The John Chidzey Collection

A fine Second World War Malta convoy D.S.M. group of six awarded to Chief Stoker H. Kelly, Royal Navy, who shared in all eight of the Battle Honours won by the cruiser Penelope - a.k.a. “H.M.S. Pepperpot” on account of severe damage - including “Norway 1940”, for which he was awarded a “mention”, and “Malta Convoys 1941-42”, for which he was decorated for his part in Operation “M.G. 1” and the battle of Sirte: tragically he was also among those lost on the occasion of the cruiser’s demise in February 1944

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (K. 62319 H. Kelly, Ch. Sto.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Italy Star; War medal 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue (K. 62319 H. Kelly, P.O., H.M.S. Erebus), good very fine and better (6) £1200-1500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The John Chidzey Collection.

View
Collection

D.S.M. London Gazette 6 October 1942:

‘For bravery, endurance and sustained devotion to duty in H.M. Ships Aurora, Avon Vale, Lance, Legion, Kingston and Penelope, and at Malta, during and after the passage of an important convoy.’

Mention in despatches London Gazette 6 January 1942:

‘For courage, resource, zeal and devotion to duty while serving in Norwegian waters and elsewhere in the Spring and Summer of 1940.’

Harold Kelly was born in Lower Broughton, Lancashire in October 1900 and entered the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in September 1923. Advanced to Leading Stoker in 1928 and awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in 1935, he was actively employed in the cruiser H.M.S. Penelope from early 1940 up until her loss in February 1944, a period encompassing that cruiser’s impressive record of winning no less then eight Battle Honours, namely “Norway 1940”, “Malta Convoys 1941-42”, “Mediterranean 1941-43”, “Sicily 1943”, “Sirte 1943”, “Aegean 1943”, “Salerno 1943” and “Anzio 1944”.

Norway 1940

As part of the 2nd Cruiser Fleet in the Home Fleet, Penelope arrived at Rosyth in early 1940, in readiness for operations off Norway, and it was while patrolling for enemy merchantmen off Fleinver on 11 April that she ran aground and was seriously damaged, causing flooding in the Boiler Room. Here, then, the action for which Kelly was awarded his mention in despatches, for he was undoubtedly among those to carry out urgent repairs as the cruiser was subjected to four near-misses from enemy bombers at Skel Fjord, where she was towed by an escorting destroyer. Four weeks later, she made Greenock under her own steam.

Cape Spartivento

But it was for his subsequent services in the Mediterranean that Kelly was awarded his D.S.M., when the Penelope, commanded by Captain A. D. Nicholl, D.S.O., R.N., and her consort the cruiser H.M.S. Aurora, commanded by Captain W. “Big Bill” Agnew, C.B., R.N., and their destroyer escorts, formed part of Force ‘K’.

It was an intense period of operations, one of the Force’s early successes being the brilliant night action against an enemy convoy fought off Cape Spartivento on 8-9 November 1941. On that occasion, the enemy was sighted at 0050 hours, and Penelope’s guns went into action a few minutes later, quickly putting out of action the Italian destroyer Grecale and sinking another. With such important enemy escorts out of the frame, the Penelope and Aurora proceeded to lay waste the remainder of the enemy convoy over a period of 30 minutes or so, an action related in detail by Ed Gordon in his definitive history, H.M.S. Pepperpot:

‘There were two highlights for the Penelope men, recorded in the ship’s log. One was the tanker which ‘exploded with tremendous violence and filled the air with burning and exploding debris’. Crewmen on deck saw the sea around the tanker catch alight as thousands of gallons of petrol (for Rommel’s tanks and motor transport) spilled out. Mussolini’s Mare Nostrum was burning! The other highlight was a forty-thousand-ton ammunition ship blowing up ‘in a huge ball of sparks sending a curtain of bright colours against the night sky to a height of 1,500 feet’ ... At 0123 a plaintive voice in Penelope’s director control tower was heard by the bridge team to say: “Is that enough?” No, it wasn’t. A small transport had been sighted behind the burning tanker. Once again Penelope’s four-inch guns crashed out and the ship blew up ... A minute later Penelope had to engage another of the distant destroyers. She was firing from a range of five miles to the west. Penelope’s four-inch salvos again blazed away. After only three minutes, ‘A Christmas tree of sparks rising to between 200 and 300 feet was seen from the destroyer’s position and she ceased firing,’ stated the report ... ’

Very shortly all that could be seen were numerous enemy ships burning fiercely, and Captain W. “Big Bill” Agnew gave the order for Force ‘K’ to set course for Malta. As it transpired, Penelope had fired 60 broadsides, using 259 6-inch shells and 111 rounds of 4-inch, while her crew had, in the words of Captain Nicholl, ‘shown great steadiness under fire and carried out their duties with the spirit and coolness of a seasoned crew.’

Penelope and Force ‘K’ intercepted another enemy convoy on 24 November, sinking two ships west of Crete and winning a congratulatory message from Churchill, while on 19 December Penelope was lucky to survive a run-in with a minefield - though herself slightly damaged, Neptune and Kandahar were lost on the same occasion.

Operation “M.G. 1”

Hasty repairs and two convoys later, she participated in Malta convoy Operation “M.G. 1” in late March 1942, when she was present in the ‘brilliant action’ fought against the Italian Fleet, which endeavoured to intercept the convoy off Sirte - Penelope fired 13 broadsides and damaged an enemy cruiser on the same occasion. Penelope’s also took in tow the damaged Breconshire, the type of gallant work that prompted Churchill to signal Admiral Sir Andrew “ABC” Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet:

‘I shall be glad if you will convey to Admiral Vian and all who sailed with him the admiration which I feel at this resolute and brilliant action by which the Malta convoy was saved. That one of the most powerful modern battleships afloat attended by two heavy and four light cruisers and a flotilla of destroyers should have been routed and put to flight with severe torpedo and gunfire injury, in broad daylight, by a force of five British light cruisers and destroyers, constitutes a naval episode of the highest distinction and entitles all ranks and ratings concerned and above all their commander to the compliments of the British nation.’

Kelly was awarded the D.S.M.

H.M.S. Pepperpot - ‘The most intensive air attack made on any ship in the War’

Remaining at Malta for repairs, the Penelope’s crew remained aboard to fight her guns against relentless attack from enemy aircraft - a period that witnessed her firing 6,500 rounds of 4-inch ammunition and winning the sobriquet “H.M.S. Pepperpot”. Gordon Holman’s The King’s Cruisers, takes up the story:

‘Before leaving Malta, H.M.S. Penelope went through a fourteen-day ordeal-by-bomb which was probably the most intensive air attack ever mounted on any ship in the War. Caught in dock, she became the central target for the waves of enemy aircraft. While the work of repairing the cruiser went on by day and night, the crew, including stewards and cooks, kept the guns going. So constantly were they engaged that it became a question of whether the weapons would not wear out before she was fit to put to sea. The repair work was a case of two steps forward and one step back, as each raid added further damage to that already taken in hand.

Only the hours of darkness brought relief to the Penelope. Time and time again bombs were so close to the ship that splinters sprayed over her. It is on record that in the month of April 1942, the enemy, in his raids on Malta - and Grand Harbour was the bull’e eye of his target - dropped 6,730 tons of bombs. The Penelope soon became known throughout the Fleet as “The Pepperpot”, because of the 2,000 splinter holes in her upper-works ... ’

Salerno and Anzio

Following extensive repairs in the United States, and a brief visit to Portsmouth at the end of 1942 - when Kelly was among a large party of Penelope officers and ratings to attend an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 3 November 1942 - the cruiser sailed for the Western Mediterranean.

Quickly back in action, she was hit by a 6-inch shell during a bombardment of Pantelleria in June 1943, but mercifully the round failed to detonate, thereby permitting her subsequent part in the Salerno landings, when as part of Force ‘Q’, she fired no less than 5,000 rounds of 6-inch ammunition in just 14 days.

In October 1943, Penelope assisted in the destruction of an ammunition ship, an armed trawler and six landing craft off Stampalia in the Aegean, but on retiring was attacked by 18 Ju. 87s and sustained at least one direct hit - nonetheless, she managed to get back to Alexandria at 23 knots. Following which, and now under the command of Captain G. D. Belben, D.S.O., D.S.C., A.M., R.N., she was ordered to Anzio in January 1944, where she lent valuable assistance to Force ‘X’ and carried out eight shoots off Formia.

Journey’s End

However, Penelope’s legendary reputation as a lucky ship was soon to be brutally curtailed, for, on 18 February 1944, on leaving Naples for Anzio, she was torpedoed by the U-410, under Oberleutnant Horst-Arno Max Heinrish Fenski. If Kelly was not killed by the first torpedo which hit the After Engine Room, then almost certainly he was by the second torpedo which caused a massive explosion on hitting the Boiler Room - Penelope broke her back and went down in a little more than a minute, taking no less than 400 of her crew with her, including her Captain. It was a remarkable achievement on Oberleutnant Fenski’s part, his first torpedo finding its mark when the cruiser was travelling at 26 knots - as far as can be ascertained a unique case in the annals of U-Boat operations.

Kelly, who was 42 years of age and has no known grave, left a widow, Louisa, of West End, Fareham, Hampshire. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.