Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Great War “Q” Ship D.S.M. group of four awarded to Engine Room Artificer W. Thompson, Royal Navy

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (M.14056 E.R.A. 4Cl., H.M.S. “P.62” Atlantic Ocean 26 Jan. 1918); 1914-15 Star (M.14045 Act. E.R.A. 4, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (M.14056 E.R.A.3, R.N.) very fine (4) £1400-1800

D.S.M. London Gazette 8 March 1918. ‘... for services in action with enemy submarines’.

Engine Room Artificer W. Thompson was awarded the D.S.M. for service on the Q-ship P.62 (a.k.a. Kingsnake and Mornington) in a successful action against the German submarine U-84 - a ‘very up-to-date submarine which had a surface speed of 16 knots ... armed with a 4.1-inch gun and a 22-pounder, and a dozen torpedoes which could be fired from six tubes.’ (ref. Q Ships and Their Story, by E. Keble Chatterton). In the early morning of 26 January 1918, while patrolling across the Irish Sea in a position between the Smalls and the Tuskar, the P. 62, ‘a low-lying craft with bows sharp as a razor for ramming’ (ref. Beating the U-Boats, by E. Keble Chatterton), dealt the U-84 a mortal blow, hitting the enemy submarine ‘good and heartily at right angles’ at a speed of 17 knots: ‘She smote the enemy just abaft the conning tower and was brought up all standing in the darkness of night. A magnificent occasion! Down disappeared the U-84, and when dawn came it showed a sea smooth, with large quantities of oil; but a depth-charge, set at 200 feet, was dropped as a final stop.’

Thompson was one of two other ranks to be awarded the D.S.M. for this action. The captain of the P.62, Lieutenant-Commander G. G. D. Salmon, R.N., was awarded the D.S.C. His group was sold at D.N.W. 25 June 2008, lot 1196.