A fine Second War 'Fighting Tenth' submariner's D.S.M. and Bar group of seven awarded to...

A fine Second War ‘Fighting Tenth’ submariner’s D.S.M. and Bar group of seven awarded to Petty Officer E. A. Thomas, Royal Navy, Coxswain of the Utmost and Unruffled Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar (J.99723 E. A. Thomas. A/P.O.) impressed naming; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy, G.VI.R., 1st issue (JX.99723 E. A. Thomas. P.O., H.M.S. Dolphin), mounted as worn, good very fine (7) £2,800-£3,200 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Spink, November 1998. D.S.M. London Gazette 5 May 1942: ‘For daring, enterprise and devotion to duty in successful patrols in H.M. submarines.’ The original recommendation states: ‘Acting Petty Officer Thomas has carried out the duties of Second Coxswain in Utmost during her last seven War Patrols. His example of coolness and efficiency during successful attacks on enemy shipping and also during subsequent depth-charge attacks has largely contributed to the successes achieved by Utmost.’ D.S.M. Second Award Bar London Gazette 8 February 1944. The original recommendation states: ‘This rating has carried out two consecutive periods of submarine service in the Mediterranean in H.M. submarines Utmost and Unruffled. During the period under consideration, he has carried out six War Patrols in Utmost during which one destroyer and one A.M.C. were sunk and one M.V. probably damaged. He joined Unruffled, in February 1943, since when he has carried out nine War Patrols, and one tanker and one M.V. have been sunk, and four Special Operations carried out. As Coxswain of Unruffled, he has shown good powers of leadership, unfailing cheerfulness and by his skill in charge of the after-hydroplanes has assisted successful attacks.’ Ernest Alfred Thomas was born in Plumstead, London, on 27 October 1904, and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in November 1920. Utmost – D.S.M. Having volunteered for submarines in the interim, Thomas joined the Utmost, under Lieutenant-Commander R. D. ‘Dick’ Cayley, a ‘Triple D.S.O.’, sometime before April 1941, and subsequently participated in a memorable spate of war patrols which encompassed a telling torpedo strike on the Italian Cruiser Duca d’Abruzzi, in addition to the destruction of two supply ships, and five ‘Special Operations’. The latter activity certainly provided some hair-raising moments, such as the occasion when Cayley had to navigate Utmost through an enemy mine barrage in order to drop off a team of Commandos who had been assigned the unenvious task of blowing up the railway line between Naples and Reggio de Calabria: ‘Coming up to periscope depth for a periodic all-round look, I found we were passing a domed object; it seemed like the top of a mine just buoyant and with no horns showing. I put the stick [periscope] up another three feet and took an all-round look. To my horror I counted about twenty within a hundred yards of me. Wondering what was my best way out of this danger from every quarter, the mine I was looking at grew a horn, opened an eye and winked. They were Mediterranean terrapins ...’ (Cayley’s patrol report refers). The Commandos were duly sent off in their Folbots and returned triumphant, despite their first charges having failed to blow. And as the enemy busied themselves clearing up the railway line, Cayley took Utmost into the northern end of the Strait of Messina and torpedoed the 4080-ton Enrico Costa, finally returning to Malta on 3 July 1941. Indeed, the Strait proved to be a useful hunting ground, with Utmost returning there on a number of occasions, including the evening of 21 November when Cayley took her to the surface, having turned off the generators, and waited around in silence for a suspected enemy convoy. His patience was rewarded shortly before midnight, when three cruisers and three destroyers came into view. Quickly delivering a salvo of torpedoes, one of them hit the 7874-ton Cruiser Duca d’Abruzzi, causing sufficient damage to keep her out of action for several months. Then, on 12 December, Utmost tracked down another enemy convoy off Taranto, claiming a hit on a 5000- ton ship. Cayley duly recommended his Second Coxswain for the D.S.M., which distinction Thomas collected at a Buckingham Palace investiture in February 1944. Tragically, Utmost was eventually sunk with all hands by an Italian torpedo boat west of Sicily in November 1942, but luckily Thomas had moved to pastures new, and later still, in February 1943, joined H.M. submarine Unruffled under Lieutenant J. S. Stevens, a ‘Double D.S.O.’ and later the author of Never Volunteer. Thomas subsequently went on to complete at least another nine war patrols, including four more ‘Special Operations’, the latter largely involving the delivery of C.O.P.P. teams to the future landing beaches of Sicily, an invasion in which Unruffled played her part as a ‘Beacon Ship’. Her less regular activities included, in late August 1943, the delivery of two Greek Army officers to the Island of Cephalonia, which task was followed up by a successful attack off Brindisi, where, despite two prowling enemy aircraft, Stevens managed to torpedo the 2475-tonne Citta di Spezia - in point of fact his second Citta-Class victim in a row. This was to prove Unruffled’s penultimate patrol, and Thomas was recommended for a Bar to his D.S.M., which distinction he received back at Buckingham Palace in May 1944. Having then been re-engaged in August 1945, he added the L.S. & G.C. Medal to his accolades in February 1946.