John Charles Phipps
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- Military history
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Son of Joseph Phipps, and of Eliza Phipps, of Langold, Nottinghamshire
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL Panel 41, Column 3
HM Submarine Seahorse
On 26 December, Seahorse departed for her sixth and last war patrol, off Heligoland Bight. Her orders were to initially patrol off Heligoland and then move to the mouth of the Elbe on 30 December. She was expected to return to Blyth on 9 January. Initially it was assumed that she was likely to have been mined but after the end of the war after examining German records it was considered possible that she could have been sunk by the German First Minesweeper Flotilla which reported carrying out a prolonged depth charge attack on an unknown submarine on 7 January 1940. It is however also possible that she was rammed and sunk by the German Sperrbrecher IV/Oakland southeast of Heligoland on 29 December 1939. Seahorse was the first British submarine lost to enemy action during World War II. (Wikipedia)
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