Roy Radford
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Son of Frederick and Eliza Ann Radford of 16 Gladstone Street, Mansfield.
By 1939 Eliza had died. They had 9 children.
HMS Royal Oak.
Commissioned on 1/5/1916 she had taken part in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 but was now out dated and slow.
At anchor at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands she was attacked by U-47 commannded by Gunther Prien. At 01:04 one torpedo hit but did little damage. At 01:16 three more torpedoes were fired and all three struck amidships. The explosion blew a hole in the armoured deck, destroying the Stokers', Boys' and Marines' messes. Cordite from the magazine ignited and the ensuring fireball passed through the ship. At 01:29 she sank, 13 minutes from the firing of the torpedoes.
Out of a complement of 1234 men, 835 were killed or died of their wounds.
Roy's mother Eliza Ann had died in 1934.
No photos