Disaster as battleship rammed poor Duchess
Anaval historian needs the help of Memories readers who may have had a relative aboard the ill-fated HMS Duchess. Richard Jones is researching the disaster that befell the Royal Naval D-class destroyer during the Second World War.
On December 12, 1939, the Duchess was accidently rammed by the battleship HMS Barham during thick fog in the Irish Sea and sank killing around 137 people on board. There were barely two dozen survivors.
The tragedy did not receive the publicity it might have done at the time, partly because the event was overshadowed by the Battle of The River Plate and partly due to concerns about keeping up war-time morale.
Among the seamen lost were many from Kent.
Mr Jones has discovered a cutting from the Dover Express and East Kent News, of December 22, 1939, which had photographs of four Dover men who died and the names of four others from elsewhere in the county.
They were Able Seaman Albert Moorcraft, Able Seaman Edward Croucher, Stoker Petty Officer William Smith and Stoker Donovan, all from Dover, and Stoker Wilfred Oates, from Elvington.
There was Chief Petty Officer Bashford from Whitstable, Stoker Ernest Brockman of Upper Harbledown, and Leslie Foster (rank unknown) of Ramsgate.
As the ship was commissioned out of Chatham, it is likely there were many more crew members from the Maidstone area. A memorial service for the men was held after the disaster at the Seaman’s Mission in Rochester.
Mr Jones, who is a serving member of the Royal Navy, would like to hear from anybody who had relatives on the Duchess, either among the dead or the few survivors.