Splendid (P 228)
| Built By: | Chatham Dockyard (Medway) |
| Build Group: | S3 |
| Fate: | HMS Splendid (Lt Ian Laughlan Mackay McGeogh, DSO) was lost on 21st April 1943. The Submarine was detected by a German destroyer (Hermes) on 21st April 1943 while patrolling off Naples, Italy. Splendid was attacked and damaged in a depth charge attack by the Destroyer and forced to the surface. Following a fire-fight with the Hermes in which sixteen crew members were killed, HMS Splendid was scuttled and her surviving forty crew members taken Prisoner of War |
HMS Splendid shown with a 'Bandstand' & Oerlikon gun. The platform is supported by a column mounted on the hull
Splendid (P 228)
Commanders
| 1942: | Lieutenant | Ian Laughlan Mackay McGeoch |
Ex P78(i)
1943: Mediterranean, HMS Maidstone
Splendid was one of the more successful boats sinking the destroyer Aviere and some 30,000 tons of shipping.
Related Pages
RN Submarines scuttled or captured in WWII
Descriptions of the events in WWII that led to the loss of Royal Navy Submarines in actions where the submarines were sunk, usually by scuttling, with the captains and crew taken prisoner. Included are two variations - in one case the submarine was captured and in another the captain was killed in action.
Roll of Honour |
19
|
| Boulton, Bernard D/SSX 34130 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Telegraphist | Aged: 32 | ||
| Bryant, Leslie Charles P/J 114025 | Born: 30th Dec, 1909. | ||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Petty Officer | Aged: 33 | ||
| Croker, Reginald John MID D/KX 76748 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Stoker 1st Class | Aged: 33 | ||
| Freeman, Fred DSM D/JX 285923 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Able Seaman | Aged: 37 | ||
| Galloway, Alexander Fraser D/JX 150818 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Leading Telegraphist | Aged: 22 | ||
| Gillispie, Leslie P/JX 275191 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Able Seaman | Aged: 22 | ||
| Family changed name to GILLESPIE in 1943 | |||
| Goodwin, Eric D/SSX 12992 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Able Seaman | Aged: 35 | ||
| Herbert, Leslie William D/KX 138684 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Stoker 1st Class | Aged: 20 | ||
| Hodgson, William C/KX 111345 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Stoker 1st Class | Aged: 36 | ||
| Kempthorne, Leslie Richard C/SSX 26446 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Able Seaman | Aged: 22 | ||
| Lawrence, Douglas MID D/JX 142867 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Petty Officer | Aged: 24 | ||
| Legassick, William C/JX 207619 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Signalman | Aged: 25 | ||
| Macken, Thomas C/KX 95081 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Stoker 1st Class | Aged: 23 | ||
| Moody, James C/JX 155550 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Able Seaman | Aged: 21 | ||
| Orrom, Warren Stanley MID C/J 113100 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Petty Officer | Aged: 33 | ||
| Pilton, Francis John MID D/SSX 22220 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Able Seaman | Aged: 22 | ||
| Savill, Kenneth Aubrey Peploe C/JX 333132 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Able Seaman | Aged: 21 | ||
| Smith, Leslie Stephen D/MX 66053 | |||
| Died: 21st Apr, 1943. | |||
| Engine Room Artificer 4th Class | Aged: 21 | ||
| Dixon, Samuel Hughes DSM C/JX 125574 | |||
| Died: 19th Feb, 1945. | |||
| Chief Petty Officer | Aged: 35 | ||
| from Folkestone, Kent | |||
| Samuel Dixon was born in October 1910, the son of Samuel and Agnes Dixon and entered the Royal Navy in 1928. He joined the submarine branch in February 1942 as a Petty Officer Torpedo Gunner’s Mate. He served in HM Submarines L26 and H50 before joining HMS Splendid in October 1942. Vice Admiral Sir Ian McGeoch, who had been his Commanding Officer at that time said of him later 'a calm and utterly reliable torpedo expert, one of the finest men I was privileged to be shipmates with. I certainly recommended him for a decoration, he richly deserved it.' One of the survivors when Splendid was forced to the surface after a depth charge attack, Dixon was held as a PoW in Italy and then transferred to Germany. He was killed in a strafing raid by USAAF Mustang aircraft near Halberstadt on 19 February 1945 during a forced march by his German captors away from the advancing Red Army. He left a widow, Agnes, in Folkestone, Kent. He was awarded the DSM (see London Gazette date 6th Apr 1943) his medal was presented to his wife. |
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Events
| 07-03-1941 | Laid Down |
| 08-08-1942 | Completed |
| 16-11-1942 | HMS Splendid sinks the Italian auxiliary submarine chaser San Paolo about 15 nautical miles north-west of Isola di Gorgona, Italy. |
| 21-11-1942 | HMS Splendid torpedoes and damages the Italian destroyer Velite about 18 nautical miles south-west of Isola d'Ischia, Italy. |
| 23-11-1942 | HMS Splendid sinks the Italian merchant Luigi Favorita with gunfire about 80 nautical miles from Capo Carbonara, Sardinia, Italy. |
| 17-12-1942 | HMS Splendid torpedoes and sinks the Italian destroyer Aviere about 35 nautical miles north-north-east of Bizerte, Tunisia. |
| 15-01-1943 | HMS Splendid torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant Emma about 15 nautical miles south-west of Isola di Capri, Italy. |
| 19-01-1943 | HMS Splendid torpedoes and sinks the small Italian merchant Commercio south-east of Capo Sferracavallo, Sardinia, Italy. She also sinks the Italian auxiliary minesweeper No. 107/Cleopatra with gunfire. |
| 19-01-1943 | Launched |
| 17-02-1943 | HMS Splendid sinks the Italian merchant XXI Aprile about 3 nautical miles north of Cape San Vito, Sicily, Italy. |
| 17-03-1943 | HMS Splendid torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant Devoli 6 nautical miles bearing 245 of Cape San Vito, Sicily, Italy. |
| 21-03-1943 | HMS Splendid torpedoes and sinks the Italian tanker Giorgio about 8 nautical miles east-north-east of Cefal, Sicily, Italy. |
| 21-04-1943 | HMS Splendid (Lt Ian Laughlan Mackay McGeogh, DSO) left Malta on 17th April 1943 with orders to patrol off Naples and later off the west coast of Corsica. On 21st April the submarine was detected by the German destroyer Hermes. Splendid was attacked and damaged in a depth charge attack by the Destroyer and forced to the surface. Following a fire-fight with the Hermes in which sixteen crew members were killed, HMS Splendid was scuttled and her surviving crew members taken Prisoner of War |
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