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HMS Paxton

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History
British Army shipUnited Kingdom
NameHMAV Lady Patricia
BuilderArdrossan Dockyard & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Ardrossan
Yard number268
Launched1916
RefitMarch-30 April 1917 (Conversion to Q-ship)
United Kingdom
NameHMS Paxton
Commissioned1 May 1917
FateSunk 20 May 1917
General characteristics
Tonnage1,372 GRT
Length75.9 m (249 ft 0 in)
Beam11.6 m (38 ft 1 in)
PropulsionTriple expansion steam engine built by John G. Kincaid & Company driving single screw, 162 nhp
Armament

HMS Paxton was a First World War Royal Navy Q-ship torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-46 on 20 May 1917 in the Atlantic Ocean 90 miles (140 km) west of Great Skellig, Eire. The ship was originally ordered as Lady Patricia for the British and Irish Steam Packet Company but taken over on completion by the British Government as HMAV Lady Patricia.

The ship was damaged by gunfire from the German submarine U-57 on 30 March 1917 in St George's Channel and six crew killed. Shortly afterwards work started on converting her to an anti-submarine Q-ship, Q25, which was completed on 30 April 1917. The ship was commissioned as HMS Paxton the following day and sunk less than three weeks later.

Sinking

At about 9:00 on 20 May 1917 the ship was heading west at about 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) when an unknown German submarine surfaced and shelled her with its deck gun, hitting the ship once. Paxton responded by firing back at the submarine with her stern 4-inch (100 mm) gun, thus revealing herself as a Q-ship. The submarine dived to escape.

Paxton continued on her westerly course, and the crew changed her disguise by painting the name of a Swedish ship on her sides. At 19:15 on the same day U-46 torpedoed her, disabling the engines. Two men were killed, including the chief engineer, but the ship remained afloat because she was loaded with lumber. The submarine fired a second torpedo fifteen minutes later which broke the ship's back and it sank within about five minutes. The surviving crew abandoned the ship on two boats and two rafts, but had not been able to send a distress radio message. The submarine surfaced and took the captain, Commander George Hewett and the second engineer, Engineer Sub-Lieutenant James Wilfred Johnson prisoner.

The boats and rafts stayed together overnight, but at 5 am one boat separated to make for Berehaven (now Castletownbere) for help. The boat had no food or water onboard. However, it was spotted just after 9 pm, by an American destroyer, USS Wadsworth, which rescued the three officers and eight ratings on it but despite spending the following day searching the destroyer could not locate the other survivors. On 26 May a further four crew were rescued from a raft by another ship, and on 26 or 27 May the second boat, containing the remaining survivors reached Killybegs. Provisions and water had run out four days before the boat arrived, and two people had died en route. In all 31 people were killed.

Surgeon Sub-Lieutenant Annesley George Lennon Brown, RNVR was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in June 1919 for his gallantry and devotion to duty following the torpedoing.

References

  1. ^ "HMAV Lady Patricia (Anchusa Q25 Paxton) (+1917)". wrecksite. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Richard Tallack". A Tale of one City. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  3. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Lady Patricia". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net.
  4. Kindell, Don (2009). Royal Navy Roll of Honour - World War 1, Part 2 - by Date and Ship/Unit. Lulu.com. p. 337. ISBN 978-1445205359.
  5. ^ William N. Still, Jr. (1996). The Queenstown Patrol, 1917: The Diary of Commander Joseph Knefler Taussig, U.S. Navy (PDF). Naval War College Press. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  6. "British Special Service or Q-Ships". World War I at Sea. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  7. "Germany: Prisoners, including: Appeal for war loan sent to prisoners in Germany..." UK National Archives. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  8. "Royal Navy Medals - Awards of the Distinguished Service Cross". Naval History .net. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  9. "Supplement to the London Gazette, 11 June, 1919" (PDF). London Gazette. Retrieved 25 May 2015.

51°42′N 13°13′W / 51.700°N 13.217°W / 51.700; -13.217

Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in May 1917
Shipwrecks
Other incidents
1916 1917 1918
April 1917 June 1917
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