Auction Catalogue

22 September 2006

Starting at 11:30 AM

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Orders, Decorations and Medals

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

Lot

№ 1046

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22 September 2006

Hammer Price:
£3,300

An outstanding Great War ‘Submarine to Submarine’ action D.S.C. group of nine awarded to Commander A. M. Coleman, Royal Navy

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) 2nd type breast badge; Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R., the reverse hallmarked London 1918, and inscribed ‘11 May 1918 Lieutenant A. M. Coleman, Royal Navy, H.M.S/M E35 sank U154’; 1914-15 Star (S. Lt., R.N.R.) sometime gilded; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Lieut., R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals, these three all privately named ‘Cmdr., R.N.); Coronation 1953, mounted as worn, good very fine (9) £2000-2500

O.B.E. London Gazette 1 July 1941: Lieutenant Commander Arthur Mallorie Coleman, D.S.C., R.N., Retired (serving in H.M.S. Pembroke IV).

D.S.C.
London Gazette 14 September 1918: ‘For services in action with enemy submarines’.

Awarded for the submarine to submarine action between the British Atlantic escort submarine
E35 and the new German U-boat cruiser U-154 off Cape St Vincent on 11 May 1918. The U-154 was commanded by the U-boat “Ace” Gerke, who had already enjoyed considerable success against British shipping, including (with U-153) the sinking of the Q-ship Willow Branch on 25 April 1918. The U-154 was spotted on the surface by the British submarine E35, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Guy D’Oyley Hughes, latterly Naismith’s first lieutenant during his famous Dardanelles Victoria Cross exploits. Hughes stalked the German submarine for two hours, before firing a torpedo which missed. However, a sudden change of course by the German boat gave D’Oyley Hughes a second chance - and this time he did not miss. Two torpedoes struck the U-154 with such violence that the light bulbs were shattered on the E35. The U-boat sank, leaving three survivors. E35 then surfaced in an attempt to rescue these three men but, before she could, a look-out spotted a periscope, probably U-153, and D’Oyly Hughes immediately dived. It later transpired that the U-154 had on board five captains of British merchant ships as prisoners.

Coleman was in H.M.S.
Hilary from 30 December 1914 to 25 May 1917, when she was torpedoed and sunk by U-88. He subsequently became a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, from the Royal Naval Reserve, and joined E35 in January 1918. He received the O.B.E. for his work in H.M.S. Pembroke IV on the staff of Accountant Officer, London Thames Area and, from January 1941 to the end of the war, he was officer in charge H.M.S. Tower, P.L.A. Building, Trinity Square, London.