80th anniversary of NZ's worst naval tragedy, HMS Neptune

[Dave Homewood]

80th anniversary of New Zealand's worst naval tragedy, the HMS Neptune
Andrew McRae, Reporter
[e-mail]

Sunday marks the 80th anniversary of New Zealand's worst naval tragedy, the sinking of HMS Neptune during the World War II.


The HMS Neptune. Photo: Supplied / National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy

Of the 764 men who lost their lives on 19 December 1941, 150 were New Zealanders.

The ship went down after sailing into an uncharted deep-water enemy minefield in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya.

Some of the New Zealand crew sent Christmas messages home which were recorded by Arch Curry for the NZBS just a month before the sinking.

The light-cruiser HMS Neptune was part of a group of seven allied warships that headed out from Malta to intercept an Italian supply convoy.

In the early hours of the morning Neptune struck the first of four mines that would lead to its loss.

National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy researcher Michael Wynd said the ship, on realising it was in a minefield, tried to manoeuvre its way out.

''She was trying to go ahead and try and work her way out of this minefield but she then detonated two more mines which blew off her stern.''

Some of the other Royal Navy ships came to her aid but they were also damaged and had to try and return to Malta.

''With all three cruisers damaged and one destroyer with out a stern and the risk of enemy air attacks they had to basically try and get back to Malta as fast as they could. However, about 4am Neptune struck a fourth mine.''

Wynd said that put the ship into its final death-throes.

''She was seen to slowly roll over and sink at about 4.05am. Nothing further was seen of the ship and it was not known where she actually exactly had sank.''


The light-cruiser HMS Neptune was part of a group of seven allied warships that headed out from Malta to intercept an Italian supply convoy. Photo: Supplied / National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy

Out of the crew of 764, 16 survived including the captain, but all but one succumbed to exposure, starvation and dehydration.

The one able seaman who survived was rescued by the Italian Navy and taken as a prisoner of war.

''I would suspect that the majority of the losses occurred probably during the second and third mines detonated. Obviously that would have killed a lot of men in the engine room, in the rear part of the ship. The fourth mine then would have accounted for casualties and of course they were also busy at the time trying to save the ship as well.

''By the time it rolled over they wouldn't have had a chance to get out.''

John Campbell's uncle, Vern Campbell, was 21 and from Dunedin, and served on the Neptune.

''The news didn't come back that quick. Reading between the lines in some of the letters it was obviously a lot of correspondence with the Defence Force to find out the actual where did it go and what happened to it. I don't think the word got out that quick which for a parent would have been really tough.''

An exhibition planned at the Navy Museum at Devonport on HMS Neptune, due to open this weekend, has been delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions until later in January.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/458126/80th-anniversary-of-new-zealand-s-worst-naval-tragedy-the-hms-neptune

[Dave Homewood]

It's so sad, just day before her demise all the big newspapers of NZ were running this article on the 16th of December 1941:

Neptune ‘Adopted' By New Zealand

[Per Press Association—Copyright.] WELLINGTON, This Day

Special interest attaches to H.M.S. Neptune, which was serving a short time ago on the Mediterranean station, for her company included about 200 New Zealanders.

Mention of this ship and her considerable New Zealand personnel was made recently by the overseas commissioner for the National Patriotic Fund Board (Lieut.-Colonel F. Waite), in a report which gives details of comforts placed on board the ship.

A letter has been received from the captain of the ship, expressing his thanks and appreciation for these gifts. The captain also asked if it would be possible in any further provisions made for the welfare of his men, to provide a cinema projector which,he said, would add greatly to the amenities of life for the New Zealanders and all their shipmates.

All to Share
Since then Colonel Waite has advised that he is able to meet this request from the Middle East. He said that as so many of the personnel were New Zealanders, a proposal had been put forward of “adopting” the ship as a whole to ensure that whatever comforts went to the New Zealanders would be shared by the others. The New Zealanders did not desire that there should be any discrimination shown, and because of this, instead of giving 1/6 a head subsidy for the New Zealanders from the Dominion's patriotic funds for Christmas festivities, it was proposed to allocate this amount for each member of the ship’s company.

The “N.Z.E.F. Times” states that the large proportion of New Zealanders in the ship is due to efforts being made to bring together under unified control New Zealand personnel serving in the Royal Navy. “It is also practical evidence that the recently bestowed right to use the title of Royal New Zealand Navy is already having definite development,” the paper adds.

And then on the 22nd of December, after the whole crew were dead bar one, and before anyone in NZ know this, the papers were reporting:

NEPTUNE’S PRIDE



UNBEATEN RUGBY TEAM

EIGHT NEW ZEALAND PLAYERS

(N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) CAIRO. Nov. 25.

A fine Rugby football record has been established by the first fifteen from the cruiser H.M.S. Neptune. There is a definite New Zealand influence, for over half of the ship’s company come from the Dominion, and eight out of the team are New Zealanders. The remainder are Englishmen and South Africans.

In the five matches the team has played it has scored 198 points and has not been beaten. Its proudest achievement was its defeat of the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet by 46 points to nil. The tall scoring somewhat awed the spectators, who in some cases jocularly admonished the victorious team to “keep it down a bit,” but there is always the fact that the Neptune herself was once a flagship, and once for a time carried Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham’s pennant at her masthead.

Matches have been played on the hard, ice-cracked ground at Scapa Flow and on the hot sands of Egypt. For the Neptune’s is a touring team doing a man-size war-time job. It heads for a port and issues and receives challenges when it gets there.

Captain of the team is the ship’s padre, an Englishman who stoutly avers that the only way to keep a New Zealander quiet about Rugby football is to mention Twickenham, Obelenski and a defeated All Black team all in one breath. New Zealanders who play in the team are J. Hull (Wellington), D’A. Heeney (Gisborne), Clark (Christchurch), D. Gregory (Gisborne), W. Campbell (Christchurch), J. M. Coote, J. Roddock and K. Garrett (Auckland), and Atkinson (Napier). D’Arcy Heeney, nephew of Tom Heeney, will be remembered as New Zealand boxing champion in his class. He receives letters fairly regularly from his more famous uncle, who is still at Miami Beach, and is keeping very fit.

[Dave Homewood]

It would be the 3rd of January 1942 before the New Zealand public were told that their newly adopted cruiser had been sunk.

SUNK BY MINES

CRUISER NEPTUNE

DELAYED STATEMENT

SOME OF CREW SAFE

(Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day.

The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, announced this morning the sinking of H.M.S. Neptune. Some delay, he said, had unfortunately been necessary in order to allow of the notification of Royal Navy of next-of-kin before publication. To those and to our own in New Zealand, Mr. Fraser expressed his keen personal sympathy and extreme regret. On behalf of the Government he desired to record the highest appreciation of the valuable services rendered to their country by members of His Majesty’s Royal New Zealand Navy and their assistance to the cause of national righteousness and international freedom to which they had dedicated their lives.

An official statement released this morning is as follows: “The Board of the Admiralty regrets to announce that the cruiser Neptune (Captain R. C. O’Connor, R.N.) has been sunk by enemy mines in the Mediterranean. All next-of-kin have been informed. A statement made by the enemy indicates that some of the ship’s company of the Neptune have been picked up and are prisoners of war.

"The destroyer Kandahar (Commander W. G. A. Robson, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N.), which was in company with the Neptune, was damaged by a mine. The Kandahar was subsequently sunk by our forces. The greater part of her ship’s company is safe. The next-of-kin of casualties have been informed.”

[Dave Homewood]

AUCKLAND STAR, 5 JANUARY 1942

[Dave Homewood]

A MISSING SEAMAN

Able Seaman Ronald F. Quinn, R.N.V.R., of Lower Hutt, who is amongst those reported missing following the sinking of H.M.S. Neptune in the Mediterranean, is one of five brothers serving overseas. He belonged to the New Zealand Division of the R.N.V.R. for five years before the outbreak of war, and prior to joining H.M.S. Neptune was on H.M.S. Prince of Wales. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Quinn, of Lower Hutt.

[Dave Homewood]

Personal Pars

Among those reported missing as a result of the sinking of H.M.S. Neptune is Signaller Ernest Wright, grandson of Mrs. E. Wright, of Portland Road, Whangarei. He is a son of Mr. Bert Wright, who was farming at Akerama for some time, and is now a sergeant in the medical corps at a military camp in the North Island. Since the story of the Neptune sinking was received, news has come to hand that a brother of the missing signaller has been reported missing in Libya.

NORTHERN ADVOCATE, 5 JANUARY 1942

[Dave Homewood]

A PROUD RECORD



NEPTUNE'S CONTRIBUTION TO OPERATIONS

NEW ZEALANDERS' WAR SERVICE

(N.Z.E.F. Official Nows Service.) CAIRO, Jan. 3.

New Zealanders, both at home and overseas, mourn the loss of H.M.S. Neptune, which was announced by the Admiralty yesterday. She was a proud ship, with a proud name and record. More than half the complement came from New Zealand. The assembly of New Zealanders in the ship’s company was the result of the efforts to bring together New Zealand personnel serving in the Navy, following the announcement some months ago of the bestowal on Dominion naval forces of the right to use the title Royal New Zealand Navy.

The New Zealanders were sent to the Neptune from ships of all kinds in many parts of the world. Some came from aircraft carriers, and others from destroyers, armed merchantmen, tankers, and tugs. For some, on the other hand, it was their first ship, and one of which they were justly proud. The men represented all parts of the Dominion, and made up a happy shipboard community, sharing life with South Africans and men from the United Kingdom.

Only two months ago a representative of the N.Z.E.F. Official News Service boarded the Neptune and received a warm welcome from the New Zealanders and other Imperial men, from the engine room to the quarterdeck. Many questions were asked about home and about the N.Z.E.F. Most of them had relatives, and all had friends serving somewhere in the Middle East. Many had had exciting experiences before joining the Neptune. One had been on an American destroyer scouting for submarines in the Atlantic. A number had been on the famous Ark Royal, taking part in the victorious Battle of Sardinia in November, and some had also been at the bombardment of Genoa and had taken part in the convoying of troops to Greece prior to the Balkans campaign.

The ship's company was particularly proud of its unbeaten Rugby football record from Scapa Flow to Egypt, Once the Neptune's team defeated the Mediterranean Fleet team by 40 points to 0. This was the time, however, when the Neptune herself was the flagship, carrying Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham’s flag at the masthead.

The Neptune’s contributions to the glorious naval operations in these waters, although often unspectacular, were nevertheless telling. It is claimed that the Neptune was the first British naval ship to sight the Italian fleet as an enemy for 142 years. It was at the battle of Calabria, the first Mediterranean encounter with the Italians in the present war. Then prior to the Libyan push the Neptune bombarded Bardia and other Axis ports in North Africa. Before returning to the Middle East she sank a supply ship to the Bismarck shortly before the German battleship met her doom, and took 68 prisoners.

Commanding the Neptune was Captain Rory O’Connor, from County Roscommon, West Ireland. He was a tall, fair-headed, quietly-spoken man who had been in command of the Neptune since before the Italian entry into the war. He was a writer of some note. He said this about the New Zealanders on board: “I think they are splendid fellows, as good as anyone could wish for. They have always shown themselves to be quick in learning and are all out to beat Hitler. They get on well with the men from other parts of the Empire. I do not wish for a better ship’s company,’

The captain’s cabin table was covered with an ensign from the supply ship sunk by the Neptune with the insignia of an eagle holding a swastika in its talons. “ I always ask my guests to lay their hats on the swastika, thus covering the Nazi emblem without hiding the eagle,” said the captain quietly and cryptically, suiting the action to the word.

On the wall of the captain’s cabin was a striking painting of the Neptune commanded by a French commander, Cassard, which took part in the battle of Trafalgar. It had been presented to Captain O’Connor by the captain of the French cruiser, the Dugnay Trouin, not long before the capitulation of France. Actually three Neptunes took part in Trafalgar—British, French, and Spanish. The Neptune just lost was worthy of such forbears, and her record is a valued contribution to the tradition and history of both the Royal Navy and New Zealand naval achievements.


EVENING STAR, 6 JANUARY 1942

[Dave Homewood]

PERSONAL

Mrs A. J. Young, of Leeston, has been advised that her brother-in-law, Able Seaman Birss, has been reported missing since the sinking of H.M.S. Neptune.

ELLESMERE GUARDIAN, 6 JANUARY 1942

[Dave Homewood]

Service in River Plate Action
Stoker (1st Class) Alexander H. McIver, aged 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. D. Mclver, of 13 Liston Street, Point Chevalier, is among those reported missing after the loss of the cruiser Neptune. Educated at various schools in Hawke's Bay, he captained the Napier Intermediate High School's first fifteen and was a member of the Hawkes' Bay primary schools' representative touring team. He entered the Navy at 18 and after training in H.M.S. Philomel was drafted to H.M.S. Achilles, being at the River Plate action. He again went on overseas service in February, 1940, and before going to the Neptune had served in two other ships.

NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 6 JANUARY 1942

[Dave Homewood]

MISSING MEN

SOME AUCKLAND NAMES

Able Seaman L. Mansell Lord, of the R.N.Z.N.V.R., reported missing from H.M.S. Neptune, is a son of Mr. and Mrs. L. Lord, of Halesowen Avenue, Mount Eden. Educated at the Seddon Memorial Technical College, Seaman Lord was well known in swimming, cricketing and tennis circles. He served four years in the naval reserve before the declaration of war, and left with the first draft in May. 1940. He was an acting-shipwright when the Neptune was lost.

AUCKLAND STAR, 7 JANUARY 1942

[Dave Homewood]

Warrant Officer Vivian T. W. J. Wilks, R.N., who is posted missing from the Neptune was formerly in Auckland in H.M.S. Achilles. A son of Mrs B. Brett, Isle of Wight, he is 28 years of age. He came to New Zealand in H.M.S. Achilles when she was recommissioned after the Battle of the River Plate. On receiving promotion to the rank of warrant-officer he went to England about 12 months ago and joined the Neptune.

NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 13 JANUARY 1942

[Dave Homewood]

TRUE, JACK GORDON, R.N.V.R.. Reported Missing. H.M.S.. NEPTUNE. Dec. 29, 1941. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur True and Family wish to thank all friends who sent letters and messages of sympathy. No further news, but still hoping.

AUCKLAND STAR, 14 JANUARY 1942

WANGFORD. WILLIAM BENNETT. R.N.V.R., Reported Missing H.M.S Neptune December 29, 1941. Mr. and Mrs. W. Wangford and Family wish to thank relatives and friends who sent letters and messages of sympathy. No further news, but still hoping.

AUCKLAND STAR, 15 JANUARY 1942




Acting-Painter John James Steedman, who is reported missing on active service; is the only son of Mr. and Mrs. John Steedman, of Mount Eden. He was educated at Kowhai Intermediate School and Seddon Memorial Technical College. He left New Zealand in May, 1940, and after several months at Devonport, England, joined H.M.S. Prince of Wales, but was later transferred to H.M.S. Neptune. Acting-Painter Steedman's wife anddaughter also live in Auckland.

AUCKLAND STAR, 14 JANUARY 1942

[Dave Homewood]

Chief Petty Officer James O'Shea, ordnance artificer, who is reported a missing from H.M.S. Neptune. He was educated at the Tipperary Grammar School, where his father, the late Mr. Patrick O'Shea, was Headmaster. Chief Petty Officer O'Shea served 22 years in the Royal Navy and was widely known throughout New Zealand, where he served two commissions. His wife and child live at 34, Picton Street, Ponsonby.
AUCKLAND STAR, 15 JANUARY 1942


Chief Petty-Officer James O'Shea, who is posted missing from H.M.S. Neptune, is the husband of Mrs. R. O'Shea, of 34 Picton Street, Ponsonby. Born in Tipperary, Ireland, 42 years ago, he was in the Royal Navy and came to New Zealand in H.M.S. Dunedin in 1932. He later went back to England and returned in H.M.S. Achilles in 1935. About 12 months before the outbreak of war he returned to England and served in two destroyers before joining the Neptune. 
NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 15 JANUARY 1942


PERRY, W. G. (BILL), R.N.V.R., reported missing H.M.S. Neptune, December 29, 1941. Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Perry and Family wish to sincerely Thank all friends for inquiries, letters, and messages of sympathy. No further news.
EVENING POST,  21 JANUARY 1942


MR. AND MRS. S. H. LEYLAND, of 33 Marine Parade, deeply appreciate all expressions of sympathy from relatives and friends regarding their son, Frank, reported missing from H.M.S. Neptune. Still hopeful of good news.
NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 27 JANUARY 1942

[markrogers]

W.G. (Bill) Perry RNVR, is my grandmother's brother. From Silverstream in Lower Hutt, the Perry family had a farm there. The farm has gone now, all under houses.

[Antonio]

This from You Tube:




It shows the Dreadnought HMS Neptune but it does list the New Zealand crew.