Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Great War submariner’s D.S.M. awarded to Leading Stoker W. Church, Royal Navy, late R.M.L.I., a veteran of operations in the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmora and Aegean in the E. 2, who was later drowned in the K. 4 in what became known as the “Battle of May Island”

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (K. 9438 W. Church, Lg. Sto., Submarine Service 1917), nearly very fine £1200-1500

D.S.M. London Gazette 2 November 1917. The original recommendation states:

‘For long and arduous service and successful action with enemy vessels.’



William Church was born at Wantage, Berkshire, in September 1889, and originally enlisted in the Royal Marines Light Infantry in August 1908.

Posted as a Private to Portsmouth Division, he transferred to the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in September 1910 and, having gained advancement to Stoker 1st Class, transferred to the submarine branch in November 1913.

Borne on the books of the submarine depot ship H.M.S. Adamant on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was in fact serving in the E. 2, which submarine, under Lieutenant-Commander David Stocks, was ordered to the Dardanelles in the following year, the beginning of an active period of operations in the sea of Marmora and Aegean.

In August 1915 Commander Stocks took E. 2 through the Dardanelles to relieve E. 14. Whilst dived to pass the net off Nagara, her gun mounting became fouled by a 3.5 inch wire. During her manoeuvring to free the boat, small explosions could be heard. These were caused by small bombs being thrown over the side of a guard boat. Later, louder explosions could be heard, these being shells fired from a destroyer. However, Commander Stocks managed to free the boat and she successfully passed through the Dardanelles.

On the 14 August she handed over fresh supplies of ammunition to Commander Nasmith’s E. 11, and the two boats worked together attacking coastal traffic. On 22 August they bombarded the magazine and railway station at Mudania, and, on the same day E. 2 attacked and sank a large steamer off Mudania pier. Later in August E. 2 moved to Constantinople but found nothing to attack.

On 7 September, Lieutenant Lyon swam with explosives to two dhows and destroyed both. Stocks cruised up and down off the coast for two days but Lyon did not show up. Finally a battery of Turkish field-guns arrived and forced the submarine to move away from the area. E. 2’s unfortunate First Officer was never seen or heard of again.

E. 2 was the last boat to be recalled from the area on 2 January 1916, and returning to home waters in the summer of 1916, Church was advanced to Leading Stoker soon after joining the K. 4 in January 1917, once again under the command of Stocks. But this, sadly, was to prove to be his final appointment, owing to K. 4’s loss with all hands on 31 January 1918, in what became known as the ‘Battle of May Island’, a spectacular disaster involving no less than nine of the smoke-belching ‘K’ boats of the 12th and 13th Flotillas, during Fleet exercises in the Firth of Forth. In a series of five collisions, involving no less than eight vessels, two submarines were lost and three other submarines and a light cruiser were damaged, with a total loss of some 270 men of the Royal Navy.