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HMS Electra, H27, was launched on 15 February 1934 at the Hawthorne Leslie shipyard at Hebburn, Tyneside
At the beginning of World War II, HMS Electra was attached to the 12th Destroyer Flotilla.
- 3 September 1939, Electra participated in the rescue of survivors of the liner Athenia, which was torpedoed by the German submarine U-30.
Electra continued escorting convoys and hunting U-boats in the Western Approaches area until
- April, 1940 when she was sent to escort convoys to Norway. On the second trip, the convoy was attacked by German bombers. An ex-Polish liner serving as a transport was sunk, but the rest of the convoy safely arrived. After the convoy was delivered, Electra was tasked to drop off two Army officers at a desolate location. During this time, Electra shot down a German bomber with her 4.7 inch guns. A few days later, Electra, being equipped with Two-Speed Destroyer Sweep minesweeping gear, was clear a path through the minefield for the battleship HMS Warspite into Narvik. Admiral Whitworth decided to risk the mines, and Electra took up possition guarding the entrance to the fjord.
- 13th June 1940, Electra escorted HMS Ark Royal in launching an air attack on Trondheim, Norway, in foggy conditions. HMS Antelope and HMS Electra collided and Elctra's bow was badly damaged. After 4 days sailing back to England slow speed, She was refitted at the Ailsa Shipbilding Company yard at Troon. Her bow repaired, and the after bank of torpedo tubes was replaced by a 3-inch anti-aircraft gun and two 20mm Oerlikons. The wardroom was painted the team colors of the Glasgow Rangers football (soccer) team, which was the favorite team of the yard manager heading up the repair work.
- Dec 1940. Electra joined a hunt for a German surface raider that had been reported in the North Atlantic, accompanied by the battlecruiser HMS Hood, light cruiser HMS Edinburgh, and destroyers Electra, Escapade, Echo, and Cossack. The report turned out to be false, she returned to port after a week at sea.
- Jan 1941. The ship's Captain, LCDR Sammy A. Buss, was promoted to Commander and transferred, the new Captain, LCDR Cecil Wakeford May took command. Electra was sent into the Arctic for a mission to find surface raiders, returning through the Denmark Strait and refueling from a cruiser in heavy seas on the way. In the first 4 months of 1941 HMS Electra performed mostly convoy work around the British Isles and Bristol Channel, in cold weather and heavy seas. On one trip, she rescued the crew of a coastal Command Anson patrol aircraft that had crashed into the ocean.
- 20th April 1941. Electra was part of the escort of Convoy HX 122, which left Halifax and arrived in Liverpool on 8 May.
- 23 January 1941, Electra participated in Operation Rubble, the escape of several Norwegian merchant ships from Goteborg, Sweden. In March, Electra and Inglefield escorted the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth in a search for the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
- May 1941. Electra was ordered to Scapa Flow for possible deployment against the Germans.
- 22 May 1941, just after midnight, Electra sailed along with the destroyers Achates, Antelope, Anthony, Echo, and Icarus, escorting the Hood and Prince Of Wales to cover the northern approaches. The intention was that the force would refuel in Hvalfjord, Iceland, and then sail again to watch the Denmark Strait. On the evening of 23 May, the weather deteriorated, and
- 24 May 1941, at 02:15 in the morning, the destroyers were ordered to spread out at 15 mile intervals to search to the north. At about 05:35, the German forces were sighted by the Hood. Firing commencted at 05:52 and at 06:01, HMS Hood took a 38 cm (15 inch) shell from Bismarck in the after magazine, which caused a massive explosion, sinking the ship within 2 minutes. Electra and other destroyers were about 60 miles away at the time. Upon hearing that the Hood had sunk, Electra raced to the area, arriving about 2 hours after the Hood went down. They were expecting to find many survivors, prepared hot coffee and rum, set up the medical facilities for the casualties, rigged scrambling nets and heaving lines, and placed life belts on the deck where they could be quickly thrown in. From the 94 officers and 1321 enlisted men who were aboard the Hood, only 3 survivors were found. Electra rescued these 3 survivors, and continued searching. Shortly thereafter, Icarus and Anthony joined in the search, and the 3 ships searched the area for more survivors. No more survivors were found and after several hours searching, they left the area as there was little probability that anyone was left alive in the water. After dropping the survivors off in Iceland, Electra sailed immediately again to escort the damaged Prince Of Wales to Rosyth. After arriving, the men went on shore leave, their first in many months.
- June 1941. Electra sailed for Scapa Flow, then made a run down the West Coast of England, then to Ireland, then escorted a troop convoy into the Atlantic. Electra was refitted in London for 6 weeks being given a new camoflage paint scheme of blues, greens, and grays.
- July 1941. Electra was on convoy duty again, escorting a convoy through what was called "Bomb Alley". From Scapa Flow, Electra was detailed to serve as Senior Escort for the first convoy to Russia (PQ-1), called Operation Dervish, which consisted of 13 merchantmen, escorted by Electra, Anthony, 3 Algerian-class minesweepers, and 6 trawlers. The convoy kept well to the west of Norway to avoid the German bases, before turning south to Archangel. While in Russia, the crew got a little shore leave.
- 23rd October 1941. Electra sailed out of Scapa Flow for Greenock.
- 25 October 1941 Electra sailed for the Far East. This force would be known as Force G until they reached the Far East; then they would be re-designated Force Z.
- 2 November 1941, they put into Freetown. They had shore leave, and left the next day
- 16 November 1941, arrived at Capetown.
- 18 November 1941. Left Capetown, stopping at Mauritius and Addu Atoll to refuel on the way.
- 28 November 1941. arrived at Colombo, Ceylon.
- 2 December 1941. The Electra arrived at Singapore. They spent a few days there with shore leave and refit, while waiting for orders.
- 8 December 1941. Early in the morning Singapore time, Singapore came under attack by Japanese aircraft. Prince Of Wales and Repulse shot back with anti-aircraft fire; Having received the reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor and invasions of Siam by the Japanese, Force Z put to sea at 1730 hrs. on 8 December. Force Z consisted of the Prince Of Wales and Repulse, escorted by the destroyers Electra, Express, Vampire, and Tenedos.
- 10th December 1941. In the afternoon, Prince Of Wales and Repulse were sunk by 85 Japanese aircraft off Kuantan aircraft from the 22nd Air Flotilla based at Saigon. Repulse was sunk by 5 torpedoes in 20 minutes, and Electra and Vampire moved in to rescue survivors of Repulse, while Express rescued survivors of the Prince Of Wales. Electra sent out radio messages that Repulse and Prince Of Wales had sunk. Even after they were rescued, some survivors of the Repulse manned Action Stations on Electra, to free the Electra sailors to rescue more survivors. In particular, Repulse gunners manned the 'X' and 'Y' 4.7-inch mounts, and the ship's dentist of the Repulse even assisted the Electra's medical teams with the wounded. In total, nearly 1000 survivors of the Repulse were rescued, of which Electra saved 571. Electra and the other destroyers then returned to Singapore to drop off the survivors, refuel, and replenish their ammunition.
- December 1941. Over the next 3 weeks Electra escorted convoys, she had 'crossed the line' (equator) so many times that the crew stopped keeping count. Some of the convoys that Electra was known to have escorted included:
- BM-9B, which left Bombay 22 December 1941; Electra escorted this convoy from 3 January 1942 until its arrival at Singapore on 6 January.
- BM-10, which left Bombay 8 January 1942; Electra was part of the escort between 10 January and 22 January.
- BM-11, which left Bombay 19 January 1942; Electra was part of the escort from 24 January until its arrival at Singapore on 29 January.
- BM-12 Return trip to Bombay; Electra was part of the escort from 7 February to 9 February while the convoy went through the Sunda Strait.
- Just before Singapore fell, Electra and other destroyers escorted the remaining merchant ships to Tanjong Priok, Java.
- 26 February 1942. Electra arrived at Surabaya from Tanjong Priok, along with HMS Exeter, HMAS Perth, the Netherlands light cruiser Java, and the destroyers Jupiter and Encounter. Dauntless, Danae, and Hobart remained at Tanjong Priok.
- 27 February 1942. the striking force left Surabaya, the three British destroyers in the lead, with Electra in the center, Jupiter to port, and Encounter to starboard; followed by HNLMS DeRuyter, Exeter, Houston, Perth, and Java; followed by 2 Dutch and 4 American destroyers. That afternoon, they made contact with the enemy. Electra managed to evade the shells and torpedoes in the first round. At 1715, Exeter received a hit which destroyed a 4-inch gun mount and then exploded in a boiler room, causing her to lose speed. At 1725, seeing that the Exeter was in trouble, Electra headed toward the enemy ships, followed by the other two British destroyers, to cover the Exeter's escape. After several near misses from gunfire from the Japanese light cruiser Jintsu, Electra fired back, scoring several hits on the Jintsu and the destroyer Asagumo. During this slugging match, Electra sustained several hits, which knocked out A and X gun mounts, wrecked the electrical system forward, cut off all communications, destroyed a searchlight platform, damaged the after boiler room, and ruptured the main steam line. Electra came to a stop, fired off her torpedoes, and started to list to port. After a fire started under B gun mount and Y mount ran out of ammunition, abandon ship was ordered. One surviving whaleboat got away after being loaded with wounded, but it was destroyed by a shell shortly after. She sank shortly later on the afternoon of 27 February 1942, bow first, with the White Ensign still flying.
- 28 February 1942. About 02:35hrs. in the morning, 54 survivors of the 173 men on board were picked up by the United States submarine USS S-38 (SS-143), and were taken to Surabaya. When the submarine surfaced in the middle of the survivors, they weren't sure if it was friendly or enemy. One of the survivors died on the submarine on the way. After treatment in a Dutch hospital, 42 survivors were taken to Australia by the inter-island steamer Verspeck, where they arrived March 10. One more survivor died at the hospital, and 10 others in critical condition were left at the hospital. After spending some time there recovering, many of the survivors were put on the liner Nankin, bound for Ceylon, and ultimately, home to Britain. On the way, the Nankin was attacked and sunk by the German raider Thor. The survivors, after spending 7 weeks on the raider's suppply ship Regensburg, were handed over to the Japanese, where they spent the rest of the war in a Japanese prison camp.
- 29 March 1947, a stained glass window at the Church of St. George at the Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham, was dedicated to the crew of the Electra.
- August 2003, the M/V Empress located the wreck of the Electra. It is lying on its port side in approximately 160 feet (49m) of water, completely covered with fishing nets. She is located close to where the Japanese battle maps put her,far from the possition marked on the Allied battle maps.
I have been reading your website with interest as my uncle served on board HMS Electra. My Uncle was Acting Stoker, P.O., Harry Trowbridge and I have a small HMS Electra ID. booklet showing his name, rating, part of ship, Mess No. and religion.
Following the sinking of the Electra, my Aunt was extremely concerned for his wellbeing and wrote to the Admiralty requesting information on the 25th of March 1942. A reply was received in April 1942 stating that my Uncle was confirmed as a survivor from HMS Electra and had been landed at Fremantle, Australia.
Following that my Uncle was “loaned” to the Australian Navy and in July 1942 my Aunt wrote to the Admiralty to enquire of the exact position. In September 1942 she received a letter from the Admiralty confirming that my Uncle was “on loan” to the Australian Navy but that his case and the cases of other ratings similarly placed, necessitated enquiries being made of the Australian Naval Authorities.
I have a postcard with a photograph of a ship set in the outline of Australia – it looks like a destroyer and has the number J186 printed on its side. I believe my Uncle stayed with the Australian Navy for approximately 2 years.
I am pleased to say that my Uncle continued to serve the British Navy until the end of the War. I have a photograph of him when he served on HMS Royal Oak and he also served on HMS Foxhound and T.S.S. Athenia sunk by a German submarine on 3rd of September, 1939.
my mother, a nurse was on HMS Electra in April 1940 off Harstadt in Norway being transferred from Monarch of Bermuda to the dock as M of B was too big. Whilst on board she had a silk hankerchief signed by several members of the Electra crew. Some of the names appear to be E.C. McDougall, T.S.Lee and C.B. Chilton S/Lt. There are 4 more names which I cannot make out. My mother was Winifred Barnfather.
Ian J Reid.
My father was "the doc" on board The Electra when she sent down in The Battle of the Java Sea. His name is William (Bill) Richard Dunham Seymour. He is now 90 and was the ship's surgeon. He qualified in medicine at his home town of Belfast, N. Ireland, and volunteered (was known as "the wavey navy" as his strips were wavey to indicate he volunteered - no conscription in Ireland at that time - 1941). He joined up 4.4.1941 & went onto Electra, based at Scapa Flow and covering the N. Atlantic convoys before going out East. Luckily, was picked up after the Battle of the Java Sea by the Yanks and came home via Australia. Went to Haslar, then to King George V. and ended up being one the first specially chosen dozen to land in Japan after the two A bombs. We are still in touch with one or two survivors from the Electra.
Richard Coale was asking about people who may have known his grandfather who had been killed at the sinking of Electra in 1942. Could Richard please contact me?
My Mother's first husband went down in the Battle of Java with HMS Electra. His name was Frank Chapman - Able Seaman. We understand that he was in the torpedo room at the time of the battle and that he was probably killed instantly. He was only 21 and he left behind him a loving wife and a child of 12 months. My sister is now 63 and would love to hear anything aobut the Electra. We also know of the niece of the Captain of HMS Electra.
If anyone has any information to add, we would love to hear from you. Are any survivors of HMS Electra still alive? It would be great to hear from them.
In Memory of Able Seaman ROBERT FRASER
C/JX 190268, H.M.S. Electra, Royal Navy who died age 22
on 27 February 1942
Son of Peter Mackie Fraser and Frances Mary Fraser; husband of Winifred Joyce Fraser, of Brockley, London.
Father of Malcolm Robert Fraser (deceased), Grandfather to Ian Robert Fraser and Great-Grandfather to Vincent Robert Fraser.
My Grandfather, Robert Fraser, able seaman, was presumed killed in the 'Battle of the Java Sea'.
The crew's names can be seen at the Chatham Maritime Memorial, Chatham, Kent, I recently took my son to see his great grandfathers name, emotional. If any one has any information please contact me.
I have just inherited my Great Uncles navel sword, medals, paperwork and photos, and I was wondering if you have any information about him or his crew. I have a book which mentions him.
(HMS Electra) Ship = HMS Electra Name = Eric Coale Age = 23 Rank = Lieutenant Died = 27 February at the battle of Java
Regards Richard Eric Coale
Photographs
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List of those who served on this Ship
- Commander S A Buss. (Captain)
- Frank Chapman - Able Seaman. (d. 27 Feb 1942) Read his story
- Sub Lt. C.B. Chilton Read his story
- Eric Coale, Lieutenant, (d. 27 Feb 1942)
- Eric Richard Crawford.
- Robert Fraser. Able seaman. (d. 27 Feb 1942)
- Harry Langley, Able seaman (d. 27 Feb 1942 aged 32)
- T.S.Lee Read his story
- E.C. McDougall Read his story
- William Richard Dunham Seymour. ships surgeon. Read his story
- Acting Stoker, P.O., Harry Trowbridge. Read his Story
- Commander Cecil Wakeford May. (Captain)
If you have any names to add to this list, or any recollections or photos of those listed, please get in touch.
If you have a story which you would like to share, or a website dedicated to a ship or sailor, please get in touch.
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