Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War Gallipoli operations D.S.M. awarded to Able Seaman W. H. Clapp, Royal Navy, who survived the loss of H.M.S. Ocean in the Dardanelles in March 1915 and H.M.S. Cornwallis in the Mediterranean in January 1917

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (S.S. 529 W. H. Clapp, A.B., Gallipoli Opns., 1915-6), edge bruising, very fine £600-800

D.S.M. London Gazette 15 May 1916:

‘The following awards have been approved in recognition of the services of Petty Officers and men of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron during the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula in December 1915 - January 1916.’

William Henry Clapp was born at Wednesbury, Staffordshire in November 1885 and entered the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman in April 1904. Transferring to the Royal Fleet Reserve in April 1909, he was recalled in the rate of Able Seaman in August 1914, when he joined the battleship H.M.S. Ocean, in which capacity he was still serving when she was sunk on 18 March 1915, while engaged in a bombardment of the Turkish forts that dominated the Dardanelles. A Dictionary of Disasters at Sea takes up the story:

‘The battleship Ocean was a unit of the Allied Fleet engaged in the bombardment of the Dardanelles forts in the First World War. On 18 March 1915, at about 3 p.m., the battleship Irresistible ran on a mine and took a heavy list. It was belived at the time that she could be saved and the destroyer Wear, and later the Ocean, came alongside to give assistance. Wear took off most of the battleship’s crew, while Ocean passed a wire hawser and prepared to tow Irresistible out of range of the forts. The intensity of the enemy’s fire soon convinced the captains of both ships that the attempt, at least in daylight, was attended by too great a risk. The volunteers of Irresistible were therefore taken off and the ship allowed to drift till nightfall. The Ocean had not steamed more than a mile from her stricken consort when she in turn struck a mine, which exploded on her starboard side, flooding her bunkers and jamming her helm. She was also hit by a heavy shell which flooded her steering engine room. The destroyers Chelmer, Colne and Jed were called alongside and Captain Hayes-Sadler and his entire compnay were safely transferred. Both battleships sank during the night.’

In April 1915 Clapp joined the ship’s company of the destroyer Osiris, his service record further noting that he was placed on the strength of the Aegean torpedo-boat destroyer base Europa I that July, possibly indicating that he remained in the Osiris until the end of this latter commission in January 1916. In any event, as stated above, his D.S.M. was for services during the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

In January 1917, Clapp joined the battleship Cornwallis, but it was to prove a short-lived appointment. A Dictionary of Disasters at Sea takes up the story:

‘Cornwallis was one of the pre-dreadnought battleships that survived the Dardanelles campaign, which had proved fatal to so many of her contemporaries. In January 1917, the ship was under orders for England and on the 9th of the month she was due at Malta, on her way home. Her commander, Captain A. P. Davidson, D.S.O., was aware that there was a submarine in the vicinity and he had under his orders a small force of two sloops and eight trawlers, which he sent in search of the enemy. Meanwhile Cornwallis, escorted by the destroyer Beagle, continued on her way, zigzagging according to custom. At 7.55 a.m. she was struck on the starboard side, abreast the boiler room by a torpedo from the submarine U-32, Cdr. Kurt Hartwig. Both British ships were taken by surprise, and although the destroyer dropped depth-charges she neither hit the submarine nor scared her away.

Cornwallis immediately listed ten degrees and it became necessary to flood her boiler and engine rooms to bring her on to an even keel. This meant that the steam hoisting gear for the boats was put out of action, and they had to be manhandled. Despite this handicap they were got out, the ship’s company mustered and evrything made ready to “abandon ship”. The complement of Cornwallis was 670 and all this number, except 15 men killed when the torpedo exploded, came off safely and boarded the Beagle which ran alongside as the battleship was sinking. A second torpedo now hit Cornwallis on the port side amidships just after Beagle had sheered off. This was the U-32’s final shot before leaving the scene. Had it come five minutes before it would undoubtedly have sent Beagle to the bottom with hundreds of men.’

Thereafter Clapp appears to have remained employed at shore establishements back in the U.K., and was demobilised in March 1919.