SUNK IN JUST SIX MINUTES
Grandchildren of Navy captain in Bismarck tragedy sell heirlooms
THE poignant archive of a Royal Navy commander whose ship was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck is up for sale, 83 years on.
Captain Ralph Kerr CBE was killed along with 1,415 of his men when HMS Hood went down in May 1941.
The 46,000-ton battle cruiser sunk in the Denmark strait in just six minutes and would become the Navy’s worst disaster of the Second World War.
It prompted Winston Churchill’s famous order to “sink the Bismarck”.
Capt Kerr, 49, a veteran of the Battle of Jutland, went down with his ship.
His grandchildren have now decided to sell his wartime possessions.
Capt Kerr’s medals and those belonging to his son, tank commander Russell Kerr, who was killed in Burma in 1945, are valued at £5,000. A portrait of Capt Kerr by royal artist Oswald Birley carries a £3,000 estimate and a watercolour of HMS Hood is valued at £500.
Capt Kerr’s 1856 midshipman’s dagger and scabbard is also being sold for £500.
Peter Mason, of Dawsons Auctioneers in Maidenhead, Berks, is handling the May 30 sale. He said: “It is a collection that probably should stay together, given the importance of the person.
“Capt Kerr never took a backward step, displaying bravery that is quite hard to comprehend these days.”
Capt Kerr was born in Gloucestershire and joined the Royal Navy in 1904 aged 13. He was made a lieutenant in 1914 and served on HMS Benbow at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916.
He led several flotillas before he was given command of HMS Hood. The Bismarck was sunk days after HMS Hood went down, with the loss of over 2,000 men.