Orders, Decorations and Medals

A B.E.M. for Gallantry awarded to Acting Leading Marine Engineering Mechanic Donald Patrick Beckett, Royal Navy, one of three men trapped inside the forward torpedo room of the submarine Artemis when she sank at her moorings in Gosport, on 1 July 1971

British Empire Medal, (Military) E.II.R., with gallantry emblem (Act. L.M.E.M. Donald P. Beckett, P.083664) with B.E.M. riband bar bearing gallantry emblem, in Royal Mint case of issue, extremely fine £2500-3000

B.E.M. for gallantry (Military Division) London Gazette 3 October 1972.

‘M.E.M. Beckett was in the accommodation space of H.M.S. Artemis at approximately 1905 on 1st July when C.P.O. Guest, who had seen from the casing that the submarine was flooding aft and sinking, came down to warn ratings on board to get out. The other ratings with Beckett immediately evacuated the submarine through the forward hatch but he, unhesitatingly, went aft with Guest to assist in trying to restrict the flooding. In the engineroom he met L.M.E.M. Croxon who, while filling the submarine’s external and emergency fuel tanks with water, had realised the situation and entered the submarine, without hesitation, via the engineroom hatch to try and reach the after bulkhead door to shut it and restrict the flooding to the after torpedo compartment. Flooding was already too advanced for him to get at that door. He therefore turned to the next bulkhead door forward. Together they tried to shut the after engineroom door, despite the risk of electrocution from shore supply leads which were rigged through it and which finally prevented them shutting it. At this time water was swirling well up their legs.

Croxon, Beckett and Guest then struggled forward against the bow up angle of the deck. Croxon and Beckett, after four attempts, shut the after accommodation space door “up hill” and secured it while Guest checked that there was no one else in the accommodation space. All three men moved rapidly into the forward torpedo stowage compartment. At this point M.E.M. Ralphs, who had already escaped, shut the forward hatch, cutting off the full bore of water pouring down it. These last three men on board almost certainly could not have climbed the ladder against this water pressure. Croxon and Beckett at Guest’s order immediately shut the last bulkhead door behind them thus preserving an air filled compartment, and an environment from which they could effect escape.

They then sealed off the bulkhead and prepared the compartment correctly for their escape through the forward escape hatch. However escape did not follow until some ten hours later during which, despite increasing air pressure, thickening atmosphere and exhaustion Beckett and Croxon remained calm, steady and sensible. Though they were in touch with progress in the rescue operations, they knew a list on the submarine could make their escape hazardous and none of them could be sure that they would get out alive.

The courageous attempt of Beckett and Croxon with Guest to save the ship by shutting doors and hatches, thus restricting the flooding to the two after compartments, was carried out in semi-darkness, in the face of heavy flooding both from aft and from above and in the clear knowledge that delay in evacuating the submarine might cost them their lives.

Both Beckett and Croxon displayed a most commendable concern for their shipmates and their exemplary conduct was in keeping with the best traditions of the Service.’

For their courageous actions, a George Medal was awarded to Ordnance Electrical Artificer 1st Class David Arthur Guest, R.N.; and British Empire Medals with Gallantry emblems were awarded to Acting Leading Marine Engineering Mechanic Donald Patrick Beckett, R.N., Leading Marine Engineering Mechanic Robert Charles Croxon, R.N. and Marine Engineering Mechanic Stuart Ralphs, R.N. At the time of the incident, Beckett, aged 24 years, lived at Heyshott Road, Southsea.

H.M.S. Artemis, an Amphion Class submarine, was built by Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Company of Greenock, Scotland. She was laid down on 28 February 1944, launched on 28 August 1946 and completed on 15 August 1947. On 1 July 1971, whilst moored at Gosport (H.M.S. Dolphin) for re-fueling, she suffered a catastrophic fracture to one of her pipes in the aft section used for drawing in sea water for cooling. The subsequent flooding caused the submarine to sink by the stern in 9 metres of water, trapping three men in the forward torpedo room for ten hours. The submarine was raised from the seabed on 6 July, and being decommissioned was sold for scrap on 12 December 1971.

With copied extracts from the London Gazette and The Times and with some other copied research.