Orders, Decorations and Medals

An early World War 2 Naval D.S.O., M.V.O. group of nine to Commander E.L. Woodhall, Royal Navy, who was lost whilst in command of the 'Q' ship Prunella

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER, G.VI.R., reverse of suspension bar officially dated '1939'; ROYAL VICTORIAN ORDER, M.V.O., 4th class, reverse officially numbered '1307'; BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (Mid., R.N.); 1939-45 STAR; ATLANTIC STAR; DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS; JUBILEE 1935, together with miniatures of the M.V.O., Great War pair and Jubilee medal, the War Medal with 2 clasps, North Sea 1918, Black Sea 1918-20, generally very fine or better (13)

M.V.O., London Gazette, 2 January 1933.

D.S.O., London Gazette, 23rd December 1939. 'For successful actions against enemy submarines.' Lieutenant Commander Eric Langton Woodhall, M.V.O., R.N., H.M.S. Eclipse.

Woodhall entered the Navy as Midshipman on 18 June 1918, just in time to see service in the Great War. His early appointments were to the cruiser Glorious and battleships Centurian and Ajax. He was given command of the Destroyer H.M.S. Eclipse on 31 July, 1939 and was actively engaged in operations against German submarines for which he was awarded the D.S.O. Promoted Acting Commander on 12 November 1939, Woodhall was now given command of H.M.S. Cape Howe, a Decoy or 'Q' ship operating as S.S. Prunella.

R.F.A. Prunella was one of a number of special service vessels or Freighters which were commonly known as 'Q' ships after their predecessors in the First World War. The Prunella operated in Northern waters and the western approaches but spent much of March and April at Portsmouth for repairs and modifications. On 5 June 1940 she reported two enemy ships 300 miles W of Trondheim, and H.M. Ships Renown and Repulse left Scapa to intercept. The Prunella's service was to be short-lived however; on 21 June 1940 when about 120 miles W.S.W. of Land's End, she was sighted by U.28. Two torpedoes were fired at about 0730 BST one of which hit the Prunella on her port side under the forward end of the bridge. She immediately swung to port, causing the second torpedo to miss, and came to a stop. Although the ship showed no signs of sinking, the boats were lowered immediately. The U-boat observed these proceedings from periscope depth and fired a third torpedo which hit the Prunella on the starboard side, amidships.

The following extract is taken from 'On Hazardous Service - The Suicide Squadron' by A. Cecil Hampshire pp. 71-81:

'By mid-morning most of the gun and torpedo tube positions had had to be abandoned, the men gathering in the wrecked wardroom in order to keep out of sight. One of the officers on his way aft to organise some food and cigarettes for them, noticed that the wireless set in the emergency radio room appeared to be undamaged, although the main cabinet and aerials had been destroyed by the second torpedo. He told Woodhall, who ordered the radio operators to rig up a jury aerial and send off a second appeal for help. Giving the Prunella's name and position again, this ran: 'Torpedoed twice without sighting submarine. Ship cannot steam but can be towed. Require assistance. Ship's company grand but disappointed.'

Unknown to Woodhall his earlier signal had been picked up by the Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches, who promptly ordered two of his corvettes which had been escorting a convoy to hasten to the freighter's position and attack the U-boat. But they were many hours' steaming away, and the agony of the Prunella had to be endured alone.

By noon it was obvious that the freighter could not remain afloat much longer. Reluctantly Woodhall recalled the panic party boats and ordered preparations to be made for abandoning ship. All official books and documents were destroyed, and the ship's ledgers and cash -amounting to some 3,000 in notes and coins - were put into the largest boat along with the injured. Later the money had to be jettisoned together with other excess weight.

The depth charges were set at 'safe', while Relph and his Second Engineer went back to the flooded engine room and released the compression on the safety valves to allow the remaining steam to escape. The DEMS gun on the poop were still kept manned in case the U-boat should appear.

Finally the last of the officers left the floundering ship, Woodhall bringing up the rear to the spontaneous cheers of his devoted crew. The Prunella's end was now very near and she had become so greatly down by the bows that her propeller was clear of the water. Even as the last boat rowed away she dipped under, rearing up almost on end for her final plunge. In addition to the two lifeboats which had contained the panic party, it had also been possible to launch the undamaged starboard jolly boar, a large wooden raft and two Carley floats. The sea was calm, though with a four-foot swell running, the sun shining, there was plenty of food and water in the boats, and everyone was cheerful and in good spirits. Within a few hours, however, all this was to change.

The weather freshened from the north-west and a heavy sea quickly arose. Gradually the boats lost touch with one another. For a time the raft, a weighty contraption of planks and barrels with fourteen men on board,was towed by one of the lifeboats. The latter was under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Pottinger, R.N.R., whose role it had been to accompany the panic party as fake Master of the Prunella after she was attacked. But as conditions worsened the raft finally broke away despite all efforts to secure it and disappeared. The Carley floats, with six men in each, were being towed by the other two boats, in the smallest of which was Commander Woodhall. None of these was ever seen again.

Crowded into Pottinger's lifeboat were thirty officers and men, some hands having been taken aboard from the raft before it broke away. Wind and sea continued to increase with frequent violent hailstorms. Since many of the survivors were insufficiently clad they were soon suffering from cold and exhaustion, and some of the weaker spirits reached a state bordering on delirium. One man, the Fourth Radio Officer, actually went out of his mind and threw himself overboard. At dusk on the 22 June they sighted a warship several miles off, which may have been one of the searching corvettes despatched to the aid of the Prunella. But their signal flares were damp and would not ignite, and their frantic efforts to attract attention by waving and firing their revolvers brought no response. Luckily, however, late in the afternoon of the following day, the boat was spotted by a patrolling aircraft which guided a French steamer to its position. With great difficulty because of the mountainous seas running, the weak and exhausted men were hauled on board and taken to Falmouth.

The ordeal of the men on the raft was far worse and more prolonged. Lacking oars or sail and with little food and water, they drifted helplessly for nearly a week. On the fifth day after the sinking a U-boat surfaced and circled around them. When they shouted and waved, the Germans merely waved back before the submarine made off. Finally they were sighted by a passing British destroyer, which picked them up and landed them at Devonport. Five months later all those who had been listed as missing from the Prunella were officially presumed dead. They totalled well over half her company. Prunella had been sunk by U.28 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Gunter Kuhnke and the lot is sold with a letter from him dated 17 January 1977, together with wartime and peacetime portrait photographs.