A fine Second World War “sub-on-sub” D.S.M. group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Commander (E.) W. E. Glass, Royal Navy, who, having been decorated for his part in the destruction of the Italian submarine Capitano Tarantini in 1940, won a “mention” for further patrols in the Pacific in 1945

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (C.MX. 50778 W. E. Glass, E.R.A. 3, H.M.S. Thunderbolt); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Burma Star; War Medal 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf, minor contact wear, generally good very fine (6) £3000-3500

D.S.M. London Gazette 4 February 1941:

‘For courage, skill and seamanship in destroying an Italian submarine.’

The original recommendation states:

‘For marked efficiency in the performance of his duty as outside E.R.A. in the face of the enemy.’

Mention in despatches London Gazette 20 November 1945:

‘For gallantry, skill and outstanding devotion to duty whilst serving in H.M. Submarines in numerous successful patrols in trying climatic conditions in the Pacific, frequently carried out in shallow and difficult waters and in the presence of strong opposition.’

William Ernest Glass, a native of Prinsted, Sussex, was born in April 1907 and joined the Royal Navy as an Engine Room Artificer 4th Class in June 1934. Having joined the submarine branch in 1935, his pre-war commissions included L. 53 and Odin, and come the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939, he was serving as and E.R.A. 3rd Class in Osiris.

“Thunderbolt” (ex-”Thetis”) 1940-42

He then served briefly in Porpoise, from December 1939 to April 1940, prior to joining Thunderbolt (ex-Thetis) in the latter month. Thetis, of course, had struck tragedy in Liverpool Bay in June 1939, amidst world publicity, just four of her crew escaping after a disastrous trial dive, and following her salvage, it fell to a clean-up team which included Glass to prepare her for her re-commissioning as the Thunderbolt.

Refitted by October 1940, and placed under the command of Lieutenant C. B. Crouch, R.N., Thunderbolt’s first taste of action was a classic “sub-on-sub” encounter in the Bay of Biscay on 15 December 1940, when she came upon the Italian submarine Capitano Tarantini. And what followed was a masterly attack of textbook precision, leaving Their Lordships in no doubt as to the fate of the enemy submarine:

‘The patrol for which these recommendations are forwarded was carried out between 3-21 December close to the enemy occupied coast. On 15 December, Thunderbolt sighted an Italian U-Boat escorted by three armed trawlers and fired six torpedoes at a range of about 4,000 yards. A tall column of water was seen to rise in the air when one torpedo hit, followed by an explosion and the appearance of the bow or stern of the U-Boat sticking out of the water as it sank. This evidence left no doubt that the attack was successful. The counter-attack by the escorting trawlers was evaded, but on 17 December Thunderbolt was subjected to an intensive hunt by two A./S. sloops, one of which passed directly over her and carried away her diving aerial with a sweep.’

In point of fact Crouch had obained a ‘stern-on hit’, and only those who had been standing on the Italian submarine’s conning tower were able to jump for it - in the end just four men, including a Lieutenant, were plucked from the water. Crouch was awarded the D.S.O., his No. 1 the D.S.C., and five ratings, including Glass, the D.S.M., while five others received “mentions”.

Next employed on convoy escort duties, operating out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Thunderbolt survived being straddled by 6-inch shells delivered in error by the armed merchant cruiser Canton, following which, to everyone’s relief, she was ordered to the Mediterranean, and, by September 1941, was back on regular war patrols, busy work that continued until March 1942:

‘The early days of the fifth patrol proved that their luck had turned once again. During a bare three weeks at sea - it was the end of January and the beginning of February 1942 - some of which was spent on passage to and from Alexandria, back for a third time to the west coast of Greece, they made a successful torpedo attack on an unescorted merchantman, sunk a U-Boat and an armed trawler by gun action, were attacked various times by five destroyers and one Italian seaplane, and were bombarded by 60 or more depth-charges. And the bulk of the patrol had been conducted with only the low-power periscope functioning - the high-power had been put out of action by the first counter-attack’ (The Admiralty Regrets, by Warren and Benson, refers).

The same source refers to Glass’ views on enemy counter-attacks:

‘He had volunteered for submarines before the War, believing that their job was necessary and that in war they would be defending the people at home. This he still felt deep down, but he could not stop himself also thinking that his boats “successes” were really dreadful acts of violence, speeding them all to Hell. He found it difficult to feel the large issues at stake. The War, for him, was between the Thunderbolt and her immediate opponents. Whenever they had attacked first, which was almost always, he could not stop himself feeling that in the subsequent counter-attack the justice was all on the side of the enemy, and that they in Thunderbolt richly deserved all that was coming to them’.

Over and above her more regular operational activities, from time to time Thunderbolt was called upon to carry out more unusual tasks, thus her part in locating and rescuing the survivors of the torpedoed Guelma, all of whom never forgot the generous hospitality given them - ‘They slept in the bunks - the submariners on the deck; they ate first - the submariners second; they had the seats - the submariners stood’. So, too, the occasional insertion of clandestine operatives, a case in point being the delivery of a pair of Cretan cut-throats to the southern shore of the island during Thunderbolt’s second Mediterranean patrol: one of them revealed that he was a twice convicted murderer, and the other helped himself to Thunderbolt’s store of .45-inch revolver ammunition, nicking the heads of all the bullets with a large knife - but no-one dared to remind him of International Law. Other agents on different missions were carried on the same patrol, none of them less colourful than the Cretans, ‘being hung around with revolvers, knives, and the like, from which - as far as the submariners could see - they were not even parted when they turned in to sleep’.

Shortly after Thunderbolt’s return to the U.K. in March 1942, Glass was appointed a Warrant Engineer - he had rented a room in ‘a doss house above a cafe’ in Malta to study for his examination in the evenings, as the Thunderbolt underwent a refit, only to discover that his temporary place of learning was in the middle of a brothel. Duly qualified, he attended a course at Ambrose, following which, in January 1943, he joined the Sunfish.

“Subtle” and the Far East 1944-45

But it was for his final is wartime appointment in Subtle in the Pacific from January 1944 to V.J. Day, that he won his “mention”. His captain on this occasion was Lieutenant B. J. Andrew, R.N., who had served as Thunderbolt’s No. 1, and between them they experienced further adventures of the hair-raising kind, not least a severe depth-charge attack from a Japanese cruiser:

‘In May a brilliant destroyer action developed as a result of submarine sightings of a Japanese cruiser. Statesman, commanded by Lieutenant R. G. Bulkeley, and Subtle, commanded by Lieutenant B. J. Andrew, reported on 10 May that a 10,000-ton cruiser with a destroyer were steaming north through the Malacca Straits. Statesman was in no position to attack, but Subtle managed to get into a favourable position to fire a salvo of torpedoes. Unfortunately the cruiser turned to avoid them just in time and Subtle underwent the nerve-shattering experience of a severe depth-charge bombardment. Although suffering from some minor damage, she managed to shake off her pursuers’ (Submarine Victory, by David A. Thomas, refers).

Subtle got her revenge:

‘When news of this skirmish with the enemy was received a strong force of ships left Trincomalee in the hope of bringing the enemy ships to battle. But on 12 May, Andrew in Subtle sighted the same enemy ships now steering south. This report enabled Captain M. L. Power in the destroyer Saumarez and his 26th Flotilla of destroyers to steam at high speed from a position to the south on an interception course. Power made contact and in a high-speed, bitter night engagement sank the 10,000-ton cruiser Haguro. The Japanese destroyer got away in the pandemonium, and Power’s ship suffered some damage. It was a first-class action crowned with a deserving victory for the dauntless destroyers.’

Post-war, Glass was advanced to Commissioned Engineer in April 1946 and to Senior Commissioned Engineer in April 1949, and he was finally placed on the Retired List as a Lieutenant-Commander (E.) in July 1957.