Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Chief Engine Room Artificer S. E. Odell, Royal Navy, who was killed in Action when the Destroyer H.M.S. Firedrake was torpedoed by the German submarine U-211 on the night of 16 December 1942

Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1936-1939 (M.36117 S. E. Odell. E.R.A.2. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaves; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (M.36117 S. E. Odell. C.E.R.A. H.M.S. Firedrake.) nearly extremely fine (5) £240-£280

M.I.D. London Gazette 27 June 1941.

Stanley Edward Odell, a native of Rye, Sussex, served as a Chief Engine Room Artificer during the Second World War, and was killed in action when the Destroyer H.M.S. Firedrake was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on 17 December 1942.

On the night of 16-17 December 1942, H.M.S. Firedrake, an F-class Destroyer, was the escort leader to convoy ON-153, with 43 ships bound for Canada. They sailed in a force 12 storm the worst the Atlantic had seen for a very long time. At about 17.00 hrs, the Asdic operator picked up a contact. H.M.S. Firedrake tracked the contact to about 5 miles south of the convoy, when at 20.10 hrs she was hit by a torpedo fired by U-boat U-211. The ship broke in two. Of the ship’s complement of 196 officers and men there were only 26 survivors, who were picked up by H.M.S. Sunflower.

Odell is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

Sold with named Admiralty enclosure slip for Second War Campaign Medals; Admiralty forwarding slip for the M.I.D. emblem; a large photograph of the recipient in uniform; a copy of ‘Destroyers at War’ by A. D. Devine; and a large amount of copied research.