley was among that number, and is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

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£260