Thornton Smith
In 1939 Thornton was working in the local shoe trade has a Hide and Shoe sorter.
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Son of John Everett and Violet Mary Smith of 4 Ruskin Road, Mansfield.
Siblings: Harry (1910), Phoebe (1911), Charles (1913), Frances (1922) and Marjorie (1925).
In 1921 the family were living at 86 Mansfield Road, Pleasley Hill having moved there from Beeston between 1911 and 1913.
HMS Prince Of Wales:A George V battleship launched on 3rd May 1939 and commissioned on 19th January 1941.
Attack on the Bismark: On the 22nd of May 1941 the Prince of Wales and HMS Hood plus 6 destroyers were ordered to take station south of Iceland to intercept the German battleship, Bismark and the cruiser Prinz Eugen. The Bismark and Prinz Eugen were spotted in the Denmark Strait on the 23rd, and the British ships moved to intercept them. On the 24th May at 05:53 the Prince of Wales opened fire on the Bismark, due to heavy seas their attack was ineffectually, overshooting their target, but eventually they hit the Bismark causing severe damage causing the Bismark to turn back to port. At 06:01 the Hood was hit and exploded and sank immediatally. After the Hood's sinking the Prinz Eugen turned its focus on the Prince of Wales. At 06:02 the Prince of Wales was hit by a 15 inch shell which caused casualties, mainly by shrapanel fragmnets from the ballistic cap and the material it dislodged in it's diagonal path through the compass platform.
At 06:05 the Prince of Wales disengaged and escaped. 14 men died on the Prince of Wales that day.
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