Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Fourteen: Captain W. D. Stephens, Royal Navy, who as a young Midshipman left an account of the sinking of H.M.S. Formidable on 1 January 1915. After serving at the Battle of Jutland, in 1917 he joined the submarine service and at outbreak of the Second War was serving as a Captain in the Second Submarine Flotilla. After a time serving as Deputy Director, Naval Intelligence and Director of Trade Division, his final appointment was to the Command of the Pacific Fleet aircraft carrier, H.M.S. Illustrious

1914-15 Star (Mid. W. D. Stephens. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (S. Lt. W. D. Stephens. R.N.); Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1936-1939 (Capt. W. D. Stephens. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1953; United States of America, Legion of Merit, Officer’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with emblem on riband; Poland, Republic, Order of Polonia Restituta, Commander’s neck badge, gilt and enamel, with short section of neck riband; Netherlands, Kingdom, Order of the Orange Nassau, Military Division, Commander’s neck badge, with swords, gold, silver and enamel, with short section of neck riband, mounted as worn, generally very fine and better (14) £1,200-£1,600

United States of America, Legion of Merit, London Gazette 16 July 1946:
‘For services as Direct of the Board of Trade Division, Admiralty from July 1943 to July 1945.’

Poland, Order of Polonia Restituta, London Gazette 22 August 1944

Netherlands, Order of the Orange Nassau, London Gazette 25 November 1947

William Derek Stephens was born on 5 March 1898 and joined the Royal Navy in January 1911. At the outbreak of the Great War he was serving as a Midshipman aboard H.M.S. Formidable and was aboard this battleship when it was sunk by two torpedoes from U-24 on 1 January 1915. Stephens was one of approximately 200 survivors, 547 Officers and men being lost. He left an account of the sinking, an extract of which is as follows:
‘At 2.20 I was awakened by a crash and at once hurried to the upper deck. The ship had a strong list to starboard and was very down by the bow. We had turned out of line and had stopped, the steam supply being cut off. The torpedo struck just abreast of the foremost funnel and low down ... The list was rapidly becoming worse and it was extremely probable that matters would have become very critical had not a second torpedo struck the starboard side! This at once corrected the list ... The end was now plainly very near. The starboard side of the deck was now awash with water and it was hardly possible to cling to the rails. The Captain came down to the port boat deck and shouted “ she’s going down into the water with you” and a good many slid down the ship’s side and jumped. The others were too late, they fell backwards up against the turret and starboard guard rails. She sank by the bows and remained for about a minute with her stern pointing skywards…’

Just two weeks after the being rescued, on 18 January 1915, Stephens was appointed to the battleship, H.M.S. Neptune and served in her at the Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916. Appointed Sub Lieutenant in November 1916, he continued with Neptune until 10 October 1917, joining H.M.S. Dolphin for submarine training the following day. Appointed to the submarine depot H.M.S. Vulcan on 28 December 1917, over the next six months he served aboard H.M. submarines H5 and H8 in the Irish Sea and Atlantic. On 28 May 1918, he was appointed to H.M.S. Hebe for service aboard C19, serving aboard this submarine until 14 October 1918. Promoted Lieutenant the following day, his final wartime service was at H.M.S. Dolphin.

Post War, Stephens stayed in the Royal Navy, serving aboard various submarines and being promoted Lieutenant-Commander on 15 October 1926. On 14 December 1927, he had his first command appointment aboard L.22, serving with this submarine until 2 January 1929. Over the following ten years, he had a number of submarine commands and attended a number of Staff courses, and was serving as Captain in command of H.M.S. Forth at the outbreak of the Second War. Appointed Deputy Director, Naval Intelligence, on 28 February 1940, he served at this post at the Admiralty until 1 February 1941. Four days later he was appointed to the command of the light cruiser, H.M.S. Mauritius, serving with the Home and Eastern Fleet until March 1943. On 21 July that year, he was posted back to Admiralty as Director of Trade Division, holding this position until 12 July 1945. Two weeks later Stephens had his final wartime posting, taking command of aircraft carrier, H.M.S. Illustrious, then serving with the Pacific Fleet. Serving with Illustrious until January 1947, Stephens finally retired that same month. He died on 25 July 1983.

Sold with copied research, including a photograph of the recipient.