George Fred Dawson

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL Panel 63, Column 2

HMS Somali

HMS Somali was a Tribal-class destroyer built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear. She was laid down on 26 August 1936, launched on 24 August 1937, and commissioned on 12 December 1938. On 3 September 1939, Somali intercepted the German freighter Hannah Böge, 350 miles south of Iceland, and took her as a prize. This was the first enemy merchant ship to be captured during the war.

Somali was the leader of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla and spent most of the winter of 1940–41 screening Home Fleet sweeps. In May 1941, Somali boarded the German weather ship München. Prior to being boarded, the crew of München threw overboard the ship's Enigma machine in a weighted bag. However, documents on the operation of the Enigma machine were left on board, as were vital codebooks providing a breakthrough for Allied codebreakers.

On May 15th 1940, during the Norwegian Campaign, Somali was carrying Brigadier the Hon. William Fraser, commander of 24th Guards brigade, back to Harstad from a reconnaissance of Mo when she was bombed by German aircraft and forced to return to the UK for repairs, taking the brigadier with her. He did not reach Harstad until May 23rd. On October 23rd, Matabele, Punjabi and Somali shelled and sank WBS 5 Adolf Vinnen in the Norwegian Sea off Stadlandet, Norway.

On 13 August 1942, Somali rescued all 105 crew of the American cargo ship Almeria Lykes, which had been torpedoed by E boa

ts while taking part in Operation Pedestal. The rescued crew were landed at Gibraltar.
Lieutenant Commander Colin Maud took over as captain in September 1942 when her own captain, Jack Eaton, was ill. On 20 September 1942 Somali was torpedoed by U-703 while covering Convoy QP 14 during the Russian convoys. She was hit in her engine room, and although taken under tow by the destroyer Ashanti, sank on 25 September, after heavy weather broke her back. Somali was the last Royal Navy Tribal-class destroyer to be sunk during the war.

Of the 102 men on board, only 35 were rescued from the Arctic waters. Among those lost were Able Seamen George Dawson from Worksop and Peter Stephenson from Nottingham along with Leading Seaman Thomas Harrold also from Nottingham. Leading Seaman Goad of Ashanti was awarded the Albert Medal for "great bravery in saving life at sea" after diving into the freezing water to save Lieutenant Commander Maud. (Wikipedia)

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