Auction Catalogue

20 September 2002

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria to coincide with the OMRS Convention

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

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Lot

№ 1466

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20 September 2002

Hammer Price:
£3,000

A rare 1939 D.S.O. group of eight awarded to Captain R. I. A. Sarell, Royal Navy, for ramming a U-boat whilst in command of H.M.S. Broke, one of the first operational D.S.O’s of the Second World War

Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R., reverse of the lower suspension officially dated ‘1939’; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Burma Star; Italy Star; War Medal, with M.I.D. oak leaf; Coronation 1937; Coronation 1953, the group court mounted as worn, together with six bronze Royal Tournament prize medals for fencing, all variously named and dated 1930-38; another in silver but unnamed; five other various sports prize medals, including two named; Royal Life Saving Society ‘Award of Merit’ silvered badge; R.L.S.S. bronze proficiency medal, named and dated July 1923; and an amusing stick-pin fashioned out of a Mauritius silver quarter-rupee of 1934, nearly extremely fine (23) £2000-2500

See Colour Plate IV

D.S.O.
London Gazette 23 December 1939: ‘For successful actions against enemy submarines: Lieutenant-Commander Richard Iwan Alexander Sarell, Royal Navy, H.M.S. Broke.’ Sold with copied 13-page operational report of probable destruction of a submarine by Broke on 10 September 1939, and for an unsuccessful attack on the following day. In addition to the award of the D.S.O. to Sarell, one D.S.C. and two D.S.M’s were also awarded for this action. This Gazette contained the very first operational awards of the D.S.O. to the Royal Navy in the Second World War and were the only such awards gazetted in 1939.

M.I.D.
London Gazette 21 December 1943: ‘For gallant and distinguished service in operations which led to the capture of Sicily by the Allied forces: Commander, D.S.O., R.N., H.M.S. Mauritius.’ The recommendation (originally for an ‘award’) states: ‘During period 9th to 23rd July 1943 H.M.S. Mauritius has operated off the East coast of Sicily in close support of the 8th Army. During this period 36 bombardments were carried out and enemy aircraft engaged on 21 occasions. Throughout this time the Ship’s Company have spent most of the time at Action Stations. In execution of her duty the ship also came under fire from shore batteries on a number of occasions. [Commander Sarell] Has shown outstanding devotion to duty and endurance by skilful handling of the main armament. From observed results of fire and repeated congratulatory signals from the Army, the bombardments carried out have been timely and accurate. This work has been carried out coolly and quickly at all times and especially so when the ship has been under fire from shore batteries and during air attacks.’ Sold with copied 12-page operational report of Mauritius’ part in operation Husky.

Richard Iwan Alexander Sarell (‘Ivan’) was born in Dunkirk on 22 February 1909, the son of Philip and Ethel Sarell. His father worked for the Consular service and was at that time British Consul in the town. Sarell was educated at Ashdown House preparatory school before joining the Royal Navy as a 13-year old Cadet in 1922. He left Dartmouth in 1926 and undertook sea training in the battleship
Malaya and the cruiser Effingham before attending Sub-Lieutenants’ courses at Greenwich, where he obtained the maximum five first-class certificates. He returned to sea, serving in the battleships Barham and Valiant and the destroyer Brilliant. In 1934 he qualified as a Gunnery Officer and then spent most of the remaining years of peace at sea, in the battleship Revenge and the destroyers Exmouth and Whitehall. Sarell was a keen fencer and during this period took part in many events at the Royal Tournaments when not at sea.

At the outbreak of the war, Sarell had temporary command of the destroyer flotilla leader H.M.S.
Broke which had recently been reactivated from the Reserve Fleet in Devonport. He was awarded one of the earliest naval D.S.O’s of the war when she rammed a U-boat in the autumn of 1939. After leaving Broke, Sarell joined the cruiser Mauritius, still under construction at Swan Hunter on the Tyne. He was Mentioned in Despatches for his part in Operation ‘Husky’, the Allied landings on Sicily in July 1943. Mauritius, of which Sarell was Gunnery officer, was one of several cruisers providing shore bombardment in support of the troops ashore. Mauritius went on to support landings on the Italian mainland in September. Promoted Commander in 1943, Sarell was appointed to the Gunnery and Anti-Air Warfare Division at the Admiralty. He returned briefly to Mauritius for the Normandy landing, as squadron gunnery officer of Force ‘D’, in support of the landings on ‘Sword’ beach.

In 1946 Sarell was appointed as Executive Officer (second-in-command) of another cruiser, H.M.S.
Bermuda. From there he went to the directing staff of the Joint Services Staff College, and was promoted Captain in June 1948. He served as Naval Attaché in Moscow until 1951, at a time when the Cold War was intensifying. With the Stalin regime at new heights of paranoia in its terminal years, the atmosphere was one of intense secretiveness, repression and suspicion of foreigners. But Sarell’s acquisition of Russian and his study of the Soviet Navy led to his becoming acknowledged as a leading expert on the latter among the Western Allies. He was, in particular, hugely respected by the American Intelligence establishment. After attending the Imperial Defence College, and serving as Chief Staff Officer to the Coronation Naval Brigade, Sarell took command of a new Home Fleet destroyer, H.M.S. Diamond, in 1953.

In
Diamond Captain Sarell was responsible for creating a small piece of naval folklore when, in September of that year, Diamond took part in a major N.A.T.O. exercise off Iceland, in appalling weather. The ship collided with the flagship, Swiftsure, causing extensive damage to both ships. The Times subsequently reported an exchange of signals. In response to the flagship’s query as to his intentions, Sarell was reported to have signalled back “Buy a farm.” The story was later repeated in at least one history of the post-war Navy. In fact, no such signals were ever sent, which the Admiralty directed be entered in Diamond’s Ship’s Book. That Sarell muttered these words is not in doubt, but it was no more than an off the cuff remark, unfortunately overheard and repeated to the press and now embedded in naval folklore. It is certainly true, however, that Sarell’s career, hitherto destined for flag rank, never fully recovered from the collision.

After his court martial and consequent reprimand, Sarell returned to the sphere of strategic affairs as the Naval representative of the inter-service Defence Policy Research Staff in 1954. From November 1954 to February 1955, he was the British Naval representative on a joint U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force study project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Much of Sarell’s post-war work was associated with the development of nuclear weapons and propulsion and, in April 1955, he attended the Nuclear Weapon Trials in Nevada. Realising, however, that advancement beyond the rank of captain was never going to come his way, he retired in 1957 and worked in the analysis department of the stockbrokers J. & A. Scrimgeour, until 1974. Captain Ivan Sarell, D.S.O., R.N., died on 31 October 2001, aged 92.

The group is also sold with the following original documents and photograph: Warrant for the award of the D.S.O., dated 23 December 1939 (Lieutenant-Commander, R.N., H.M.S.
Broke); M.I.D. Certificate (Commander, D.S.O., R.N., H.M.S. Mauritius, 21 December 1943); named award certificate for 1937 Coronation Medal; a fine studio portrait photograph by Janet Jevens of London; Admiralty letter of appreciation upon his retirement, including a career summary; and other information.