Class

Boat

Sickle (P 224)

Built By:	Cammell Laird (Mersey)
Fate:	Believed lost when she struck a mine in the Kythera Channel. Sickle was the last British submarine to be lost in the Mediterranean during WW2

Sickle

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Commanders

1944:

Lieutenant

James Ralph Drummond

DSO DSC MID

Ex P74(i)

1943_1944: Mediterranean.

HMS Sickle left for a patrol in the Northern Aegean on 31st May 1944. The Submarine was in action on 4th June when she fired on shipping in Mitylene Harbour.

She was later engaged in a gun battle with two German patrol vessels and, during the fight, one member of the crew (Able Seaman Richard Blake) was washed overboard. He was rescued by the patrol vessels and became a Prisoner of War, and the only survivor. HMS Sickle escaped the engagement by diving and continued on her patrol.

On 12th June the Commanding Officer spotted a convoy in the approaches to Steno Pass. The presence of a submarine was suspected by the convoy escort and dropped two depth charges. Soon afterwards all contact with HMS Sickle was lost.

It is assumed that HMS Sickle probably struck a mine in the Kythera Channel. The Submarine was lost with all hands.

Read

HMS Sickle: 1943 - 1944

It had been U-boats that had been making the news, sinking Allied ships in the Atlantic, but one of three submarines in the Solent would come some way to redressing the balance. The three submarines were Taku, Ursula and Sickle. It is the passage of the latter that we will follow.

Roll of Honour

MacKay, David

D/JX 304833

Died: 4th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 20

Able Seaman

Reported to have died from wounds received in a surface gun action in which two others were wounded and AB Richard Blake was lost overboard.

AB Blake was rescued by German Forces and, accidentally and very luckily, became the only survivor of HMS Sickle which was ‘sunk with all hands’ twelve days later on 16th June. He did however spend the rest of the war as a Prisoner of War!

Bigglestone, Harry Dudley

C/SSX 21035

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 24

Leading Telegraphist

Bowen, Harry Wilfred MID*

P/KX 85960

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 31

Stoker Petty Officer

Brookes, George Owen

C/JX 233276

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 30

Leading Telegraphist

Cooke, John James

D/SKX 988

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 20

Stoker 1st Class

Crook, Frederick Charles MID*

P/JX 132095

Born: 1st Nov, 1912.

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 31

Able Seaman

Cuthbert, Alfred William Ernest

C/JX 157097

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 21

Leading Signalman

Davidson, Walter MID

D/JX 141071

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 26

Petty Officer Telegraphist

Davies, Edward William

C/KX 97357

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 26

Leading Stoker

Drummond, James Ralph DSO*

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 26

Lieutenant

Duncan, Alexander Durham McGregor

D/KX 101132

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 24

Stoker 1st Class

Dunstone, David Hughes

C/JX 194734

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 20

Telegraphist

Edwards, Ernest Ronald

P/JX 149577

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 23

Petty Officer

Evans, Alfred Edward

P/KX 97034

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 28

Leading Stoker

Francis, George

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 42

Warrant Engineer

Gilmore, Roy

P/SKX 278

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 22

Leading Stoker

Goodman, Percival David (RNVR)

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 25

Lieutenant

Green, Cyril Charles

D/JX 27969

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 23

Able Seaman

Grounds, Arthur Frank

D/JX 287352

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 22

Hallett, Edward Ernest MID

P/JX 388577

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 19

Able Seaman

Hamilton, David

P/MX 62015

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 27

Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class

Hancock, George Raymond

C/MX 64427

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 25

Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class

Harratt, George Herbert

P/JX 274024

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 23

Able Seaman

Hockless, George William

P/JX 235902

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 23

Able Seaman

Jack, Thomas

P/JX 175589

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 26

Leading Seaman

Jakeman, Patrick Baddeley (RNVR)

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 28

Lieutenant

Jones, Leslie

P/MX 88530

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 22

Engine Room Artificer 4th Class

Learmouth, Duncan Henry

C/MX 102529

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 23

Engine Room Artificer 4th Class

Lee, Cyril Thomas George

P/MX 109654

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 31

Leading Cook

Marshall, Richard

P/JX 350158

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 21

Able Seaman

Martin, Sidney

P/KX 139537

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 20

Leading Stoker

McNeill, William Bonner

D/JX 346302

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 20

Able Seaman

Mitchell, Cecil John

P/J 114226

Born: 4th Mar, 1910.

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 34

From: Pontypridd, Glamorgan

Chief Petty Officer

One of seven children, the son of John Mitchell (1882 to 1947) and Hagar nee Collins (1882 to 1961)

Cecil joined the Royal Navy in 1925 as a Boy II Class, whilst employed as a â€œcolliery boyâ€. He trained at HMS Impregnable, a 106 gun â€œwooden wallâ€ warship launched in 1810 and used from 1862 as a training ship. He was here from June 1925 to October 1926, by which time he had been promoted to Boy I Class.

Once trained, he went aboard the battleship HMS Benbow until the 25th of August 1927 and then the light cruiser HMS Cambrian upon which he was promoted from Boy to Ordinary and then Able Seaman and also signed up for twelve years on the 4th of May 1928.

Having signed up, he was posted to the destroyer HMS Blanche, followed by the battleship, HMS Revenge from 1932 to 1934.

Cecil continued to serve alternatively on ships and shore stations. His next ship was the battleship Iron Duke; battleship Repulse, 1936 (in which he was promoted to Acting Petty Officer); cruiser HMS Belfast 1939 four months; He was awarded the Naval General Service Medal (Palestine claps) on the 11th of March 1941, then on the 23rd of September 1941 he transferred to HMS Dolphin, HQ for the submarine service and thence to the submarine depot ship Cyclops on the 11th of November.

His service record does not record his ships served on after the Cyclops. However, he is known to have have been a torpedo instructor and to have served on the submarine Seraph during Operation Torch, the North African landings in 1942.

Mobbs, Stanley Norman

C/SSX 32208

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 22

Leading Seaman

Nettleton, John DSM

D/MX 54330

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 30

Chief Engine Room Artificer

Pearson, John Telfer

P/KX 138006

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 21

Stoker 1st Class

Pope, Frederick Ellis

D/JX 152043

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 23

Petty Officer

Rolph, David

C/JX 135449

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 28

Chief Petty Officer

Roose, Gordon Walter

D/JX 305124

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 22

Leading Seaman

Seymour, Raymond Norman George

D/SKX 1253

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 21

Leading Stoker

Sinclair, Anthony Douglas DSC

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 21

Lieutenant

Stark, Thomas Allenby

C/MX 77329

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 26

Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class

Stevens, Nicholas Charles

P/JX 358538

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 20

Able Seaman

Stewart, John Raymond

P/JX 324209

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 22

Able Seaman

Sturgess, Major Victor

P/KX 95156

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 27

Stoker 1st Class

Tugwell, Arthur Edward

P/JX 152374

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 23

Petty Officer

Walker, Victor Paul (RNVR)

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 22

Sub Lieutenant

Willcocks, Henry Alfred

C/KX 145585

Born: 23rd Sep, 1921.

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 22

Stoker 1st Class

Woollatt, Arthur Albert

P/KX 83280

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 30

Stoker Petty Officer

Yielding, Harry Arthur

C/JX 334182

Died: 16th Jun, 1944.

Aged: 32

Able Seaman

Events

08-05-1941	Laid Down

27-08-1942	Launched

01-12-1942	Completed

23-04-1943	HMS Sickle fires two torpedoes against the Italian merchant Mauro Croce off Sagunto, Spain. The torpedoes ran under the target and Sickle fired 19 rounds with her deck gun but failed to hit the target.

15-05-1943	HMS Sickle torpedoes and sinks the German auxiliary submarine chaser UJ-2213/Heureux south of Nice, southern France.

21-05-1943	HMS Sickle attacked U-755 but missed. Sickle then torpedoed & sank U-303 south of Toulon

18-07-1943	HMS Sickle sinks the Italian auxiliary minesweepers No. 61/Costante Neri and No. 164/Rosa Madre with gunfire 7 miles north of the island of Gorgona, Italy.

19-07-1943	HMS Sickle sinks the Italian auxiliary minesweeper V 131/Amgiola Maria C. with gunfire off Porto Vecchio, Italy.

21-07-1943	HMS Sickle torpedoes and damages the Italian merchant Oriani 8 miles west-north-west of Elba.

28-08-1943	HMS Sickle torpedoes and sinks the German escort vessel SG-10/Felix Henri east of Corsica, France.

01-10-1943	HMS Sickle fires three torpedoes against the German auxiliary submarine chaser UJ 2210 off Portoferraio, Elba Island, Italy. The three torpedoes missed their target.

18-11-1943	HMS Sickle sinks a sailing vessel with gunfire off Leros island, Greece.

19-11-1943	HMS Sickle torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant (in German service) Giovanni Boccaccio off Monemvasia, Greece.

25-11-1943	HMS Sickle sinks two sailing vessels with gunfire near Milos island, Greece.

26-12-1943	HMS Sickle sinks two Greek sailing vessel with gunfire east of Mykonos Island, Greece.

08-05-1944	HMS Sickle sinks three sailing vessels, with gunfire scuttling charges and ramming, in the Doro Channel (between Euboea Island and Andros Island).

12-05-1944	HMS Sickle sinks a sailing vessel with gunfire off Standia Island, Greece.

14-05-1944	HMS Sickle claims the sinking of a sailing vessel with gunfire north of Rhetymon, Crete.

31-05-1944	HMS Sickle left for a patrol in the northern Aegean

04-06-1944	Sickle fired upon shipping in Mitylene Harbour and was engaged in gunfire with German patrol vessels GA76 and GA91 during which Able Seaman Richard Blake, a member of the submarines 3 inch gun crew who was blown over board. The submarine had to make an urgent dive to avoid further hits, and Blake was left in the water and picked up by the Germans to become a POW. Sickle escaped the engagement and continued on her patrol

06-06-1944	HMS Sickle sinks the German merchant Reaumur with gunfire in the Aegean between Andros and Skyros islands.

09-06-1944	HMS Sickle attacks the German transport Lola to the west of Lemnos, Greece.

12-06-1944	Sickle signalled that she had spotted a convoy in the approach to Steno Pass. The convoy suspected the presence of a submarine and dropped two depth charges and, although it seems unlikely that this attack accounted for the loss of the submarine, no further contact was made with her.

16-06-1944	Believed lost when she struck a mine in the Kythera Channel. Sickle was the last British submarine to be lost in the Mediterranean during WW2

Unofficial

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