HMS Ajax - The Ship

“H.M.S. Ajax”. Photo from the Illustrated London News, 23 December 1939
(Ship shown as built)

The Leander Class light cruiser laid down at Vickers Armstrongs Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on February 7th 1933 as Yard Number 682, launched on March 1st 1934, completed on April 12th 1935 and commissioned three days later, was the seventh warship of the Royal Navy to be named Ajax.

Displacing 9,653 tons, 554’6” overall length, 56’ beam with a main armament of 8 x 6” guns in four twin turrets she was built under the British Admiralty’s 1931 Programme at a cost of £1.48 Million. During her builder’s trials she achieved a speed of 33.06 knots, the fastest of the five vessels of her Class the others being Achilles, Leander, Orion and Neptune, all entering service between 24th March 1933 and 12th April 1935. The ship's full specifications are detailed under Note 9.



View from S.S. Ussukuma of her interception by HMS Ajax
 

This Ajax was destined to become the most distinguished of her name and one of the modern Royal Navy’s most famous ships. Within three hours of the declaration of World War 2 on 3rd September 1939 as a member of the Royal Navy’s South American Squadron (Note 1) when between the Rio Grande do Sul and the River Plate Estuary she caught the German merchant ship S.S. Olinda (Note 2), took off her crew and sank her by gunfire. That same day she found another German merchant ship, the S.S. Carl Fritzen (Note 3) which was similarly despatched; later their crews were put aboard HMS Cumberland and taken to the Falkland Islands. At 19:10 hours on December 5th accompanied by Cumberland she intercepted the German steamer S.S. Ussukuma (Note 4) off the mouth of the River Plate, taking her crew prisoner but not before they had started to scuttle her, the ship sank later that night. Ussukuma was a supply ship carrying ammunition, explosives, torpedoes and general supplies to replenish German U-boats and surface raiders in the South Atlantic ocean.

Ajax Peace time view of S.S Ussukuma, German East Africa Line

 

Contemporary film poster, 1956.
(Note 6)

Just eight days later on 13th December Ajax was one of the three Royal Navy warships to fight the first of that war’s major naval engagements in what became one of the best known of all modern sea warfare actions, the Battle of the River Plate which ultimately resulted in the destruction of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee (Note 5). The Battle was further immortalised in a highly successful film (Note 6). For that and later actions Ajax won the remarkable total of nine battle honours during World War 2, more than the combined total of eight already won by her predecessors between 1780 and 1916.

                    German Pocket Battleship Admiral Graf Spee
                        At the King George VI Coronation Review

                                        Spithead, 15 April 1937             



German Pocket Battleship Admiral Graf Spee
On Fire and sinking off Montevideo, Uruguay
17 December 1939

She was adopted in a civil ceremony by the Yorkshire Town of Halifax on 23rd August 1942 following a successful Warship Week National Savings Campaign. Ajax was also awarded a unique accolade when a munitions plant, established in 1941 in Ontario, Canada, had rapidly grown into a town thus needing a name so its community named itself after this cruiser; the only recorded instance of any town or city in the world to name itself after a ship (ibid: Town of Ajax). The Town also accords the honour of naming and dedicating all of its streets after the names of the Officers and Crew of this Cruiser Ajax, her two companions at the River Plate Battle, Achilles and Exeter and the subsequent Frigate Ajax, the eighth ship of the name. To date over 600 streets have been so named. Thus Bob Sharplin is remembered there by “Sharplin Drive” dedicated in one of several civic ceremonies on 16th June 2014. It is to the town's credit that the chivalrous conduct of the Graf Spee's commander, Kapitan sur Zee Hans Langsdorff, in that in all of his seizures of allied shipping not one allied crew members life was lost was recognised by naming one of the town's main streets in his honour.


Ajax under repair at Brooklyn Navy Yard,
New York, USA  between 3 March and October 1943. Photo taken 16 October, 1943. 
 

After the River Plate Battle Ajax returned to Chatham Dockyard for heavy repairs and upgrades between February and June 1940. She went on to survive the war despite being very seriously damaged twice more, on each of those two occasions being sent back to repair yards, firstly again to Chatham from 3 May to June 1942. The next was in 1943, when after being seriously damaged in a bombing raid at Bone in January, she underwent temporary repairs at Gibraltar in February following which she spent from 3 March until October in the USA at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York.




Ajax under repair

Camouflage paint suggests 1941, probably at Alexandria

In 1944, after supporting the D-Day allied invasion forces at Normandy, she exacted revenge for the Crete actions when, back in the Mediterranean as a member of the British Aegean Force, she was deployed to accept the surrender on 19th September of the German garrison at Santorin north of Crete.

Exodus after being boarded

Following the war she saw little service apart from being involved in the “Exodus Incident” in July 1947. Ajax was then part of a Royal Navy task force trailing the illegal immigrant ship Exodus which was crowded with Holocaust survivors determined to attempt to make a new life for themselves in British-controlled Palestine. Exodus was stopped and boarded by the Royal Navy resulting in the Holocaust survivors being transported back to Europe. The incident, regarded then with horror by global opinion and now infamous, is an example of how a ship’s proud tradition can easily be tarnished in undertaking questionable government policy.

Ajax was finally decommissioned at Chatham on 16th February 1948. Negotiations took place to sell her to Chile when reputedly Sir Winston Churchill (Note 7), intervened to stop that holding the view that a ship with such an illustrious reputation should not be sold off to a foreign power but rather broken up while holding such a fine heritage so she was placed on the Disposal List. The 8th November 1949 saw her towed away from the River Fal where she had been laid up and arrived ten days later on the 18th at Cashmore’s Yard, Newport, Monmouthshire, where she was broken up.



HMS Ajax Laid Up
Photo believed to be on River Fal, 1948 or 1949

Notes:

1. Force G, of which Ajax was the flagship (Commodore Henry Harwood RN). The other two ships were the light cruisers Exeter and Achilles, a fourth member, the cruiser Cumberland, arrived later and assisted in blockading the Admiral Graf Spee from escape. 
2. Owned by South American Steamship Line, Hamburg, 4,576gt built 1927 
3. Owned by Johs Fritzen & Sohn, Emden, 6,594 gt built 1920 
4. German East Africa Line vessel of 7,834 tons built 1921.Her departure the day before from the port of Bahia Blanca had been observed by the British Naval Attaché.  After the Ussukuma sank, Ajax transferred Ussukuma’s 107 crew to the Cumberland, which put them ashore on the Falklands Islands. On 1 February 2008 Bloomberg News reported that Argentina's navy had identified Ussukuma’s precise wreck site almost 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Brazilian coastal town of Necochea  at a depth of some 38 fathoms (70 metres or 230 feet). 
5. The Admiral Graf Spee was a German Deutschland Class heavily armoured cruiser which became defined as a Pocket Battleship. Of 16,020 tons, commissioned just three years before in 1936 , armed with 6 x 11” guns in triple turrets, 8 x 5.9” guns in single turrets, 8 x 21” torpedo tubes she easily outgunned the British ships. She also carried two Arado Ar 196 Seaplanes. She had sailed from Germany on 21 August 1939, before war was declared,  with orders to station herself deep in the Atlantic to take up the role of a commerce raider. Between the declaration of war and 2 December she had caught and sunk ten cargo ships. On that day just south of the Island of St Helena  she caught the eleventh, the 10,093 ton cargo ship "Doric Star" of the Blue Star Line, homeward bound to England with a full cargo of mutton, lamb, butter, cheese and wool from Australia and New Zealand. Unlike the  previously caught ships "Doric Star" was successful in radioing a message that she was being attacked before being sunk by Graf Spee's gunfire in position 19.15 South by 5.5 East after removal of her crew. This message was received and retransmitted by two other vessels thus alerting the Admiralty to her position and that of the Graf  Spee. The message was in turn passed on 3 December to Commodore Henry Harwood RN who commanded the  Royal Navy's South American Division with his squadron of three light cruisers, the Ajax, the mainly New Zealand crewed Achilles (Note 10) and Exeter, Harwood's flagship. Harwood who proved to be an adroit tactician conjectured that the Graf Spee would be heading to the River Plate area as a worthwhile hunting ground. So Harwood decided to lay a trap there and devised a strategy for his outgunned ships to take the fight to the far superior German pocket battleship. Graf Spee's commander, Kapitan sur Zee Hans Langsdorff, flagrantly disobeyed strict orders by allowing himself to be lured into this trap and thus into the action that became the Battle of the River Plate which the Royal Navy won by a combination of superior tactics and sheer guts; a combination that had become known within the Royal Navy as the "Nelson touch". That combination in the opinion of the First Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, in a private letter he wrote on 11 January 1940 to Harwood he described as “your ships...must have... largely influenced... (Admiral Graf Spee’s) unintelligible actions” (Note 8). Naval historians still debate to this day as to why Langsdorff decided to seek shelter in Montevideo as his ship had not suffered sufficient damage as to make that necessary plus he could easily have outgunned the three British ships, finished them off and withdrawn. In his mitigation the British did all they could to make him believe that additional warships had joined or were joining Ajax, Achilles and Exeter to build a much superior force.                                                                                                                                   
6. “The Battle of the River Plate” made in 1956 starred John Gregson (as Captain Bell of HMS Exeter), Anthony Quayle (as Commodore Harwood), Ian Hunter (as Captain Woodhouse of HMS Ajax), Jack Gwillim (as Captain Parry of HMS Achilles) and Peter Finch (as Kapitan sur Zee Hans Langsdorff of the Admiral Graf Spee). It was first shown on 25 October 1956 as the Royal Command Performance film followed by its general release on 24 December. Written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger it was nominated for three BAFTA Awards. Running time 119 minutes. The film was also released in German and Spanish.
7. Then Leader of the Conservative Party in Opposition. 
8. “The Battle of the River Plate” P478-479, by Dudley Pope, Republished In “Great War Stories” (ibid – Bibliography). 
9. Ships Details as Built -
   Builder:      Vickers Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness. Yard No. 682
   Machinery: By Cammell Laird
                       Parsons steam geared turbines driving 4 shafts developing 72,000shp 
                       delivering 32.5 knots
   Dimensions: Length 522ft (between perpendiculars), 554ft 6in (overall)
                        Beam 56ft
   Armament (as built):
                      Eight 6in Mk XXIII guns on four twin Mk XVI mountings
                      Four 4in Mk V guns on four single Mk IV mountings
                      Three 0.5in guns on quadruple Mk II mountings
                      Eight 21in torpedo tubes on two quadruple QR IV mountings
   Ordered: 1st October  1932
   Laid Down: 7th Feb 1933
   Launched: 1st Mar 1934. Sponsor at launching Ceremony was Lady Chatfield, Wife                    of the First Sea Lord Admiral Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield.
   Completed: 12th Apr 1935
   Commissioned: 15th Apr 1935 
   Displacement:  As built: 7,259 tons
                            1/2 Oil: 8,626                   
                            Fully loaded: 9,653 tons (Oct 1942)
   Pennant No: 22
   Fate: De commissioned at Chatham 16 Feb 1948. Placed on Disposal List. Laid up in River Fal. After frustrated sale to Chile, towed from River Fal 8 Nov 1949 to Cashmore’s, Newport (Mon) Yard, where she arrived on 18th to be broken up.
10. At the time of this battle the HMS Achilles was a member of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy,  On 1 October 1941 the prefix "Royal" was granted by King George VI to the Division thus creating the Royal New Zealand Navy and the New Zealand Naval ships then gained the prefix HMNZS. Officers on board Achilles at the battle were almost all assigned from the Royal Navy while the ratings were mainly New Zealanders.   

 

Videos connected with the Ajax

For video clips of the Battle of the River Plate Celebrations in February 1940 with the crews of HMS Ajax and HMS Exeter see:

GRAF SPEE CONQUERORS HONOURED

Click on this image to play the video

Officers and crews of HMS Ajax and Exeter marching past the Houses of Parliament up Whitehall and onto Horse Guards Parade where King George VI takes the salute then decorates crew members including a recipient of the Victoria Cross. The streets are lined with dense crowds. The Admiral Graf Spee on fire and sinking. Also features the Guildhall Luncheon and Churchill’s speech with the above quotation.  Source: BritishPathe.com

GUILDHALL LUNCHEON FOR RIVER PLATE HEROES

Click on this image to play the video

Lord Mayor of London Sir William Coxen, giving a speech of welcome to officers and crew of HMS Ajax and Exeter (ships that fought at the Battle of the River Plate) at a luncheon in their honour at the Guildhall, London. Also features other speakers including Churchill’.Source: BritishPathe.com

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.

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 2014 – Visit 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 75^th anniversary of the Battle of the River Plate, which took place on 13^th 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 12^th 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 1^stHampton Hill ‘Achilles’ Sea Scouts and the 4^th 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 13^th 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 300^th 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:

lyntondale@toucansurf.com

The Ship's Name, Badge, Motto & Pennant Number

The Ship's Badge & Royal Naval Heraldry

This section is in large part sourced from “The A to Z of Royal Naval Ships’ Badges 1919-1980 Volumes 1 and 2” by B.J.Wilkinson, T.P.Stopford and T.Taylor.

NEC QUISQUAM NISI AJAX

It should firstly be noted that the correct Naval definition of this device is a Badge, not a Crest. Having said that the Naval Crown which surmounts the badge is in itself properly described as a Crest. The whole image, however, reverts to being called a Badge.

The authors of the above work stated that a Royal Navy ship’s badge is the equivalent to the Regimental Colours of the British Army, heraldry therefore plays a critical role. The introduction of badges into the Royal Navy corresponds with the replacement during the mid 19th century of wooden sailing ships by iron and steel ships powered with steam. It is apparent that the disappearance of individual figureheads with the demise of sailing ships played a part in the need for some other form of individualism in the iron and steel ships which replaced them.

Charles Boutell defined it thus in “English Heraldry” 1867, “A Badge, like a Coat of Arms, is an armorial ensign that is complete in itself, and possesses a definite signification of its own”.
 
The early history of the introduction of Ships Badges to the fleet is too complex to numerate here and indeed is outside of the scope of the objectives of this website, but, can broadly be described as follows.

Prior to the introduction of badges, the figurehead on wooden warships was the individual symbol of a man-of-war, and an expression of the personality of the ship, with regard to her name. The last Royal Navy warship to carry a figurehead was HMS Odin which was decommissioned as late as 1920. The first to wear a badge was HMS Tower, a modified “R” Class destroyer whose Commanding Officer designate, Lieut. Harold Joyce D.S.C., R.N., had one privately designed in 1917 by a retired Sub Lieutenant Charles ffoulkes R.N.V.R. (Note 1) who had an intense interest in militaria with a sound knowledge of Mediaeval History and was subsequently appointed Master of the Tower Armouries. This started a trend for other Commanding Officers to follow suit using ffoulkes who in turn involved the Admiralty Librarian in his research for each ship’s badge.

 Figurehead of the 3rd HMS Ajax (1809 – 1864)

Eventually the Admiralty decided to formalise what was becoming a muddled situation by granting each ship its own badge and promulgated this decision in a 19th December 1918 “Admiralty Monthly Fleet Order” followed on 15th January 1919 by “Admiralty Weekly Order 178 – War Honours, Badges and Mottoes for H.M. Ships”. The later Order under Part 6 stated ”In future the Badge and Motto will be combined with the War (now Battle) Honours Scroll for display on the Quarter Deck, the whole design thus becoming a naval counterpart of the military Regimental Colour” 

This Order was to allow designs to be prepared, if suitable, from any existing badge and it was always clearly understood that a ship’s Officers could submit designs and suggestions for approval.

Charles ffoulkes, who was at that time heavily involved in setting up the new Imperial War Museum as its Curator, was given an Honorary Commission in the Royal Marines with the rank of Major on 2 August 1918 to enable him to deal with more authority appertaining to the work of the museum when dealing with the Admiralty. He was then appointed as the first Admiralty Adviser on Heraldry; surprisingly he requested that he be allowed to carry out his work on badges and mottoes on a part time basis free of payment except for reimbursement for costs of any materials, an arrangement which was agreed.



Figurehead of the 3rd
HMS Ajax (1809 – 1864)

Major ffoulkes commenced the first batch of designs in March 1919 and, after approval by the Ships Badges Committee, a design or Sealed Pattern as it became known could not be altered in any way without the specific permission of the Committee. In his first 12 months ffoulkes completed 229 badge designs, an outstanding output for one who was not only working gratis but also on a part time basis!

It should be noted that the Badge is surmounted, “ensigned” in Heraldic terms, by The Naval Crown. ffoulkes was not responsible for this portion of the design as since 1919 this had been, and still is, an Admiralty requirement for all ships Badges and that is covered in the following “The Naval Crown” section.

As for the ship’s motto, numerous translations from the Latin exist simply because they can be interpreted in several ways and many variations are found in the literature referring to this ship’s motto. Here we have followed closely the Herald’s original interpretation but we differ in one respect replacing “Himself” with “Ajax”. (Refer comment under “Motto” below)

Sealed Pattern designed by Major Charles ffoulkes Royal Marines
  as approved by the Admiralty on 2nd September 1920 for the 1912 Battleship Ajax.

Ship’s Badge for the Cruiser Ajax of 1934

Herald (Designer):

Major Charles ffoulkes R.M.
Designed in 1920. ffoulkes used a portion of the pre-1918 badge which had been used by the 1912 Battleship Ajax.

Date:

2nd September 1920

Heraldic Blazon:

Upon a field of black, a Corinthian helmet gold embossed with a serpent and ram’s head gold, crested red.

Derivation of ship’s name:

The name Ajax is taken from Greek Mythology. Ajax was the son of Telamon, King of Cyprus and a legendary hero of Ancient Greece. To distinguish him from the other Ajax who was the son of Oileus, he was called “Great” or “Telahuge and strong in statmonian Ajax”. He was attributed to being "slow in speed but huge and strong in stature".  In Homer’s “Iliad” he is described as of great stature and colossal frame,econd only to Achilles in strength and bravery. There is no doubt that the crew of the cruiser Ajax would not have so subjugated themselves to the crew of their sister ship Achilles!

The approved Admiralty Sealed Pattern states the derivation as “A hero in Greek mythology. King of Salamis, second only in greatness to Achilles. The serpent refers to Ajax’s birthplace, Salamis, and the ram’s head to the time he slew a herd of sheep and goats thinking they were the enemy”.

Derivation of Badge:

The badge shows a Classical Greek warrior’s helmet. This helmet is loosely based on several different ancient types which have been amalgamated into one design.

The serpent on the helmet represents Ajax’s birthplace, the Greek island of Salamis, known as the Serpent Isle.

The ram’s head on the helmet emanates from the mythology of when Ajax was struck mad and killed some sheep mistaking them for his enemies. The helmet faces to the left, Dexter in heraldic terms, and is not specified in the Blazon (i.e. description of a coat of arms in proper heraldic terms) in accordance with the heraldic rule that that is the normal direction unless specified otherwise.

Derivation of Motto:

The motto alludes to the legend of Ajax engaging Hector of the Trojans in single combat. Neither of them being able to triumph, they sued for peace, exchanged gifts and parted as friends.

Motto:

NEC QUISQUAM NISI AJAX. (None But Ajax Can Overcome Ajax)

In considering the derivation of the motto, the Herald’s original interpretation in translating it from the Latin usually considers an allusion either to the name, or the meaning of the name, in this case the name being Ajax, without either diminishing or eliminating the allusion. Thus the derivation of the name is fundamental (Refer to above ”Derivation of Motto”). Any mis-translation or re-translation opens the possibility of lessening or removing that allusion. Certainly this issue occurs even in modern languages, as an example our Editor has experience of this with translations between Mandarin and English.

So we have used the Herald’s motto with the translation quoted by Wilkinson, Stopford & Taylor, “None But Himself Can Overcome Ajax”, with the transposition of ‘Ajax’ for ‘Himself’ for two basic reasons:

1. In modern English, ships are referred to either as ‘She’ or ‘Her’, therefore, ‘Himself’ conflicts with this idiom of modern English while not influencing the Herald's allusion.
2. This transposed translation of the motto appears to be more generally accepted.

 

 Badge Heritage & Frame:

The Badge has been held by only four ships previously named Ajax -

1. The 1912 Battleship, sold in 1926. Circular Frame, designed 1920. (Refer Note 2a below).
2. The 1934 Cruiser, broken up 1949. Changed to Pentagonal Frame 15th October 1932. (Refer Note 2b & 3 below).
3. The 1962 Frigate, broken up 1988. Changed to Circular Frame February 1971. (Refer Note 3 below).
4. The 1956 ex Admiralty Barge 851(F). Named Ajax in 1987, used by HMS Raleigh for seamanship training. Sold in 2008. Circular Frame. (Refer Note 3).

 

Badge Colours:

This is a more confusing area than Frames with continuous changes to the design parameters since the original 1919 Admiralty Fleet Order when the colours to be used were to be in accordance with a palette of colours. Each colour was specified by a unique code number developed specifically for this purpose by His Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO) which in turn were based upon the manufacturer’s, Winsor & Newton’s, colour charts.

While there were initially certain heraldic conventions to be observed the Badge colour situation has been even further confounded by two factors:-

1. Firstly the personal preferences of whichever Admiralty Advisor on Heraldry was involved, Those used by ffoulkes differed when compared to those of his successors such as those by Sir Arthur Cochrane (Note 4) and different again by Sir Walter Verco.
2. Secondly there were also time periods of purely Admiralty and latterly Ministry of Defence (Navy) Ships Badges Committee decisions that dictated the background colours to the ships names were to be in accordance with specific colours for a certain type of ship. For example blue for battleships, or other periods where a common colour such as black was to be used for all ship types.

_________________

Notes:

1. Note that his surname commences with a lower case ”f” which is the manner in which he always named himself. ffoulkes had resigned his commission on 7 March 1916 to enable himself to devote more time to being Curator of the Imperial War Museum.
2. From the outset of the Admiralty’s 15th January 1919 Order it was decided that different shape badge frames should be used for different types of warships and that these would be: a. Circular – For capital ships, Battleships and Battle Cruisers; b. Pentagonal – For Cruisers; c. Shield – For Destroyers; d. Diamond – For Auxiliary Cruisers, all other types of warships and shore establishments. It should be noted that as each ship’s badge was designed, the frame used was in accordance with this order. As the first badge designed for an Ajax was for use with the Battleship of 1912-1926 a circular frame was used, hence that shown here in this page as the approved design. So for the Cruiser Ajax 1934-1949 the badge automatically received a pentagonal frame. The next Ajax, the1962-1988 Frigate became a circular frame because of the 1973 Ministry of Defence order (see Note 3 below). There was, however, still the occasional curious frame choice anomaly with the 1929 B- type 6 x8” Cruiser Exeter being a prime example. ffoulkes signed off her Badge design using the Diamond (square) on 20 August 1928 with Admiralty approval signed off 3 September 1928. When the ship was commissioned it was with her having the correct pentagonal framed Badge, somehow the error had been corrected.
3. There is evidence that from the 1960’s the Circular Frame came back into general usage across all ship types with some exceptions hence why probably the 1962-1988 Frigate Ajax had a circular frame badge from her launch date. In 1973 the Ministry of Defence formalised this by announcing that henceforth all Royal Naval ships (including submarines) would have Circular Frame badges. These changes probably lead to the 1934-1949 Cruiser being frequently incorrectly shown as having had a Circular badge.
4. Sir Arthur Cochrane, who was Clarenceux King of Arms at the London based College of Arms, succeeded ffoulkes in 1934 as Adviser on Naval Heraldry. Since then the position has always been held by an officer of the College of Arms.
5. My commentary does not apply to the badges for ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary where differing rules have from time to time been applied and whose ships have no bearing on the content of this website.
6. For the student of Admiralty Badge Heraldry an excellent primer would be Volumes 1 and 2 of ‘The A to Z of Royal Naval Ships’ Badges 1919 – 1989’ with emphasise on Volume 2. (Refer Bibliography). The intent of the authors was that this was to be a 20 volume work but only two were ever published. One of the authors, T P Stopford, did continue the work alone by later publishing in CD format, with the full approval of the UK Ministry of Defence, the ‘Admiralty Badges Encyclopaedia’ covering almost 1,900 of all types of Royal Naval Ships, shore establishments and Fleet Air Arm squadrons. (Refer Bibliography). Other works by other authors have more recently been published.

________________

The Naval Crown



The Naval Crown is an ancient emblem, a somewhat similar design composed of the beaks and sterns of galleys having been in use by the Romans. Modified to represent the sterns and sails of a man-of-war, it has appeared in heraldry throughout Europe, and was often granted as a crest-coronet or charge to naval officers of distinction, of whom Nelson is the most obvious example in England. The earliest official association of the Naval Crown with the Royal Navy may have been its inclusion in the arms of Greenwich Hospital. Certainly by the beginning of the twentieth century it was in use in a variety of contexts, and was regularly incorporated into the stonework of Admiralty buildings.

A standard pattern of the design was adopted by the Admiralty in 1903, drawn up by Everard Green, who then held the position of Rouge Dragon at the College of Arms. In 1918, a slightly different version was included as part of the special uniform of the Mercantile Marine, by agreement between the Admiralty and the Board of Trade that this should not involve its severance from its Naval associations. The official badges which came into use for warships from 1919 onwards have always been ensigned by the Naval Crown, although of a slightly different design to the 1903 version, and it is this which is now generally recognised as the standard version for most purposes. A further revision was produced in 1922 specifically for use on buildings, but never became widely adopted in other contexts. The unofficial but widespread recognition of the Naval Crown as the badge of the Royal Navy had been formalised by 1949, when the following statement was made in B.R. 1796, The Seaman's Manual of Ceremonial, "The Badge of the Royal Navy is the Naval Crown which consists of a circlet surmounted by four sterns of men of war, each with three poop lanterns, and four square sails each spread on a mast and yard, fully fitted and sheeted home; the ships and sails being positioned alternately. This badge or the Royal Crown is often displayed on the trucks of the Ensign and Jack Staffs."

The Royal Navy Logo, 2014

When depicted as part of a ship's badge, the Naval Crown is often left uncoloured or simply shaded to indicate its form. However, it is conceived as a crown made throughout of gold, the circlet being set with gems. When shown in colour, it is therefore never correct to show the sails and pennants as white or of any colour other than gold; although this mistake is frequently made, even on the screen badges of HM ships. The central jewel in the circlet is a ruby, which is flanked by emeralds and then by sapphires, with a pair of pearls between each pair of jewels.

Use of the Naval Crown has been somewhat eclipsed in recent years by the adoption of a logo incorporating the White Ensign above the words 'Royal Navy', but it nevertheless remains the official badge of the Royal Navy, an integral part of every ships Badge, and is employed in other widespread uses.

________________________________

The Ship's Penant Number

The ship’s Pennant Number assigned to her was 22 which later in her life became C22.
More details on this subject will shortly anchor here.

Advisors & Assistance

We sincerely thank the following who so generously helped to bring this long project comprising the Painting, Prints and this Website to fruition and to its ongoing research.

Collis, Malcolm	Archivist, HMS Ajax & River Plate Veterans Association, England
Danks, Peter	Chairman, HMS Ajax & River Plate Veterans Association, England
Dixon, Trevor	Navy Blue, Dartmouth, Devon. Ship’s Badge (Bob's Niece) Sharplin family Archive
Kriz, Brenda	Records Manager and Freedom of Information Coordinator for the
	Town of Ajax, Civic Historical Research and Town Council liaison, Ontario, Canada
Manark, Tony	Managing Director, Manark Printing, Melbourne, Australia
Nelson, Roger	Technical assistance, Royal Naval tugs, Gillingham, Kent
Pilbeam, Charlotte                   Paul, Gerry	Advisor - Central Library, Medway Campus Universities of Greenwich, Kent and Christchurch and ex RN Barracks HMS Pembroke, Chatham, Kent, England Captain R.N. Rtd.  Royal Naval practices & terminology
Sells, David W	Maritime Historian, Northumberland, England. Technical advice
Sharplin, Jill                            Sharplin, Roger                      Sis, Joe	Genealogical research (2nd Wife of Bob's stepbrother {Phil}) (A nephew of Bob's)  Sharplin family archive Lt Cdr, R.N. Rtd. HMS Ajax & River Plate Veterans Association, England Administration, research & archival management.
Town of Ajax, Ontario	Photographic resources
White, Nicholas	(A grandson of Bob’s), Sharplin family archive – genealogical research
White, Peter	(A grandson of Bob’s), Technical assistance
White, Ray	(Bob’s son-in-law), Technical assistance and Sharplin family archive
White, Wendy	(Bob’s daughter), Sharplin family archive