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This data is related to World War 2
Ordinary Seaman

Charles Frederick Rollitt

Service number P/SSX 31007
Military unit HMS Exmouth Royal Navy
Address Unknown
Date of birth
Date of death 21 Jan 1940 (Age unknown)
Place of birth Unknown
Employment, education or hobbies Unknown
Family history

Son of James W and Dorothy B Rollitt of Sneinton Dale Nottingham

Military history

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL Panel 40 Column 1 S

HMS Exmouth

HMS Exmouth was an E-class destroyer flotilla leader built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. Although assigned to the Home Fleet upon completion, the ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1935–36 during the Abyssinia Crisis. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 she spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. Exmouth and her flotilla were initially assigned to the Home Fleet upon the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. The ship and two of her flotilla mates, Eclipse and Echo, escorted the battle cruiser Hood as she searched for German commerce raiders south of Iceland in late November. In December, she was transferred to the Western Approaches Command to carry out patrols and escort convoys, but was transferred to Rosyth in January 1940 to carry out the same duties in the North Sea.

She was escorting the merchant Cyprian Prince on 21 January 1940 when she was spotted by the German submarine U-22, under the command of Karl-Heinrich Jenisch, and torpedoed at 05:35. She sank with the loss of all hands including Ordinary Seaman Charles Rollitt from Sneinton Dale, Nottingham and Able Seaman Arthur Wild also from Nottingham. After sinking Exmouth, the submarine also fired on Cyprian Prince whose master deemed it too dangerous to pick up survivors. Eighteen bodies were later found washed ashore by a schoolboy playing truant near Wick. They were buried with full military honours in the cemetery at Wick. Exmouth’s wreck was discovered in the Moray Firth in July 2001 by an independent expedition, with their findings being verified by Historic Scotland. The wreck is one of those listed as a 'protected place' under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. (Wikipedia)

Extra information

Unknown

Photographs

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