Post by komata on Feb 2, 2019 19:06:25 GMT 12
(Admins please move if ithis is in the wrong place)
This might be of interest:
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Bill ‘Kiwi’ Smith, submariner who won a DSO for an attack on Japanese cruisers in Singapore harbour – obituary
Telegraph Obituaries
28 JANUARY 2019
Commander Bill “Kiwi” Smith, who has died aged 96, was at the controls of the midget submarine XE3, commanded by Lt-Cdr Ian Fraser, during Operation Struggle, when shortly before midnight on July 30 1945 she began her attack on two Japanese cruisers in Singapore harbour.
Having been towed by a parent submarine, Stygian, to the Horsborough Light, a lighthouse off Singapore, the underwater approach up the Straits of Johore through numerous harbour defences took some 12 hours. The submerged passage required steady depth-keeping and great concentration from Smith, and, as the buoyancy altered between salt seawater and the fresher waters higher up the strait, he constantly trimmed the craft.
Once, after Fraser ordered a depth of 40 ft, XE3 hit the bottom and broke the Chernikeef speed log, leaving the gyro compass as the only mechanical aid to navigation. Fraser, who knew Singapore from his pre-war days in the Merchant Navy, took frequent sights through the periscope to guide XE3 by eye.
After two hours’ searching for their camouflaged target, XE3 stopped under the keel of the 10,000-ton Takao, and Fraser and Leading Seaman James Magennis left through watertight hatches to place limpet mines and to place two-ton explosive charges under the cruiser.
However, when Fraser and Magennis returned inside XE3 the tide had dropped, trapping the submarine under the cruiser, until, after 15 minutes of panic, they worked the boat backwards and forwards and XE3 plopped free. The crew had been on duty and mostly awake, fuelled on orange juice and Benzedrine, for 52 hours before they were able to rendezvous in Singapore Strait with Stygian.
Takao was severely damaged when the charges blew. Fraser and Magennis were awarded the Victoria Cross, Smith received the DSO and Engine Room Artificer Charles Reed, who had been at the motors, received the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.
Later, in the depot ship, Bonaventure, Captain “Tiny” Fell asked: “The other cruiser hasn’t been destroyed – will you go back and have another go?” Fraser and Smith exchanged glances and in silent agreement said: “Yes, we’ll go back.” But they were relieved when the atom bomb was dropped. Smith recalled: “That put paid to our going back. Thank God.”
William James Lanyon Smith was born on December 1 1922 into a family of publicans at Gore, South Island, and educated at the Cathedral Grammar School in Christchurch.
He enlisted in the New Zealand Army in 1940 as an artillerist, but when he found that only men with experience in the Western Desert would be accepted as officers he transferred to the Navy in May 1943.
After a short time in the battleship Duke of York he was accepted for officer training at HMS King Alfred at Brighton, where he volunteered for special service and found himself being tested to assess his suitability as a submariner. Successful, Smith trained on midget submarines in Scotland and was made captain of a training craft, before becoming first lieutenant of the operational submarine XE6.
With the war in Europe drawing to a close, the midget submarines were transferred to the Far East, where, after the tragic loss of two officers in diving accidents, the submarine flotilla’s crews were reshuffled and Smith was teamed with Fraser in XE3.
Bill Smith was later involved in setting up Scott Base in Antarctica
In 1946 Smith was chosen as one of the officers to bolster the newly established Royal New Zealand Navy. He was in the New Zealand cruiser Bellona when about 100 men, already on leave, mutinied, but the actions of the cruiser’s officers prevented any sailors on duty from joining the mutiny.
After further training in Britain, Smith was bored by peacetime duties as gunnery officer in the Loch-class frigate HMNZS Hawea, and when he heard that another ship was being commissioned as a survey ship he immediately volunteered. Sent to Portsmouth, he recruited some 200 Royal Navy sailors to join him in manning Lachlan and to take her over in Fremantle from the Royal Australian Navy.
After loan to the Royal Navy (1953-55), he returned to New Zealand and became involved in the setting up of Scott Base in Antarctica. Next, he was first lieutenant of HMNZS Endeavour, which supported New Zealand’s trans-Antarctica team, and after further loan to the Royal Navy in 1958, Smith returned to become the first New Zealand-born captain of Lachlan (1960-62). In 1962 he was appointed as the first Hydrographer of the Royal New Zealand Navy, where he served until retirement in 1972. In 1968 he was appointed OBE.
He lived quietly in retirement as a tutor in Surveying at the Technical Correspondence Institute; he enjoyed golf, tennis and ski-ing and supported numerous charities.
His medals, papers and Antarctica memorabilia were donated to the Torpedo Bay Naval Museum in Auckland. Though modest and unassuming, Smith was flattered when the RNZN’s Maritime Combat Support Centre at the Devonport Naval Base was named after him in 2006.
Smith married a fellow Cantabrian, Natalie Vale: she predeceased him in 2018 and he is survived by his daughter, Victoria Daniel.
Cdr W J L Smith, born December 1 1922, died December 2 2018
This might be of interest:
_____________________
Bill ‘Kiwi’ Smith, submariner who won a DSO for an attack on Japanese cruisers in Singapore harbour – obituary
Telegraph Obituaries
28 JANUARY 2019
Commander Bill “Kiwi” Smith, who has died aged 96, was at the controls of the midget submarine XE3, commanded by Lt-Cdr Ian Fraser, during Operation Struggle, when shortly before midnight on July 30 1945 she began her attack on two Japanese cruisers in Singapore harbour.
Having been towed by a parent submarine, Stygian, to the Horsborough Light, a lighthouse off Singapore, the underwater approach up the Straits of Johore through numerous harbour defences took some 12 hours. The submerged passage required steady depth-keeping and great concentration from Smith, and, as the buoyancy altered between salt seawater and the fresher waters higher up the strait, he constantly trimmed the craft.
Once, after Fraser ordered a depth of 40 ft, XE3 hit the bottom and broke the Chernikeef speed log, leaving the gyro compass as the only mechanical aid to navigation. Fraser, who knew Singapore from his pre-war days in the Merchant Navy, took frequent sights through the periscope to guide XE3 by eye.
After two hours’ searching for their camouflaged target, XE3 stopped under the keel of the 10,000-ton Takao, and Fraser and Leading Seaman James Magennis left through watertight hatches to place limpet mines and to place two-ton explosive charges under the cruiser.
However, when Fraser and Magennis returned inside XE3 the tide had dropped, trapping the submarine under the cruiser, until, after 15 minutes of panic, they worked the boat backwards and forwards and XE3 plopped free. The crew had been on duty and mostly awake, fuelled on orange juice and Benzedrine, for 52 hours before they were able to rendezvous in Singapore Strait with Stygian.
Takao was severely damaged when the charges blew. Fraser and Magennis were awarded the Victoria Cross, Smith received the DSO and Engine Room Artificer Charles Reed, who had been at the motors, received the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.
Later, in the depot ship, Bonaventure, Captain “Tiny” Fell asked: “The other cruiser hasn’t been destroyed – will you go back and have another go?” Fraser and Smith exchanged glances and in silent agreement said: “Yes, we’ll go back.” But they were relieved when the atom bomb was dropped. Smith recalled: “That put paid to our going back. Thank God.”
William James Lanyon Smith was born on December 1 1922 into a family of publicans at Gore, South Island, and educated at the Cathedral Grammar School in Christchurch.
He enlisted in the New Zealand Army in 1940 as an artillerist, but when he found that only men with experience in the Western Desert would be accepted as officers he transferred to the Navy in May 1943.
After a short time in the battleship Duke of York he was accepted for officer training at HMS King Alfred at Brighton, where he volunteered for special service and found himself being tested to assess his suitability as a submariner. Successful, Smith trained on midget submarines in Scotland and was made captain of a training craft, before becoming first lieutenant of the operational submarine XE6.
With the war in Europe drawing to a close, the midget submarines were transferred to the Far East, where, after the tragic loss of two officers in diving accidents, the submarine flotilla’s crews were reshuffled and Smith was teamed with Fraser in XE3.
Bill Smith was later involved in setting up Scott Base in Antarctica
In 1946 Smith was chosen as one of the officers to bolster the newly established Royal New Zealand Navy. He was in the New Zealand cruiser Bellona when about 100 men, already on leave, mutinied, but the actions of the cruiser’s officers prevented any sailors on duty from joining the mutiny.
After further training in Britain, Smith was bored by peacetime duties as gunnery officer in the Loch-class frigate HMNZS Hawea, and when he heard that another ship was being commissioned as a survey ship he immediately volunteered. Sent to Portsmouth, he recruited some 200 Royal Navy sailors to join him in manning Lachlan and to take her over in Fremantle from the Royal Australian Navy.
After loan to the Royal Navy (1953-55), he returned to New Zealand and became involved in the setting up of Scott Base in Antarctica. Next, he was first lieutenant of HMNZS Endeavour, which supported New Zealand’s trans-Antarctica team, and after further loan to the Royal Navy in 1958, Smith returned to become the first New Zealand-born captain of Lachlan (1960-62). In 1962 he was appointed as the first Hydrographer of the Royal New Zealand Navy, where he served until retirement in 1972. In 1968 he was appointed OBE.
He lived quietly in retirement as a tutor in Surveying at the Technical Correspondence Institute; he enjoyed golf, tennis and ski-ing and supported numerous charities.
His medals, papers and Antarctica memorabilia were donated to the Torpedo Bay Naval Museum in Auckland. Though modest and unassuming, Smith was flattered when the RNZN’s Maritime Combat Support Centre at the Devonport Naval Base was named after him in 2006.
Smith married a fellow Cantabrian, Natalie Vale: she predeceased him in 2018 and he is survived by his daughter, Victoria Daniel.
Cdr W J L Smith, born December 1 1922, died December 2 2018