Edward William Dalton

CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL 45, 2.

HMS Gloucester

HMS Gloucester was one of three Town-class light cruisers built for the Royal Navy during the late 1930s. Commissioned in August 1939, the ship was initially assigned to the China Station and was transferred to the Indian Ocean and later to South Africa to search for German commerce raiders. She was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in mid-1940 and spent much of her time escorting Malta Convoys. Gloucester played minor roles in the Battle of Calabria in 1940 and the Battle of Cape Matapan in 1941. Gloucester acquired the nickname "The Fighting G" after earning five battle honours in less than a year. She was sunk by German dive bombers on 22 May 1941 during the Battle of Crete.

While in the Kythira Strait, about 14 miles north of Crete, Gloucester and Fiji were attacked by "Stuka"s of StG 2. Between 15:30 and 15:50, while attempting to rejoin Force A1, Gloucester was hit by several bombs and the decision was taken to leave her behind due to the air attacks. Fiji, under heavy fire, dropped rafts as it passed the Gloucester but was unable to stop and was itself sunk within a few hours.

The 5th Destroyer Flotilla was dispatched to search for survivors of both Gloucester and Fiji in the evening but was diverted to bombard the Germans at Maleme airfield before reaching the search area. Eventually the Germans picked up the survivors and brought them to Kythira. Of the 807 men aboard at the time of her sinking, only 85 survived to reach shore; two more subsequently died after being taken into captivity, one in 1941 and another in 1945. Among those lost were Engine Room Artificer 5th Class Thomas Boardman from Worksop and Boy 1st Class Edward Dalton from Beeston. (Wikipedia)

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