WW2 100 - 17 January 1942 - A casualty of the Arctic Convoys: Petty Officer Sidney Gerald Hayward, Royal Navy, HMS Matabele (1919-42)
ABLE SEAMAN FRANKLIN BRISTOW (1913-41)
https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/12/ww2-75-19-december-1941-sacrificed-for.html
In May 2013, Sidney Hayward’s niece Maria Hatt applied for the Arctic Star on behalf of her uncle, having heard about a new medal which was being issued posthumously for those who had lost their lives during WW2 in the Arctic Convoys. Well over a year later, she received the medal. She researched Sidney’s story, and presented a copy of her work to Fairlynch Museum. What follows is largely based on Maria’s research
It was, wrote British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
in his book The Second World War, ‘the worst journey in the world’.
Two years into the Second World War, the Soviet Union was under enormous pressure and in need of supplies. When Germany invaded on 22 June 1941, the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, asked for help from Britain and her allies. Providing much-needed supplies would not be easy, with many sea routes defended by Nazi Germany. The most direct route was through the Arctic Circle by sea, around northern Norway to the Soviet ports of Murmansk and Archangelsk.
A map showing Iceland and Murmansk. The red arrow
indicates the approximate location where HMS Matabele was sunk
For the next four years, 78 convoys made the journey to
Russia. Conditions were among the worst faced by any Allied sailors. As well as
facing the Nazi German Navy, they battled extreme temperatures, gales and pack
ice. In spite of the efforts of the German Navy, as well as all that the sea
could throw at them, between 1941 and 1945 the convoys delivered more than four
million tons of supplies to the Russians.
Eighty-five merchant vessels and 16 Royal Navy warships were lost, among
them the destroyer HMS Matabele on which 22-year-old Petty Officer Sidney
Gerald Hayward was serving, on 17 January 1942.
Sidney Hayward’s name appears on the Budleigh
Salterton memorial, but he was actually born in Ipswich, Suffolk, in February
1919 to Gerald Warren Hayward and Mary Margaret Hayward née Bevan. The link to
our area came through a family connection to Budleigh resident George Carpenter
who had married Violet Bevan, sister of Sidney’s mother Mary Margaret.
You can read about George
Carpenter at
https://fairlynchgreatwar.blogspot.com/2015/04/more-about-major-george-carpenter-mc.html
It was George Carpenter, pictured above, well known in Budleigh
after his distinguished service during WW1, who helped to find Sidney’s father
Gerald a job with the Rolle Estate at Bicton. Gerald had
served with the 6th Suffolks Machine Guns Corps (MGC) during
WW1 and had been shot during the Battle of Poelcapelle on 4 Oct 1917. He had returned
and been sent back to the Hindenburg Line. By 24 August 1918 he had been
returned to the UK having been diagnosed with neurasthenia - now known as Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD). Maria Hatt believes that this was significant in that
he did not return to his former life, having been employed by the Inland
Revenue, Valuation Office.
Bicton House, home of the 21st Baron Clinton at the time of the Hayward family’s arrival in East Devon. It is now Bicton College, specialising in agriculture
It seems likely that the Hayward family arrived in our
area in 1921/22, and that Gerald may have retrained as a plumber/handyman at
Bicton Gardens and looked after the many Estate buildings.
The job came with a home at 2 South Farm Cottage
on South Farm Road, just to the north of Budleigh Salterton. The cottages were built by the Rolle Estate for their
workers in 1905. This photo is taken from the book ‘Mark Rolle, his Architectural
Legacy in the Lower Otter Valley’, which is available from the Otter Valley Association.
The Haywards lived in the middle cottage.
St Peter’s School, Budleigh Salterton, as it is
today
Sidney is likely to have attended St Peter’s
School in Budleigh Salterton along with his two brothers, Paul and Maria Hatt’s
father Michael Hayward.
Sidney was always interested in being a sailor, as
in the photo above, dated 1923, when he was aged just four years old. The photo
was kindly passed on to Maria by Clare Court, George Carpenter’s daughter, and
shows Clare’s sister Joan, known in the family as Winky. They were cousins as
their mothers were two of the four Bevan sisters from Ipswich.
Sidney with his brothers at 2 South Farm Cottage
Maria Hatt’s uncle Tony Carpenter told her that
Sidney went to Exmouth Grammar School and would cycle to the school each day
with the other boys from Budleigh Salterton.
The above photo, dated 1934, is taken from the ‘Old
Exmouthian’, website. Sidney, identified by Clare Court, is 4th from the left,
second row down. He would have been 15 years old.
At the age of 16 he joined the Royal Navy as shown
in the above photo. Maria is unsure of its date, but noted how young he looks.
In August 1940, Sidney married Edith May Isabel
Chinn, who came from Falmouth. Both are seen in this photo, believes
Maria.
HMS Matabele
At the time of his death in 1942, Sidney had
gained the rank of Petty Officer, the equivalent of sergeant in the Royal
Marines, British Army and Royal Air Force. His Service Number was D/JX142441. Information
about his naval service from when he joined the Navy as a 16-year-old would be
most welcome, but we do know that he was serving on HMS Matabele when he
died.
The ship was a Tribal-class destroyer which had been launched on 6 October 1937. The Tribals were intended to counter the large destroyers being built abroad and to lend gun support to the existing destroyer flotillas and were thus significantly larger and more heavily armed than the preceding I class.
The ships' complement consisted of 190 officers and ratings, although the flotilla leaders carried an extra 20 officers and men for the Captain and his staff. The Tribals were not intended as anti-submarine ships, but they were provided with ASDIC – an early form of sonar used to detect submarines – one depth charge rack and two throwers for self-defence, although the throwers were not mounted in all ships. Twenty depth charges were the peacetime allotment, but this increased to 30 during wartime.
George VI and his royal consort, Queen
Elizabeth, proceed along the ceremonial route in Toronto during the 1939 Royal
Tour of Canada in May 1939 Unknown
author - Canadian Science and Technology Museum, CN Images of Canada Gallery,
Image No.: CN003721
Matabele was initially assigned to the 2nd Tribal Destroyer
Flotilla of the Home Fleet, which was renamed the 6th Destroyer Flotilla in
April 1939. Her early career with the flotilla mostly involved port visits and
exercises. On 12 May she escorted the ocean liner RMS Empress of Australia
through the English Channel. Empress of Australia was carrying King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their Royal Tour to Canada.
The stricken Thetis, surrounded by rescue
boats Image credit: Wikipedia
In June Matabele was assigned to assist in
rescue operations for the stricken submarine Thetis which had sunk
during builder's trials on 1 June in Liverpool Bay. A total of 99 men lost their lives before they could be
rescued. This would have been a traumatic
experience for young Sidney and his crew mates, giving them a foretaste of the
horrors to come.
On her release from these duties, Matabele resumed her Home Fleet programme with the Flotilla. With war looming, she took up her Home Fleet war station in August, and was deployed for interception and anti-submarine patrol in Home waters.
HMS Spearfish on the surface
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Matabele
carried out duties including the interception of German shipping attempting to
return to German ports and commerce raiders on passage to attack British shipping
in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as patrols to intercept U-boats operating in
Home waters. On 25 September 1939 she was deployed with sisters Somali
and Mashona to search for the submarine Spearfish, which had been
badly damaged during a patrol in Heligoland Bight. Having successfully made
contact with Spearfish on 26 September, they escorted her back to the UK
under the cover of major warships of the Home Fleet. Spearfish would be
later be attacked by the German submarine U-34, and sank on 1 August
1940. There was only one survivor.
Through October to December, Matabele carried out patrols to intercept German ships on passage for attacks on coastal shipping, as well as heading into the Atlantic Ocean for attacks on convoys or for submarine minelayers. She also carried out screening duties for major Home Fleet warships. In January and February 1940 she was under repair at HMNB Devonport for work which included the replacement of turbine blades, damaged due to excess stress during high speed steaming in inclement weather, and the installation of de-gaussing equipment for protection against magnetic mines.
Matabele returned to active service in March, and took part in
convoy escorts to and from Norway, as well as sweeps to intercept German
warships. Whilst carrying out these duties, she came under heavy air attacks on
13 April, and again on 16 April, but escaped undamaged. On 17 April she escorted
the cruisers Effingham and Coventry to Bodø, in Norway. On 18
April she ran aground on Foksen shoal, but managed to re-float with damage to
her structure. Effingham also ran aground, but suffered serious damage. Matabele
took off troops and equipment from the stricken cruiser, after which Matabele
scuttled Effingham with torpedoes and gunfire.
The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer, scourge of the Atlantic convoys. It was finally capsized by the RAF in April 1945. Image credit: Bundesarchiv, DVM 10 Bild-23-63-64 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
She continued supporting operations off Norway ,
and then returned to the UK at the end of May for repairs and a refit at
Falmouth. This work lasted until July and involved improvement of her defences
against air attacks. She returned to active service after post refit trials on
19 August, 1940. She continued to serve in Home waters and off Norway. On 22
October she and Somali attacked a convoy off Åndalsnes, in Norway, and
on 23 October she, Somali and Punjabi sank the German weather
ship WBS 5 Adolf Vinnen off Stadlandet. Later, Matabele sank a
coaster. November and December were spent operating out of Scapa Flow,
including forming part of a screen for the search for the German raider Admiral
Scheer which had been reported as attacking the Atlantic convoys.
In January 1941, Matabele screened minelaying operations off Norway and on 16 January she escorted the battleship King George V, then on passage to the United States carrying Lord Halifax and senior defence personnel, through the North Western Approaches. Further screening of minelaying operations followed.
In March she began to escort convoys, but entered refit again in Vickers-Armstrong's Barrow-in-Furness yards on 11 April. This lasted until May and consisted of the removal of the mainmast and the top of the after funnel to improve the arcs of fire for her close range weapons. A Type 286M radar was also fitted. On her departure from Barrow on 5 June to rejoin the fleet, she grounded and sustained major damage to her underwater fittings, including her shaft brackets and propellers. She returned to Barrow for repairs, which lasted until mid August.
On 30 August she was deployed with the aircraft carrier Argus, the cruiser Shropshire and the destroyers Punjabi and Somali on a mission to deliver RAF equipment and personnel to North Russia to support Soviet military operations after the Soviet Union had entered the war. The operation was completed successfully and the ships returned to Scapa Flow on 15 November. Matabele spent October to December on patrol, and screening operations off Norway.
Kapitänleutnant Burkhard Hackländer His
submarine U-454 would eventually be attacked in the Bay of Biscay and sunk in
August 1943 by an Australian Sunderland flying boat. Thirteen of the crew died;
there were 14 survivors, including Hackländer who became a prisoner of war
Image credit: https://forum.axishistory.com/
In January 1942 she formed the screen, with Somali,
for the cruiser Trinidad on Convoy PQ 8 from Iceland to Murmansk. The
convoy of eight merchant ships plus escorts departed on 11 January, and came under
torpedo attack on 17 January one day short of their destination by German
submarine U-454 under the command of Kapitänleutnant
Burkhard Hackländer, pictured above.
The first sunk was the Russian trawler RT-68 Enisej at 6.32 am. That evening the merchant ship Harmatis was hit at 6.46 pm by a single torpedo and taken in tow by the minesweeper HMS Speedwell, with the Matabele providing escort as the rest of the convoy continued on ahead. U-454 was able to manoeuvre into a suitable position and at 10.21 pm fired and hit Matabele in the stern area with a single torpedo which detonated a magazine, causing the destroyer to sink in less than two minutes.
Unable to free their Carley life rafts the surviving crew were forced to jump overboard into the freezing sea, with many being killed when the Matabele's depth charges exploded as the ship sank. The ice-cold sea temperatures then caused further loss of life to such an extent that out of her complement of 238 only two survived of the four that were rescued up by the minesweeper Harrier.
Sidney has no grave, but the family can see
his name on Budleigh Salterton’s War Memorial. In the background to this photo,
Otter Head is included as that is where the ashes of Michael Hayward, Maria’s
father, are scattered.
As well as at Budleigh Salterton’s War Memorial Sidney
is commemorated on the War Memorial Plaque in All Saints’ Church, East Budleigh,
seen above. Buried in the graveyard are his mother, and grandmother Jessie Rosa
Hayward née
Warren, both in unmarked graves.
St John the Evangelist’s Church, Withycombe
Image
credit: https://devonringers.org.uk
His name also appears on the Plymouth Naval
Memorial at Plymouth Hoe, Panel 63, Column 2
The 2017 Poppy Display at the Plymouth
Royal Naval Memorial
Edith remarried, after Sidney’s death, and her surname became Rees, but she died on 8 December 1953 at Taunton Hospital. It seems that this was due to a car crash. Sidney and Edith had no children, but thanks to his niece Maria he will be remembered in this story of his life and sad death.
Thanks to the internet, and in the run-up to the centenary of the outbreak of WW2, there will be many local history online commemorations of war dead composed as community projects. Here is one that I was pleased to find, put together by Cornwall resident Mark Norris and others with links to the village of Devoran in Cornwall, and based on the sinking of HMS Matabele
The next post is for
Sergeant Deryk Vaughan Saunders (1920-42), RAFVR Squadron 62, who was killed when his aircraft was shot down in Malaya
You can read about him at
https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/12/ww2-75-26-january-1942-fighting-with.html
These ‘orphans’ are listed on Budleigh Salterton War
Memorial, but have not been identified. Their first names,
date of death and service numbers are not known.
They are recorded on the Devon Heritage website as
'Not yet confirmed’
If you know anything which would help to identify them,
please contact Michael Downes on 01395 446407.
F.E. Newcombe
P. Pritchard
F.J. Watts
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