Meteor DSO at Dogger Bank

[kootenayguy]

My great-uncle Frederic Thornton "Fritz" Peters won a Distinguished Service Order medal and Mention in Dispathes for his actions as a Lieutenant on HMS Meteor when the Meteor was hit by a 8.2-inch shell from the Blucher on January 24, 1915 at Dogger Bank. Later in that war Peters won a Distinguished Service Cross while commanding the destroyer HMS Greyhound for his success in hunting down U-boats. He rejoined the Royal Navy in WW2 in command of an anti-sub flotilla and won a bar to his DSC in July 1940 for sinking two U-boats, and then earned the Victoria Cross and U.S. Distinguished Service Cross for valour in the ill-fated Allied attack on Oran harbour on Nov. 8, 1942. He miraculously survived the point-blank fire from Vichy warships and shore batteries, only to die five days later when the flying boat taking hiim back to England to report to Churchill crashed in heavy fog in Plymouth Sound.

I'm very curious to find out what actually happened on the Meteor. The information I have on his actions that earned a DSO is sketchy. The citation for the award gives him credit for saving the lives of two ratings in the engine room. A London Standard news report in 1943 after he posthumously won the VC said Peters rushed to the engine room to turn off the steam cocks, which apparently saved the ship from blowing up. Peters' mother Bertha did a short write-up of Fritz's life after his died, in which she says "a live bomb fell in the engine room of the Meteor, and Frederic, without hesitating, at once rushed into the engine room and, seizing the bomb, threw it overboard just before it exploded". Some of Fritz's navy colleagues said later that he should have earned the VC rather than just the second-highest honour of DSO for Dogger Bank. If he had been captain rather than just a senior officer he may have got the VC instead. As it is, there have been only three VC's and bar in history. Fritz could have been a fourth.

If anyone has information on Peters' DSO actions at Dogger Bank I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. Also, any recommendations for where to direct my inquiries. I live in British Columbia and can't get to the National Archives in England myself, but I have contacted professional researchers who suggest I can save on costs by narrowing the search to specific files such as ship logs.

[John Brown]

Koot

I am unable to find any info on your Great Uncles DSO. Unfortunately, from the research point of view, this award is overshadowed by that of the VC and any references to him seem to centre around it.

However, your Great Uncle does appear to have been a very remarkable man and I am sure you are, quite rightly, very proud of him.

I expect you are aware that much of the National Archives info is available online?


I wish all the very best of luck in your research.

Regards....John


PS. As you know there is another thread about your Great Uncle already running. Is there a particular reason why you have started a second one?

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?p=34627

[dennis a feary]

KOOT, find here Awards DSO, DSC to Lt F.T. Peters WW1 ;

PETERS Frederick T DSO Lt. RN 85U072 Christopher
C-in-C Plymouth 08.03.18 Gazetted
4th T.B. Destroyers - Awards to 31.12.17 DSC
He showed exceptional initiative, ability and zeal in submarine hunting operations, and complete disregard of danger, exceptional coolness, and ingenuity in his attackes on enemy submarines.

PETERS Frederick T N/E Lt. RN 78B003 Meteor
Vice Admiral Sir David Beatty 03.03.15 Gazetted
Dogger Bank Action 24.01.15 DSO
Went down into No. 1 boiler room almost immediately after the explosion caused by the bursting of an 8.2 projectile and whilst there was still in danger of another explosion on account of escaping oil and assisted in recovering two stoker ratings.

You have not mentioned any service by him in CHRISTOPHER, - so same PETERS ? DSC book gives for this award Frederic (note no K) but books are full of misspellings. Are you sure the gong was for service in GREYHOUND ??

Regards Sadsac

[dennis a feary]

KOOT, as you were re Frederic & Frederick - you & Mater are correct - DSC & Navy List both give FREDERIC.
T'is MY record that is incorrect. Will update instanter.
Seems that even I am / can be, infallible !!!
Thankfully, in that I am not alone !!

Sadsac

[kootenayguy]

I was wrong in stating that Fritz got his DSC while serving on HMS Greyhound. His Royal Navy file -- which I got for a small price from an Archives web site a couple of months ago -- says he was discharged from the Greyhound Sept. 15, 1916 and the same day was assigned to HMS Christopher, where he served until going to command destroyer HMS Polyanthum on Oct. 31, 1917 and then HMS Cockatrice on Jan. 26, 1918.

I have heard from British author Stephen Snelling that Fritz was commended while in command of HMS Christopher for assistance provided in August 1917 to the Q Ship (commanded by Gordon Campbell VC) which had been torpedoed by a sub. Fritz first tried to tow the Dunraven but when it was clear the ship was doomed he brought the Christopher alongside Dunraven in an extremely delicate operation requiring great skill and careful handling.

Snelling also said Fritz had been in command of Greyhound at Dover in March 1916 when it rescued survivors of the passenger ferry SS Sussex which had been torpedoed. The sub stayed around and narrowly missed hitting Christopher with a torpedo.

I have 25 of Fritz's letters home, almost all of them from the World War One period. Unless he was writing the letter at shore, he would put the name of his ship at the top of the letter. Letters from March 16, 1916 to September 7, 1916 were from HMS Greyhound. Then from Sept. 26, 1916 through August 3, 1917 he wrote from HMS Christopher. After that there was a long period between letters, and the next one was from HMS Cockatrice on Nov. 18, 1918. In a letter home in May 1917 he said he was pleased to be named Godfather of a nephew who was being name after him. He said he hopes his sister Helen will spell his name Frederic without the K, joking that it will help the war effort by saving on ink. "Anyhow it's how I spell mine," Fritz writes. Based on that, I always write his name without the K, although most books etc. have it with a K. It's not a big deal for me, and it doesn't seem to have been something that bothered him very much. I notice his RN file has his name a Frederick, but with a line through the K as a correction.

Thanks a lot for the info on the 1917 DSC. Haven't seen that before. I got the same DSO recently in the mail from the British Archives. Cost me about $20.

I have scanned about 20 photos, letters and other images of Fritz Peters memorabilia and uploaded them to the Virtual Memorial of Canada's Veterans Affairs department. They can be viewed by going to the link below. His younger brother Private John Francklyn Peters died in the 2nd Battle of Ypres in April 1915 and another brother Lieut. Gerald Hamilton Peters died at Mount Sorrel in the Ypres Salient in June 1916. I uploaded other photos and images to their pages in the Virtual Memorial.
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem

[shellywelly]

I have just found your posting about your gt uncle. I have just discovered my Gt Uncle, William H Rose, he was Petty Officer Stoker onboard HMS Meteor and was injured in the boiler room and died the next day of his injuries. He is buried in Immingham Churchyard, Lincs alongside his shipmate Edward Attwood who died at the same time. 25th Jan 1915.