Wednesday, 21 October 2015

The Battle & Royal Naval Articles of War



"It is upon the Navy, under the good providence of God, that the wealth,
safety and strength of the Kingdom do chiefly depend" 
As promulgated in ‘The Admiralty Account of Naval operations April 1941 to January 1943’
and in force at the time of this Battle.


"He that commands the sea is at great liberty,
and may take as much and as little of the war as he will" 
Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
Celebrated English statesman, jurist, scientist, philosopher, speaker, essayist and author
 

THE BATTLE

The painting, Oils on board, by Wallace Trickett, 30”W x 20”H
© C R Sharplin

This painting depicts just one of a whole host of such unbridled actions that occurred in the Mediterranean during this period of World War 2 where, with virtually no air cover, there was no protection for Royal Naval forces from the ferocity of the onslaught waged upon them by the German Luftwaffe (Note 7). This particular incident occurred during the Crete Campaign in May 1941. As Greece fell to the German Army in late April the Royal Navy, including Ajax, evacuated about 30,000 troops, principally ANZAC with some British and Greek, carrying them southwards to the island of Crete. Ajax evacuated, among others, elements of the 6th New Zealand Brigade, 2/3 Australian Battalion and last of all, on April 29th, Rear Admiral ‘Tom’ Baillie-Grohman RN (who was attached to the Staff of the General Officer Commanding Middle East) together with New Zealand’s Major-General Bernard ‘Tiny’ Freberg VC, 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, who would soon take command of all allied military forces on Crete.

The allied forces arrived on Crete to be taunted by Nazi radio propaganda broadcasts that they had been landed on the ‘Isle of Doom’. These broadcasts were prophetic as Ajax and the other naval ships then found themselves being called in to defend the allied forces they had so recently landed on the island from German seaborne invasion. Within a month or so German forces overran the island. The Royal Navy again had to evacuate the allied troops, this time from Crete to North Africa. Thousands who could not be saved were captured and suffered four years in German prisoner of war camps.

Of the utmost importance was ensuring the historical accuracy of the ship's appearance for the artist to include in his work. Consequently a great deal of research on a part time basis had to be undertaken before the artist could start his work, this took place over some ten years or so. After the River Plate action Ajax’s silhouette changed substantially during her repair and refit in Chatham Naval Dockyard between February and July 1940. Bob Sharplin joined the ship in the midst of these repairs on March 19th. Tripod masts and Type 279 aircraft warning radar were installed and Zarebas enclosures fitted to the four 4” gun mountings which had already been changed from single to twin mountings. At various other times over the next year or so her reconnaissance aircraft and its catapult were removed being replaced by a quad 2 pounder Pom-Pom gun, eleven Oerlikon guns were fitted as were Types 282, 284 and 285 radars. Also Ajax wore several different camouflage patterns through her war service. The key questions to be answered were which of these changes had been made between the 1940 refit and 21st May 1941, the date of the action portrayed, and what details could be found of this specific Mediterranean action including which German aircraft actually bombed her? As an example the removal of the aircraft and their catapults were found to have been made in March 1941, probably in Alexandria, the crane however was retained to assist in the handling of the ship’s boats. This painting is the culmination of those years of research to find the evidence to ensure that the painting is an accurate record.

It must be recognised that at this stage of the war nearly all of the Royal Navy’s ships were extremely vulnerable to air attack due to the mistaken belief by the Admiralty that they had been adequately equipped with regard to their armament. The reverse had quickly and horribly become apparent. During the spring of 1940 the effectiveness of German air attack in all its forms in actions off Norway demonstrated just how completely the Admiralty had grossly underestimated the ability of their ships to defend themselves against aerial attack with a lack of anti aircraft (AA) guns and their control equipment (Note 1).

In these actions around Crete the Axis air attacks were so vicious in their frequency and numbers of aircraft employed to the point of being almost overwhelming. The British ships expended huge amounts of ammunition such that their defensive firepower was always a consideration and often became restricted. Even their main armament was used in spite of its insufficient elevation limits. One cruiser actually exhausted all of her ammunition and had to resort to firing signal and practice shells.

The lack of this defensive capability compounded by almost non-existent air force resources to provide air cover was to exact a terrible toll in ships and men in the Battle for Crete (Note 2). This was the scene which Ajax and all other fleet units found themselves in.

The action shown took place over just a few minutes on the morning of May 21st, the day after German airborne forces began “Operation Merkur”, their invasion of Crete. Admiral A.B. (Andrew Browne) Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, or ‘ABC’ as he became known in the Royal Navy, had the previous day issued instructions for night sweeps of the Aegean to challenge expected seaborne invasion. Daylight found Ajax, under the command of Captain E. D. (Desmond) B. McCarthy, heading to the South West of Antikithera, beyond the southern tip of Greece, as part of Force D under the command of recently appointed Flag Officer, Rear-Admiral Irvine G. Glennie, in the cruiser Dido, together with the cruiser Orion and four destroyers, Hasty, Hereward, Kimberley and Janus (Note 3). Having swept the Maleme, Canea and Kissamo Bay areas of the Cretan coast the previous night they had investigated what proved to be false reports of enemy seaborne landings at Heraklion, the squadron was then to join other ships of the fleet in a major concentration of naval forces to defend the island.

That morning at 0800 the ships log recorded the weather conditions as 'sea state 11, wind westerly force 3, visibility good, and position 35.27N/22.32E.' The log shows that the sea state would rise to 21, wind strengthen slightly to force 4 west by north-west and visibility to become excellent by noon.

Captain E. D. (Desmond) B. McCarthy R.N.
In Command Ajax April 1940 – November 1941
Later Vice Admiral and Commander in Chief South Atlantic KCB DSO
Photo © courtesy of HMS. Ajax & River Plate Veterans Association Archive


The following three portraits are of Admiral Sir A.B. (Andrew Browne) Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet or ‘ABC’ as he came to be known within the Royal Navy. Ultimately First Sea Lord & Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral of the Fleet, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope KT GCB OM DSO.
Portrait for Ministry of Information
Believed commissioned 1943
Artist unknown
Photo believed to have been taken on board his Flagship

Time Magazine cover, 24 May 1943

In his book Crete 1941, The Battle at Sea, David A Thomas wrote: 'The daylight hours of May 21st were to witness violent and prolonged battles between warships and the bombers.' 

Frank Pearce in Sea War, Great Naval Battles of World War 2 wrote: '... the air was filled with the drone of approaching aircraft. They came in droves.... it seemed impossible that any ship could survive such a massive attack.'

Rear-Admiral Irvine G. Glennie
Commander Force D on May 21st 1941
Ultimately Vice Admiral and Commander in Chief America and West Indies Station KCB CB

At 0825 the Ajax ship’s log (Note 4) reads the order ‘Hands to repel aircraft stations’ was given to confront an imminent attack by Heinkel 111 bombers. At 0915 the log reads ‘Attacked by ten Ju 87 dive bombers, several very near misses with bombs, damage to port shafts.’ It is this precise moment which the painting has attempted to capture. Ajax is shown in the painting as working up to high speed commencing an evasive hard turn as her orders were ‘manoeuvre to avoid (air attack)’. This attack ceased at 0922, the whole action had lasted just seven minutes although it must have seemed like an eternity to Ajax’s crew. A little later at 1050 a pair of Stukas attacked. Then in the afternoon there was another ferocious attack that lasted for 2½ hours followed by a further attack that evening all of which were beaten off.

The Admiralty Account of Naval Operations: April 1941 to January 1943 (from which some of the above is sourced) gives a most vivid description on page 29:

'In this and subsequent bombings, every form of attack was made on the ships; high level, single and formation; massed bombing by Junkers (Stukas) 87s and 88s and Heinkel 111s; high-speed horizontal attacks by Messerschmitts, or shallow dives at a height of a few hundred feet, aircraft returned to their adjoining airfields (in Greece), bombed up, ammunitioned, refuelled and returned independently to the attack.

There is no spot more naked under heaven than the deck (of a ship) as a stick of bombs falls slanting towards it. The assailant may be the size of a gnat on the rim of a far off cloud; it may be a raid approaching from four quarters, roaring down with machine guns and cannon spraying the decks with explosive shell; the bombs may fall unheralded out of the blinding Mediterranean sun or low-lying cloud; they may burst on the surface of the sea, flinging a myriad of steel splinters abroad, killing or wounding everybody in their path, piercing anything but armour; they may burst under the surface, throwing up the water in the semblance of gigantic monoliths that, as they collapse, deluge the pom-poms and machine-guns and their crews, and flood the ventilation trunks. These explosions lift the ship as if a giant had kicked her, wrenching the steering gear, straining frames and plates. They are called near-misses, and the men, watching the bombs scream down at the ship, thank God for them as the alternative to a direct hit.'


Another Near Miss
Photographed from HMAS Perth (A Modified Leander Class cruiser) during the Battle for Crete.
Both Perth and Ajax were frequently in company with each other during this campaign to the
extent that they became known as “buddy ships” to each other.
Royal Australian Navy Photo.
For those of the crew  below decks in the ship's magazines, machinery spaces, engine and boiler rooms devoid of a view of what was actually happening in the attacks on their ship it was particularly harrowing and stressful.

One officer whose ship was similarly attacked in the same battle that day described it thus:

"During a prolonged bombing attack such as we endured, engine room and boiler rooms resemble the inside of a giant’s kettle against which a sledge hammer is being beaten with uncertain aim. Sometimes there was an almighty clang; sometimes the giant in his frustration, seemed to pick up the kettle and shake and even kick it. The officer detailed to broadcast (from the ship’s bridge) a running commentary suffered a breakdown during the battle so we heard little below but through the noise and heat (which might easily have been up to 40 degrees C) of the machinery spaces we came to understand something of what was happening on deck …. We could hear our 5.25-inch turrets opening fire which told us aircraft were attacking. Next, the bridge telegraphs might signal Full Speed and we would see the rudder indicator move … at the moment the bombs release . This would be followed by the sound of the short range weapons as the bomber pulled out of his dive … We learned to interpret by the ensuing shake or shudder or clang the success or otherwise of our navigators’ avoiding action.

From time to time my chief or I would visit the boiler rooms. Here, for hour after hour after frightening hour, with ears popping from air pressure the young stokers knew and heard little of what was going on apart the obvious near misses and scream of the boiler room fans. On their alertness, as they watched for orders to open or shut off oil sprayers to the furnaces, depended the precise supply of steam available to meet sudden changes of speed ordered ... on which (the ship’s) survival depended" (Note 8).        


Note in the painting that both of Ajax’s forward main gun turrets are firing a salvo. Her crew had found that by firing all its main armament as salvos, although limited to a maximum elevation of 60°, their chance of hitting attacking aircraft was greatly increased, as it placed a virtual cloud of flack directly into the path of the attacking aircraft. Lieutenant W.D.S. White, the senior watch keeping officer, was afterwards recorded as saying “The shooting against the aircraft was not particularly effective although I remember one Ju 88 ploughing into the water only about half a cable off our starboard bow, to the enthusiastic cheers of Desmond McCarthy, our Captain”.

Amongst the attacking German aircraft were Junkers Ju 87B Stukas (Stuka being the abbreviation for ‘Sturzkampfflugzeug’, a dive bomber) from Stabstaffel III St.G. 2, named the ‘Immelmann Geschwader’. Stukas characteristically attacked in near vertical screaming dives but artistic licence has been taken in the work to deliberately incorrectly position one of these attacking Stukas to display the distinctive squadron markings of the Emblem of the Order of Teutonic Knights just for’d of the cockpit, the aircraft’s unique unit identity, T6+AD, and their special paint scheme which included bright yellow noses and rudders. Two incoming aircraft are similarly positioned to show their distinctive ‘cranked’ wing silhouette.

The Mediterranean war theatre 1941

In the distance, off Ajax’s stern quarter is the cruiser HMS Dido (flag Rear-Admiral Glennie) under similar air attack.

At midnight Force “D” intercepted and attacked an enemy invasion convoy north of Cannae comprising some 25 caiques and small steamers carrying German troops escorted by the Italian destroyer Lupo. In the ensuing mêlée 10 caiques were sunk, their troops killed or thrown into the sea and the Lupo damaged.






The Battle for Crete. Fleet movements and events from dusk 20 May 1941
One week later on May 28th, Ajax received a direct bomb hit causing a fire and 20 men were seriously wounded. The damage forced her to be detached from the action to return to base.

The task of defending Crete ultimately proved fruitless at a dreadful cost to the Royal Navy with 2,252 men dead and 430 wounded (Note 5). Ajax lost 11 dead and had 38 wounded. 9 ships were sunk, 3 cruisers and 6 destroyers. 18 were damaged including 2 battleships, the only aircraft carrier, 2 cruisers and 2 destroyers, some so badly that they could not be repaired within the Mediterranean facilities capabilities and were despatched to other repair locations such as in South Africa.

At the conclusion of this campaign in August 1941 Admiral Cunningham wrote in his report to the Admiralty:
“More than once I felt that the stage had been reached when no more could be asked of officers and men, physically and mentally exhausted by their efforts and by the events of these fateful weeks. It is perhaps even now not realised how nearly the breaking point was reached, but that these men struggled through is the measure of their achievement and I trust that it will not lightly be forgotten. The Mediterranean Fleet paid a heavy price for the achievement. Losses and damage were sustained which would normally only occur during a major fleet action, in which the enemy fleet might be expected to suffer greater losses than our own. In this case the enemy fleet did not appear (though it had many favourable opportunities for doing so) and the battle was fought between ships and aircraft”.

Notes:
  1. It was only in the opening months of 1941 that this was beginning to be rectified with the almost desperate short term solution of installing 20mm Oerlikon guns in ships as they came in for refit. Governed by manufacturing capacity these guns initially were in such limited numbers the first ships, Galatea, Devonshire and Orion, only received two or three.(Ibid - Raven & Roberts, “British Cruisers of World War Two”, P 324).
  2. This dire combination became somewhat repetitive in a lesson not quickly learnt resulting in other Royal Naval losses such as two battleships at the same time Repulse and Prince of Wales off the coast of Malaya on 1 December 1941.
  3. The number and names of the destroyers actually in company with Ajax during the morning’s “near miss” incident vary across the range of published accounts. The destroyers named in this account are those named in Ajax’s Daily Diary (ibid) which also states that Hasty and Hereward were replaced by Imperial and Isis later in the day. Vincent O’Hara in his book “The Struggle for the Middle Sea – The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean 1940 – 1945”, P118 -119, agrees with those in Ajax’s Daily Diary as also do the Daily Diaries for Kimberley and Hereward. Imperial was bombed seven days later on the 28th  and so extensively damaged that she was deliberately sunk by Hotspur to prevent her from falling into enemy hands. The next day Hereward received a fatal direct bomb hit just near her foremost funnel during an attack by Stukas; she was last seen heading for the Crete coast some five miles away with her guns still firing. She had on board some 450 troops who had been evacuated from the island. (Ibid, Bibliography  - “Crete 1941, The Battle at Sea”, David A Thomas, P190). On that same day Dido was hit as was Orion taking two hits in which her Captain (Captain Beck RN) was killed "and there was indescribable horror between decks aft when a bomb burst among thousands of men (evacuated troops) there"  (Ibid, Bibliography  - "The Med, the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean 1939-45", Rowland Langmaid).
  4. Ibid, Ship’s Log attached
  5. Ibid, Bibliography  - “Crete 1941, The Battle at Sea”, David A Thomas. Appendix C. A comprehensive listing for each ship.
  6. For detail of air and sea forces involved of all participants refer to (ibid) “Order of Battle, The Battle for Crete 14 May – 1 June 1941”.
  7. The merchant ships involved in convoying supplies and material in this theatre of war were at an even worse disadvantage being lightly armed, of slower speed, more difficult to manoeuvre and invariably the prime targets. They played, however, negligible participation in this particular action. 
  8. Ibid, Bibliography  - “The Royal Navy, An Illustrated Social History 1870 - 1982", Page 184. A contemporary account by Admiral Le Bailly, then Senior Engineer Officer in HMS Naiad, a Dido Class Anti-Aircraft Cruiser. Involved in the battle that same day she suffered several air attacks and received some splinter damage and flooding forward. In heavy air attacks the next day 181 bombs were aimed at Naiad causing serious damage including two gun turrets disabled and her speed reduced to 16 knots. On 11 March 1942 she was torpedoed and sunk by German U-Boat  U565 south of Crete.

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Veterans Associations

The HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans Association

 


The Association's Badge


 
I would like to introduce you to this Association, of which this Website’s Author & Creator is an Associate Member.

Membership of the Association is open to all who served at any time in any of the ships carrying the HMS Ajax name or fought at the Battle of the River Plate (in HMS Ajax, Exeter or Achilles). Any of their immediate family, relatives, friends or those with an interest in this part of the Royal Navy's heritage are more than welcome to join as Associate Members.


The Association was formed in the mid-‘60s when about a dozen ex-crew members attended a River Plate reunion in Plymouth. They were so disappointed with the event that they decided to form their own Association. This they did with the first reunion held in 1965 in West Ham, London, with 7 officers and 40 ratings plus “a few wives” attending. Since then it has gone from strength to strength with a membership of 162 in January 2015 (Note 1), this comprised -
    34 crew from the cruiser which includes 5 River Plate veterans
    38 crew from the frigate
    83 Associate Members
     7 Honorary Members

The annual reunion and dinner is now a fixed event in the calendar taking place usually on the first Wednesday in October together with their AGM followed with a memorial service next morning. The 2015 Reunion was an exception because it incorporated celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of the River Plate.
HMS Ajax (VII) (as built)
The 1935-1948 Cruiser


A very informative free quarterly Newsletter is published which you can choose to receive electronically.

Periodically various events are arranged by the Association such as:
  •       48th Annual Reunion.  This was held October 2nd &   3rd 2013. The Annual Dinner on the 2nd was attended by 52 members including two Ajax Battle of the River Plate veterans. During the Dinner President Peter Danks announced news from the Mayor of the Town of Ajax that the Town would be contributing C$5,000 to the Memorial Fund, a magnificent gesture. Association membership continues to grow then standing at 144.
  •       April 12th 2014, HMS Ajax Memorial Dedication Ceremony. The dedication of the new memorial designed and gifted by the Association in partnership with the River Plate Veterans and Families Association took place at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire. Full details are given below.  
  •       June 10th to 17th 2014Visit to the Town of Ajax, Ontario, Canada.  A celebration, civic reception and a memorial service were hosted by the Town of Ajax to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of the River Plate. Civic street dedication ceremonies officiated at by the Mayor of Ajax Steve Parish were held at several streets naming them after ships' crew members including Sharplin Drive dedicated to Bob Sharplin, the subject of this website; among those attending were Bob's son Clive and Clive's wife Elizabeth Penny. Some 34 of the Association's members from the UK and overseas attended these Town of Ajax of ceremonies.  
  •       2014, Annual Reunion Dinner.  Originally scheduled for October in Gillingham and Chatham this was moved to be part of the December function at Portsmouth detailed below.

  • HMS Ajax (VIII)
    The 1963-1985 Frigate
  •       December 13th 2014. 75th Anniversary of the Battle of the River Plate.  A church service followed by lunch at the Best Western Royal Beach Hotel in Portsmouth, England, took place on 13th December 2014.   Representatives from the Town of Ajax, Canada, attended. In all some 150 were present. A full report will be anchored here shortly.

    The Association has an excellent Website which I thoroughly recommend you visit at www.hmsajax.org

    Notes:
        1. Source - Judi Collis, Membership Secretary, HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans                      
                           Association.

    ____________________________________
     
    CROSSED THE BAR
     
    Mr Ken Jones
     



    The following message was received from the Association on 18 October 2015:

    "It is with great sadness that I have to inform you of the death of Ken Jones. Ken passed away on 17 October (2015) and had been poorly for quite some time. He was a great stalwart of the Association and held many offices and indeed almost single-handedly ran it (for quite some years). He was made a life member in recognition of his hard work.

    Ken was in the Cruiser Ajax 1945-47 and lived in Gillingham.

    Our thoughts and prayers are with daughters Clare and Elaine and their families".

    Malcolm Collis, Association's Newsletter Editor.


    As a personal note from this Website Administrator I would add that one of the most significant memorials to Ken are the very large-scale models he hand-built of the three Royal Navy ships Achilles, Ajax, and Exeter who defeated the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee at the Battle of the River Plate in December 1940. The models are housed in the permanent collection of the Museum of the Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent.  

     _____________________________________

    MEMORIAL FUND RAISING PROJECT

     


    The Association's Banner
     
    A major fund raising project by the Association was undertaken to fund, design and erect a memorial dedicated to HMS Achilles, Ajax and Exeter and their crews celebrating their heroic action at the Battle of the River Plate during2014 the 75th Anniversary year of the Battle. This was a joint enterprise with the River Plate Veterans & Families Association.


     
    The Association's Badge
     
    The Badge does not conform to the rules of Admiralty Heraldry and
    records of its origins cannot be found in the Association's archive.
    


    _______________________________________________________

     

    MEMORIAL DEDICATION DAY - 12th APRIL 2014

    NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM
    Alrewas, Staffordshire 
     
    This report was written and kindly contributed by Peter Danks,
    President, HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans Association
     
     
     After more than 2 years in the planning, a memorial to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the River Plate, which took place on 13th December 1939, was unveiled by four veterans who served in HMS AJAX and HMS EXETER.  The dedication took place at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire on Saturday 12th April 2014.  Present were His Excellency Sir Lockwood and Lady Smith, the High Commissioner for New Zealand who represented the New Zealand manned HMS ACHILLES; Vice Admiral Peter Wilkinson, CB CVO, President of the Royal British Legion; Commodore Paul Hammond, representing the First Sea Lord and Mrs Paul Hammond; Captain Tom Tulloch, RCN, Canadian Naval Adviser representing the High Commissioner for Canada and Mrs Tulloch; Councillor Lisa Lambert, Deputy Lord Mayor of Calderdale. Representatives of the Uruguayan Ambassador were also present as were members of the British Uruguayan Society including Tristan Millington-Drake, grandson of Sir Eugen who was the British Minister in Uruguay at the time.  In addition there were family members of Commodore Henry Harwood, who commanded Hunting Group G at the Battle, including his two sons Henry and Stephen as well as many families of the ships’ companies of HMS AJAX and HMS EXETER.
        Malcolm Collis introduced the service in front of over 250 spectators.  Commodore Hammondreflected on the performance of the three cruisers at the Battleand also relayed a message from Admiral Sir George Zambellas, the First Sea Lord, in which he said that the Battlewas a fine example of fighting spirit.  He was followed by Sir Lockwood Smith, whose address reflected the part HMS ACHILLES, crewed by New Zealandsailors, played in the Battle and also events which have taken place in Aucklandto mark past anniversaries.
        The service of dedication was conducted by the Reverend Paul Kerr and after Basil Trott, one of the survivors, had read the Exhortation, the Last Post was played by a retired Royal Marines Bugler, followed by two minutes silence and then Reveille.  Then came the moment everyone was waiting for.  The memorial was covered in a black cloth over which draped the Commodore’s actual Broad Pennant which had flown in HMS AJAX, his flag ship, during the Battle.  John Garrard and Ted Wicks (HMS AJAX) and Basil Trott and Jim London (HMS EXETER) pulled the cords which unveiled the wonderful memorial to gasps among the spectators – gasps of surprise and delight at what they saw.
        The Memorial Committee had worked closely with Keith Rackham, the stone mason, of H L Perfitt Ltd of Norfolk, on the design and inscription on each side of the memorial which was made of polished granite from India.
        In attendance were 10 leaders and 20 sea scouts/explorer sea scouts from the 1stHampton Hill ‘Achilles’ Sea Scouts and the 4th Thames Ditton ‘Ajax’ Sea Scouts.  Standards were paraded from the HMS AJAX and River Plate Veterans Association, the City of Lichfield Royal British Legion and HMS EXETER Association – their banner was paraded by one of the Sea Scouts.

        On completion of the service Sebastian Harwood buried a time capsule containing a record of those who served at the Battleand sacrificed their lives during the war; together with records of those who supported the commissioning and dedication of the memorial.
        Cameras clicked feverishly as spectators strived to photograph the veterans and dignitaries beside the memorial and then with their families and friends.
    Lunch was then held in the marquee where Captain Stephen Harwood led the speeches, followed by thanks from Commander Henry Harwood.  In this and in a separate interview both had mentioned “how appropriate it was that, in addition to memorials in Uruguay, Canadaand New Zealand, there was now one in the UK”. Captain Tom Tulloch read a letter of greetings from Mayor Steve Parish, mayor of the town of Ajax, which was named after the cruiser.
        Peter Danks, Chairman of the Memorial Committee, thanked everyone who had attended the Dedication and said this was the first of three events to mark the Anniversary.  In June members of the HMS AJAX and River Plate Veterans Association will travel to Ajax, in Canada, to share in their celebrations.  Ben and Jonathan Harwood will present their grandfather’s day uniform to the town.  On 13th December, a lunch will be held in Portsmouthto mark the actual anniversary.
      On completion of lunch Jonathan Harwood gave an excellent presentation on the Battle highlighting how life was in the three cruisers during the Battle.  In a separate interview he stressed the need to pass on the importance of such events to future generations.
        Sarah Montgomery, managing director of the NMA said:
    “Reaching the 300th Memorial milestone is very exciting for us and illustrates the ever growing significance of the National Memorial Arboretum as the place where our nation remembers.
            We are delighted to have marked this landmark along with the  River Plate Veterans’ Associations,
            whose memorial is a very welcome addition to the Arboretum”.
     ________________________________________________

     The Riverplate Veterans & Families Association


    This Association, known to all it’s Members as the RPVFA, was founded by Veterans from HMS Exeter with it’s first meeting, not unnaturally, in Plymouth. Membership was open to crew members of all three Royal Navy ships who successfully fought the German pocket Battleship “Admiral Graf Spee” on 13 December 1939 in what became known as “The Battle of the River Plate”. There are currently two Exeter veterans of the Battle of the River Plate still attending reunions, both 94 years old and quite fit.


    As time moved on, inevitably, Veterans crossed the bar (passed away), so the membership was widened firstly to include direct family members and then to extended family. The membership now includes sons, daughters, grandchildren and other relations of the original veterans who now continue to carry the torch.

    An Annual Reunion takes place over the first weekend every October in Plymouth. In addition the Royal New Zealand Navy’s Adviser from New Zealand House in London as a representative of the cruiser Achilles (which was a Royal New Zealand Navy ship (Note1) with a predominately New Zealand crew) usually attends as do Associates who served in the destroyer Exeter of more recent years.

    Currently, there are two Exeter veterans of the Battle of the River Plate still attending Reunions, both 94 years old and quite fit, whilst the rest of the attendees are the sons, daughters, grandchildren and other relations of Exeter veterans.

    Just one newsletter is sent out each year — it reflects what was done over the previous year as not all members attend the Reunion plus any other matters of interest that have been brought up either by veterans or from outside queries. The newsletter is sent out with the details for the forthcoming Reunion.

    It has always been a rather informal association and although there is a Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary they do not have a committee nor do they hold an Annual General Meeting or charge subscriptions. Any matters are discussed at the Reunion and by paying their way as they go with those costs being reimbursed by holding a raffle during the Reunion which together with a few donations keeps the expenses mostly covered.

    For details of Membership you are invited to contact the Secretary Mr Jim Smith, an ex Royal Navy man now representing his Father who was in Exeter at the Battle and has since crossed the bar.

    To contact Jim Smith use this link: