Seven Seas, Nine Lives

The Valour of Captain A.W.F. Sutton, CBE, DSC and Bar, RN

Richard Pike

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Maritime
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781783409709
• Topic: Tecnologia e ingegneria
• Subtopic: Trasporti marittimi

Captain Alan William Frank Sutton's enthralling biography starts when, as a young midshipman he was in command of a small rowing cutter returning a potentially mutinous crew to the battle-cruiser HMS Repulse in which he served. Amazingly it ends in the open cockpit of a Fairy Swordfish torpedo bomber during the legendry night attack which destroyed the Italian fleet at Taranto.This biography has been written with the full cooperation of Captain Sutton who has given the author every detail of his lengthy naval ship and airborne career during World War II.

PART ONE

Mutinous Fleet

CHAPTER ONE

Peer Pressures

INVERGORDON, SCOTLAND, MONDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 1931

The midshipman glances at the picket boat’s bow wave and frowns. He stares at the froth and fury of spray as the waters of the Cromarty Firth are thrust aside. He frowns again when he senses a shift in the accustomed rhythm of the boat’s motion; the vessel lurches and groans as the sea slaps against the hull. He concludes, however, that the trouble is probably illusory, just a figment of his imagination. Normally thrilled by the sights and sounds of the seagoing life, Midshipman Alan William Frank Sutton is unhappy at present, unable to forget the immediacy of his invidious position. He gulps the sea air and shivers; he draws the protective layers of his navy-issue coat closer to his neck. In the distance beyond Invergordon, the early-evening light barely allows him to make out the line of high ground, although from time to time he can glimpse the hills of Easter Ross which, he thinks, look as uninviting as the Cromarty waters they overlook.

Midshipman Sutton knows that he must be strong-minded. Signs of weakness could lead to serious trouble; his personal doubts must be kept to himself. He has decided that his best course will be to display an air of quiet confidence – one of firm authority. He will make it understood that any acts of indiscipline, however minor, will not be tolerated. The matter, though, is not easy for a young man of just nineteen years, even one with a natural sense of leadership. This is, after all, his first posting with the Royal Navy. He is about to confront – be forced to confront – a situation which is hardly textbook for a new officer straight from his year of training as a special entry cadet at HMS Erebus, Devonport.

He glances once more at the bow wave. The gossamer lure of the sea seems surreal; the waters glisten and chatter as if in conversation with the gulls. He raises his eyes. For a moment he gazes at the gulls. He ponders about them, what curious creatures they are. He sees one of them dive towards the brass-funnelled picket boat and he recalls the advice given by an instructor at Devonport – Lieutenant Matthew Slattery. ‘Never refer to them as seagulls,’ the lieutenant had said one time. ‘There’s no such thing, Mister Sutton.’ The instructor had stared sternly at the young cadet. ‘That’s the kind of terminology used by ignorant landlubbers.’

So, muses Midshipman Sutton just now, what the hell are these then? Black-headed gulls, great black-headed gulls, herring gulls? Goodness knows. Scottish herring gulls, perhaps. They look a bit Scottish somehow. Maybe they eat haggis; they’ll be wearing kilts next. The midshipman chuckles to himself and he momentarily puts present worries to the back of his mind. He remembers Lieutenant Slattery as an exceptionally good man: one of the old school, someone who would go far. As he surmises the prospects of the future Admiral Sir Matthew Slattery, and as he ruminates, Midshipman Sutton recalls the passing-out ceremony at Devonport last month. His mother had attended, and so had his brother, Dudley. Not his father, though.

If only . . .

But perhaps, in spirit, he had been there.

On that day at Devonport, Instructor Lieutenant Slattery had been a model host. He had known about Cadet Sutton’s background, and with the natural urbanity of an officer and a gentleman he had welcomed the family into another family – that of the Royal Navy: bigger and broader, but a family nevertheless. Lieutenant Slattery was aware of the fate of Cadet Sutton’s father, a soldier killed in the first Battle of the Somme. With quiet compassion the lieutenant had demonstrated his discernment of the devastation – the tortures – the cadet’s mother must have endured. How does a young widow cope with such circumstances? ‘Alan, I have something to tell you . . .’ How do you explain to a boy of just four years about the loss of his father, a man they had revered, the man on whom so much depended?

‘Look!’ one of the crew members yells and points upwards. His reminiscences disrupted, Midshipman Sutton observes the restlessness of the gulls and he sees how their agitation is heightened when the boat nears the shoreline. His eyes narrow as he squints up at the birds. He discerns their impatient flutter against the backdrop of fractured stratus and he notices how occasional breaks in the cloud reveal the first of the stars, the brightest of the stars. What was he told at school? He remembers the teacher at the Christ’s Hospital School, Horsham, who tried to explain about the muses: about Zeus and Mnemosyne; about their nine daughters. So which, then, was the muse of astronomy? Urania? Yes, that was it: Urania. He gazes at the heavens for some seconds; the stars in Scottish skies seem to have added clarity.

A determined gull looks aggressive, uncommonly so, as it squawks and swoops towards the picket boat; the midshipman feels an instinctive desire to duck. He must be getting edgy. He glances back at his mother vessel, HMS Repulse, a battle-cruiser at anchor in the outer reaches of the Cromarty Firth. He makes out the profile of the ship, the funnels and bridge structure, the guns fore and aft, the elegant line of the hull, how this disguises the mass of the 32,000 ton displacement. The Repulse, the twelfth Royal Navy ship to bear the name since first used in 1595, was built by the Clyde company of John Brown and was completed in August 1916. The ship, which is now farthest from his present position, is anchored off the town of Cromarty. He notes how the other ships are secured systematically in pairs until, between Invergordon and Udale Bay, HMS Hood and Rodney are set apart on their moorings.

He spots the navigation lights of the Repulse, then he checks around him to observe the lights of the whole fleet. He sees the sparkle of an Aldis communications lamp come to life; the operator winks some message to a fellow rating. He feels awed as he gazes at the grandeur of the largest of the ships within His Majesty’s Atlantic Fleet; at present, the smaller craft are moored off Rosyth in the Firth of Forth. In the next day or so these elements are due to sail north to take part in the fleet’s autumn exercises.

Despite the size and the splendour of the fifteen or so warships now in view, the midshipman realizes that the vessels become harder to make out in this fading light of dusk. He contemplates how the grey outlines seem deceptive: the exteriors disguise hives of activity within; the ships teem with an urgent and remarkable vitality. So many disciplines are contained within the depths of those hulls: engineers, gunners, administrators, marines, caterers . . . the cooks seem to work miracles under such conditions. He shivers again, and he wonders what will be on the menu in the midshipmen’s mess tonight.

Not that he feels hungry at this moment; his sense of anxiety sees to that. The food, though, will be enjoyed eventually. At least the navy attempts to look after its people in that respect. The task must be Herculean; the numbers enormous. The Repulse’s crew is newly commissioned, and when gathered for arrival briefings he and his fellow midshipmen were told specifics about the ship’s organization. Details of domestic requirements were explained: the complexity of arrangements to feed the ship’s crew of 1,181 personnel. He remembers the conversations that followed: the midshipmen’s incredulity at the figures; the subsequent discussions and the comparisons, so revealing, between naval rations and the now-famed provisions taken onto the liner Titanic . . . 75,000 lb of fresh meat, 40,000 fresh eggs, 1,500 gal of milk, 11,000 lb of fresh fish, even fifty boxes of grapefruit. The officers laughed; such luxury was unlikely to become part of a naval diet.

The midshipman peers ahead at his aiming point, the pier at Invergordon. The outline becomes gradually more discernible and lines of streets, drab looking, become visible too. As he glances at the home of centuries of tradition and influence from the affairs of the sea, he feels the town’s streets point towards him as if accusingly – antagonized by the years of boom and bust, of triumph and tragedy. At one time a great naval base, Invergordon now appears a shadow of former times.

Matters, he was told, were different during the Great War. The streets were filled with life and vigour then and the town’s population swelled six-fold. Skilled labour apparently became so short that, for the first time, women were employed in traditional male jobs in the dockyards and in housing construction. And the housing problem was clearly acute; large numbers evidently had to be accommodated in three old warships. Those were the days when Invergordon was a boom town.

Then, in a moment of horror, came that event, that dreadful occurrence, on the very night of Hogmanay sixteen years ago. In mysterious circumstances one of His Majesty’s ships, the Natal, blew up with the loss of over 300 lives.

Further tragedy followed. He was told how Invergordon was still trying to come to terms with the loss of the Natal when, within a matter of months, the townspeople witnessed the Royal Navy sailing for Jutland. A great naval engagement took place off the coast of Denmark, but the aftermath was felt along the coast of Scotland. In naval terms the battle’s outcome was indecisive, but the impact on the people of Invergordon was clear enough: those were the people who had to cope with the immediate repercussions of over 6,000 sailors killed; the people who watched the ships limp back through the Cromarty Firth, and who saw a fleet of twelve ambulance boats take three days to ferry the wounded to Red Cross trains.

The sad affair seemed to mark the nadir of the town’s fortunes. Nemesis followed: the inhabitants had had it too good for too long, now they would have to pay. The dockyard closed, the post-war depression set in, workers drifted away and the population declined. As he stares at the Invergordon pier, the midshipman wonders if the Royal Navy, the organization he has joined as a new and proud officer, should alone be held to account – exclusively blamed – for the hardships.

Just now, however, Midshipman Sutton is concerned about other troubles. He has to think about the present and about his imminent duty: to pick up thirty or so sailors on shore leave – liberty-men – and return them to HMS Repulse. In normal times this would be straightforward procedure, but he knows that tonight the matter will be fraught with potential problems. The ratings are in turbulent mood, their unpredictable behaviour sparked by the disclosure of pay cuts. The men have been informed that owing to the nation’s financial difficulties the salaries of public servants will have to be reduced. As part of the process, Royal Navy remuneration will be decreased by up to 25 per cent. The lowest ranks will be worst affected: able seamen will have their pay taken down from 4 shillings to 3 shillings a day, ordinary seamen from 2 shillings and 9d a day to two shillings. Thus the basic salary of ordinary seamen will be reduced to around £3 a month, insufficient to pay their rent or to support their wives.

This news was announced with scant notice or advance explanation. Sutton, along with the Repulse’s other midshipmen, had overheard worried officers talk about their Lordships of the Admiralty and about how, for reasons of illness and absence on leave, key members had missed crucial meetings. Other admirals, including the fleet’s commander-in-chief Admiral Sir Michael Hodges, had been away when the subject was discussed. For a variety of reasons, those left in charge had handled the matter ineptly. Whatever the background, the midshipman realizes that the effect was like dynamite: last weekend, new pay scales were posted in Admiralty Fleet Order No. 2239. The issue was matter-of-fact; the bombshell was presented as a fait accompli.

It was not as if the government and Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald did not know what the likely reaction would be. The Prime Minister was made familiar – starkly so – with the men’s feelings on the previous Saturday. As a guest on board the aircraft carrier Courageous to watch the Schneider Trophy air race, he had enjoyed a welcoming speech from the ship’s captain. The entire crew was congregated in the carrier’s hangar. After the speeches, the captain called for the traditional three cheers. ‘Hip, hip, hip . . .’ he cried as he raised his hat high. But silence ensued, followed by the blowing of a raspberry. The captain’s face reddened. He tried again: ‘Hip, hip, hip . . .’ Another silence, then a larger number of raspberries.

Other signs of trouble were apparent too. On board the Repulse, the midshipmen had listened with serious expressions as officers discussed the embarrassment of Captain Custance of HMS York. When the fleet order was delivered, he had assembled his men so that he could read them the contents in person. The news was greeted with gasps of astonishment, especially from the married ratings who would be hit the hardest. When he had finished reading, the captain added: ‘I’m sorry about this, but if you can’t manage, your wives could be asked to take in washing to augment your pay.’

At this, a harsh and angry voice from the rear ranks shouted: ‘You fat bastard! How would you like your old woman to crash out the dirties?’ The shaken captain had immediately ordered the quarter-deck to be cleared and the ship’s company to resume their duties. These, though, were undertaken with dissension and amid heated discussions.

So what, wonders the midshipman, was on the minds of their Lordships? And what about the commander-in-chief’s number two, the man who would eventually shoulder much of the blame? Were these people so remote, so cemented to their ivory towers, that they did not consider the likely implications? Were the admirals sufficiently removed from day-to-day naval life that they did not realize the hardship that would be caused, how the ratings were bound to become inflamed and infuriated?

But some admirals, it seemed, were still rooted in the times of Nelson, the days when ordinary sailors had to sign their names with a cross. Evidently they had forgotten that modern ratings were educated individuals who could read newspapers and were informed about national affairs. The men would be aware that Ramsay MacDonald was now prime minister in name only, and that last week’s demonstrations in London had led to violence and arrests. The men would know about, and worry about, predictions that the nation’s impending financial collapse would lead to the abandonment of the gold standard and the temporary closure of the London Stock Exchange.

‘A couple of minutes to the pier, Mister Sutton.’ The rating’s shout of advice is hardly needed, but the midshipman realizes that all the crew members have feelings as apprehensive as his own. Mutiny is an ugly thing; the very concept clashes with the instinct and natural pride of military personnel. For the Royal Navy, the senior service, the broad family, this is especially poignant. The scenario is akin to civil war, the most destructive form of warfare. How should an individual respond? Where are the true loyalties?

While he watches the pier loom, Midshipman Sutton has to supervise proceedings; he looks ahead as he monitors the coxswain’s actions and judgement. A seaman of experience, the coxswain assesses the right instant to reduce the boat’s forward speed. The pitch of the engine note begins to alter; the crew are gently tipped forward onto their toes. The effervescence of the bow wave starts to peter out; the inquisitive gulls stare down. The fish, too, seem interested: the midshipman thinks he spots some of them arch through the air before they dive back into the firth. For a moment he looks down to observe the sea’s surface; he imagines the waters warmed by the currents of the Gulf Stream drifting south from Dornoch Firth, from Duncansby Head, from the perils of the Pentland Firth – feared by seamen but enjoyed by the porbeagle sharks, the halibut, the giant common skate. He checks again, but realizes that the fish have vanished. Perhaps, like other things this evening, their appearance was only in his imagination. He looks up, and once more he concentrates ahead as the boat clos...