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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
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.

Related Pages
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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
50
Died: 04-06-1944
MacKay, David  D/JX 304833
Able Seaman Died: 04-06-1944 Aged: 20
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!
Died: 16-06-1944
Bigglestone, Harry Dudley  C/SSX 21035
Leading Telegraphist Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 24
Bowen, Harry Wilfred  MID* P/KX 85960
Stoker Petty Officer Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 31
Brookes, George Owen  C/JX 233276
Leading Telegraphist Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 30
Cooke, John James  D/SKX 988
Stoker 1st Class Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 20
Crook, Frederick Charles  MID* P/JX 132095
Able Seaman Born: 01-11-1912 Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 31
Cuthbert, Alfred William Ernest  C/JX 157097
Leading Signalman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 21
Davidson, Walter  MID D/JX 141071
Petty Officer Telegraphist Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 26
Davies, Edward William  C/KX 97357
Leading Stoker Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 26
Drummond, James Ralph  DSO*
Lieutenant Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 26
Duncan, Alexander Durham McGregor  D/KX 101132
Stoker 1st Class Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 24
Dunstone, David Hughes  C/JX 194734
Telegraphist Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 20
Edwards, Ernest Ronald  P/JX 149577
Petty Officer Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 23
Evans, Alfred Edward  P/KX 97034
Leading Stoker Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 28
Francis, George 
Warrant Engineer Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 42
Gilmore, Roy  P/SKX 278
Leading Stoker Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 22
Goodman, Percival David  (RNVR)
Lieutenant Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 25
Green, Cyril Charles  D/JX 27969
Able Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 23
Grounds, Arthur Frank  D/JX 287352
Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 22
Hallett, Edward Ernest  MID P/JX 388577
Able Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 19
Hamilton, David  P/MX 62015
Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 27
Hancock, George Raymond  C/MX 64427
Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 25
Harratt, George Herbert  P/JX 274024
Able Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 23
Hockless, George William  P/JX 235902
Able Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 23
Jack, Thomas  P/JX 175589
Leading Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 26
Jakeman, Patrick Baddeley  (RNVR)
Lieutenant Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 28
Jones, Leslie  P/MX 88530
Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 22
Learmouth, Duncan Henry  C/MX 102529
Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 23
Lee, Cyril Thomas George  P/MX 109654
Leading Cook Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 31
Marshall, Richard  P/JX 350158
Able Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 21
Martin, Sidney  P/KX 139537
Leading Stoker Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 20
McNeill, William Bonner  D/JX 346302
Able Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 20
Mitchell, Cecil John  P/J 114226
Chief Petty Officer Born: 04-03-1910 Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 34
from Pontypridd, Glamorgan
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 “colliery boy”. He trained at HMS Impregnable, a 106 gun “wooden wall” 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
Leading Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 22
Nettleton, John  DSM D/MX 54330
Chief Engine Room Artificer Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 30
Pearson, John Telfer  P/KX 138006
Stoker 1st Class Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 21
Pope, Frederick Ellis  D/JX 152043
Petty Officer Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 23
Rolph, David  C/JX 135449
Chief Petty Officer Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 28
Roose, Gordon Walter  D/JX 305124
Leading Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 22
Seymour, Raymond Norman George  D/SKX 1253
Leading Stoker Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 21
Sinclair, Anthony Douglas  DSC
Lieutenant Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 21
Stark, Thomas Allenby  C/MX 77329
Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 26
Stevens, Nicholas Charles  P/JX 358538
Able Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 20
Stewart, John Raymond  P/JX 324209
Able Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 22
Sturgess, Major Victor  P/KX 95156
Stoker 1st Class Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 27
Tugwell, Arthur Edward  P/JX 152374
Petty Officer Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 23
Walker, Victor Paul  (RNVR)
Sub Lieutenant Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 22
Willcocks, Henry Alfred  C/KX 145585
Stoker 1st Class Born: 23-09-1921 Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 22
Woollatt, Arthur Albert  P/KX 83280
Stoker Petty Officer Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 30
Yielding, Harry Arthur  C/JX 334182
Able Seaman Died: 16-06-1944 Aged: 32

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
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