William Lacey
In 1939 he was a grocer's assistant at the Bull Farm branch of the Co-Op.
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Eldest son of William and Patricia Lacey of 55 Somersall Street, Mansfield. William was born on his mother's 27th birthday.
He had 3 siblings. Evelyn (1916), Eric(1922) and Dorothy (1927).
The Prince of Wales was a George V battleship, launched on the 3rd of May 1939 and was commissioned on the 19th January 1941. They were involved in the attack on the Bismark off Iceland and in September 1941 she was on Mediterranean duty and in October they were posted to Singapore.
On the 10th of December 1941 they were spotted by a Japanese submarine. A single torpedo hit near the portside propeller shaft wrecking it and causing damage in the engine room, leading to rapid uncontrollable flooding.
Severely damaged and listing she was attacked by 6 Japanese aircraft and hit by 3 more torpedoes. Finally a 1,100lb bomb hit the Prince of Wales's catapult deck, penetrating to the main deck where it exploded. At 13:15 the order to abandon ship was given and at 13:20 the ship sank. There were 327 casualties out of a crew of 1,521.
William had celebrated his 21st birthday on the ship on the 4th September.
HMS Repulse was also sank in the engagement.
William is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial panel 59 col 3.
No photos