Orders, Decorations and Medals

A fine inter-war Royal Yacht M.V.O., Great War minesweeping and mine disposal operations D.S.C. group of eight awarded to Lieutenant-Commander W. G. C. Crouch, Royal Navy - ‘on several occasions, and under dangerous conditions, he has rendered mines safe which have drifted on shore, particularly on one occasion when the horn of a mine was badly bent’

The Royal Victorian Order, M.V.O., Member’s 5th Class breast badge, silver, silver-gilt and enamel, the reverse officially numbered ‘571’; Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R., hallmarks for London 1919, the reverse privately inscribed, ‘W. G. C. Crouch, Gunner, R.N., March 1918’; 1914-15 Star (Gnr. W. G. C. Crouch, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Gnr. W. G. C. Crouch, R.N.); Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; France, Medaille Militaire, together with a fine presentation silver cigarette box, 18cm. x 9cm. x 4cm., hallmarks for London 1936, the lid engraved ‘H.M. Yacht Victoria & Albert, 1922-1938’, and bearing the facsimile signatures of the yacht’s officers, the last with chipped reverse enamel, otherwise good very fine (8) £2000-2500

M.V.O. London Gazette 3 June 1931.

D.S.C. London Gazette 17 April 1918. The original recommendation states:

‘He has served in the Fleet Sweeping Flotillas during the whole of the War, and been employed in practically every minesweeping operation. On several occasions, and under dangerous conditions, he has rendered mines safe which have drifted on shore, particularly on one occasion when the horn of a mine was badly bent. He also rendered the most valuable assistance on the occasion of H.M.S. Carnation being mined. And he conducted a highly hazardous sweep in very rough weather in the entrance of Kirkwall Harbour when it was confidently expected that mines would be encountered and was also in charge of important minesweeping operations in Eastern Waters of the North Sea.’

French Medaille Militaire London Gazette 15 September 1916.

Walter George Collingwood Crouch was born in Fareham, Hampshire in April 1883, and entered the Royal Navy direct from Greenwich Hospital as a Boy 2nd Class in September 1898. Advanced to Able Seaman in July 1902, to leading Seaman in August 1904 and to Petty Officer 2nd Class in April 1905, he passed for Gunner (Warrant Officer) in April 1912.

Appointed to the gunboat H.M.S. Skipjack as a Commissioned Gunner on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he remained similarly employed until removing to the sloop Hollyhock in June 1915. His C.O. in the Skipjack was Commander L. G. P. Preston, R.N., who was affectionately known as “L.G.P.” to his subordinates and rose to become Admiral Sir Lionel Preston, K.C.B. Here, then, the commencement of an uninterrupted wartime career in minesweeping and mine disposal, the details of which may be traced though his seagoing commissions in Taffrail’s Swept Channels. Thus the author’s detailed description of the occasion when Skipjack and some trawlers ran into a large minefield laid by the Kolberg off Scarborough in mid-December 1914:

‘The Skipjack was quite close to the trawlers when the stillness of the morning was rudely shattered by the thudding boom of a heavy explosion. A column of white water mingled with greyish smoke leapt out of the calm sea. It was as high as a church spire, and seemed to hang for a moment in mid-air before curling over to fall sizzling and hissing back to the surface in the midst of a blackened area dotted with silver bodies of dead fish.

The detonations continued, one after the other. Within five minutes eighteen mines were swept up, or had exploded in the trawlers’ sweeps. The Kolberg’s cargo had been very thickly sown. Never afterwards throughout the whole period of the war were mines discovered in such profusion, or so close together.

But the situation was alarming. The ‘safety period’ had passed. The tide was falling fast, and every minute brought the mines nearer the ships’ bottoms.

The scene was extraordinary. Trawlers, most of them with their sweeps parted, were intermingled with mines torn from their moorings and floating ominously on the surface. The mines were being fired upon.

Two trawlers had been blown up. One, the Orianda, unable to stop her engines, steamed on, sinking as she went, until nothing remained but the tip of her masthead travelling along the surface like the periscope of a submarine. Then this last trace of her disappeared.

A second trawler, Lieutenant Parsons’ Passing, was down by the bows, badly on fire, and blowing off dense clouds of steam from the severed steam-pipe. Her sweeping consort promptly went alongside to render what help was possible.

A third little ship, commanded by Lieutenant Crossley, R.N.R., was in immediate danger of sinking owing to leaks caused by the heavy explosions close alongside her. Crossley himself was below in the cramped space near the screw shaft trying to stop the inflow of water by divesting himself of his clothing and stuffing it into the stern gland. He plugged it sufficiently to allow the pumps to keen down the inrush of water, and so saved the ship.

It was a hideous melee of trawlers and unexploded mines drifting with the tide. The rattle of rifles and heavier guns rent air. Now and then a mine hit by gunfire detonated with a mighty roar, or was punctured and sank bubbling to the bottom. Low water was rapidly approaching. The extent of the minefield was unknown.

Commander Preston was the senior officer on the spot at the moment. In the midst of this hideous danger he did not hesitate, but gave the order to anchor as the only possible method of avoiding further heavy loss.

Many men, confronted with the same problem, would have trusted to luck and beat a hasty retreat. But Preston argued to himself that the ships would be comparatively safe at anchor until the tide turned. And when it did turn, the risk of striking mines as the ships swung was infinitesimal compared with the danger of trying to extricate the whole flotilla then and there. At high water all vessels could be withdrawn in safety. So the anchors rattled down to the bottom, and for a time there was peace ... ’

In June 1915, Crouch accompanied “L.G.P.” to his next command, the sloop Hollyhock, so, too, in June 1916, to his final seagoing command, the Lupin, evidence indeed of how much he was valued by the future Director of Minesweeping Operations at the Admiralty. And it was in the latter sloop that Crouch lent valuable service on the occasion that H.M.S. Carnation was mined off Lerwick in March 1917.

Between the Wars, Crouch served continuously in the Royal Yacht Victoria & Albert III from November 1922 until his retirement in the rank of Lieutenant-Commander in April 1938, in which period he was awarded his M.V.O. and was present at the Fleet Reviews of 1935 and 1937, thereby qualifying for the Jubilee & Coronation Medals. Recalled on the renewal of hostilities, he was given command of the Victoria & Albert III in December 1939, shortly following which she was converted to an accommodation ship to the gunnery establishment Excellent. Crouch remained similarly employed to the War’s end and died in February 1948.

Sold with the recipient’s original warrant for his M.V.O., dated 3 June 1931, and certificate of award for his French Medaille Militaire, dated 11 November 1916.