Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A superb Malta Force ‘K’ D.S.M. awarded to Chief Ordnance Officer H. J. Bishop, H.M.S. Aurora, for the night action attack on the Duisberg Convoy in which 12 out of 14 enemy ships were destroyed on 8/9th November 1941
Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (M.36232 H. J. Bishop, C.O.A. H.M.S. Aurora) impressed naming; British War and Victory Medals (57784 Pte. H. J. Bishop. Hamps. R.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue (M.36232 H. J. Bishop O.A,1, H.M.S. London.) good very fine £1,800-£2,200

D.S.M. London Gazette 24 February 1942: ‘For gallantry, skill and resolution in a brilliant night action South of Otranto, against odds, in which, without hurt or loss to the Royal Navy, ten enemy Supply Ships were wholly destroyed, one Destroyer sunk, and at least one other badly damaged.’

Chief Ordnance Officer Harold James Bishop, H.M.S. Aurora.

Bishop’s award was for an epic action on the night of 8th to 9th November 1941, in which Aurora won her nickname the “Silver Phantom” when, as part of the famous Force ‘K’, and operating from Malta it engaged an enemy convoy, the Beta, otherwise known as the Duisberg Convoy. Force ‘K’, made up of Aurora, Penelope, and destroyers Lance and Lively, intercepted an Italian convoy some 130 miles miles south-west of Calabria, bound from Naples to Tripoli. The Italian destroyer Fulmine was sunk as well as the German transports Duisberg and San Marco, the Italian transports Maria, Sagitta and RinaCorrado, and the Italian Conte di Misurata and Minatitlan. The Italian destroyers Grecale and Euro were damaged, as well as the Libeccio.

Then, on the first day of December, she sank the Italian supply ship Adriatico and the tanker Iridio Mantovani, and the destroyer Alvise da Mosto. A little over two weeks later, however, the “Silver Phantom” was mined off Tripoli, and made her way to Malta for repairs, and thence to Liverpool, enduring enemy raids and near misses at Valetta in the interim.