Service With The Royal Navy

[Odin]

Introduction

For those with an interest in medals you may have infrequently come across a single British War Medal for World War One which has no details of rank or unit but is impressed with initials and name, followed by the legend SERVICE WITH THE ROYAL NAVY. A number of theories have been put forward as to the origins of these medals but one author A Purves has written:

It has been suggested that these medals were awarded to the crews of ‘Q’ ships (Armed merchant ships disguised as unarmed vessels), but there does not seem to be any evidence to support this, especially as several groups containing an award for gallantry known to have been earned in ‘Q’ Ships, have the BWM named in the ordinary way. A much more likely explanation is that such medals were awarded to civilians, such as canteen staff who served in a ship of war at sea (which is an eligible category), or perhaps to civilian technicians or tradesmen who performed repair or maintenance work at sea.

Discounting the Q Ship theory and noting that awards to canteen managers are named as CTN MGR, it is evident that the recipients of these awards must have been civilian workers of some description. National Archives File ADM 1/8581/28 clarifies this and details are given below:

The original proposal to award the British War Medal to civilians for service under the Admiralty during the war was made on 13 February 1920, with the following suggested as eligible

1. Civilians who have performed 28 days actual service at sea in one of H.M.Ships in commission, on in naval operations in inland waters, exclusive of any time spent in passage.

2. Civilians who have had 28 days actual service at sea in a seagoing yard craft or in direct Admiralty pay in a hired tug or salvage vessel.

3. Crews of Boom Defence Vessels who, in the early part of the war had been serving under civil engagements should be granted the medal if they performed 28 days actual service (although this service was not actually at sea it was seen as arduous service in harbour).

[Odin]

The background to these medals has always been unclear; this is because the rules for their issue were never made public knowledge. In the submission for approval the following comment was made:

If these rules are approved, it is proposed not to announce them publicly but to regard them as office rules. There may be a few other cases which will not be covered by the principles laid down but it is considered that these should be dealt with on their merits. The Board of Trade should be informed of the decision with regard to the service in seagoing yard craft, hired tugs and salvage vessels so that they might leave it to the Admiralty to make the award in those cases. It is proposed to leave the award to the Board of Trade, to be made under their rules, in cases of crews who were not paid by the Admiralty as in some cases of hired tugs and salvage vessels.

Approval of these rules was signified by the Naval Secretary to the First Lord on 6 March 1920 and the details circulated to dockyards. Almost immediately and prompted by the Captain Superintendent of Sheerness Dockyard, the question arose as to whether the 28 days should be continuous. During May 1920 the Superintendents of all dockyards were contacted for their views and the final decision appeared on 11 January 1921 and was published in file ADM 1/8598/10.

I am to acquaint you that the Board have had under consideration the question of the award of the British War Medal to Civilians who served under the Admiralty during the war and they have decided that 28 days actual service at sea which is necessary to qualify for the award of the Medal should mean a total of 672 hours served in a ship at sea outside the limits of the port.

[Odin]

The roll of civilian workers with the Admiralty who received the BWM for ‘Service With The Royal Navy’ is contained in part of file ADM 171/133. This file also includes the award of the medal to other categories of workers including Nursing Staff and Shore Wireless Service personnel. There are also a few civilian staff who submitted late claims for medals. Their names are contained with the Royal Navy late claims in file ADM 171/148. In all just under 2000 Admiralty workers qualified for the British War Medal. Examination of the roll shows that a small number of the Admiralty workers qualified in addition for the Victory Medal and 1914-15 Star. Most of the medal recipients can be clearly recognised as civilian workers from H.M. Dockyards or Royal Naval Armament Depots, or the crewmen of the various tugs and other support vessels. As a generalisation the medals to dockyard workers (Engine Fitters, Shipwrights etc) appear mainly to be for service on H.M.Warships, whilst those to ships crews (Master, Stoker etc) are for service on the support craft such as tugs, mooring vessels etc. A significant number of the medals to dockyard workers (371) were awarded for service on “Reliance”; this was a repair ship which would have been used to support H.M. Ships at sea.

The complete roll for recipients of medals for Service With The Royal Navy can be seen on my website.

[Odin]

It is possible to think these medals were comparatively easy to win when compared to the service given by members of the Royal Navy. A significant number of the latter were involved in actions with the enemy with many paying the ultimate price of giving their lives for their country. However there are cases where the Admiralty workers were also in danger and several lost their lives. One example is the case of the Tug Desire.

The Tug Desire was built in 1912 as a Belgian vessel named President Desire Maas (165 tons). It was hired for dockyard service 11.12.1915 and appears to have been based at Chatham. On 24th January 1918 she was towing the lighters X6 and X110 from Grimsby to Rosyth with some RN personnel on board the two lighters. At 8.50 am a German Submarine attacked them, first sinking the tug by gunfire and then the lighters by placing bombs on board. The crews took to their respective dinghies and some survivors from the tug were on a Carley float. Petty Officer Redman was in charge of the survivors from X110 and went alongside the tug’s Carley float and took them aboard, making his party 11 in all. The crew of X6 and the remainder of the tug’s crew were in their own boats.

Redman’s boat was at sea for three days and nights before they made land at North Sunderland after 6 am on 27th January. The weather had been bad and as the boat had no sail, the men were kept on the oars throughout the whole of the time. In the reports from the survivors PO Redman showed marked ability and courage, as well as good seamanship in the manner in which he took charge of and handled his boat under very trying conditions (the boat being overcrowded) and successfully bringing her into harbour. For his good work Redman was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (London Gazette 24 April 1918 ‘for services in action with enemy submarines’). The remaining two boats were not found. The survivors from the Desire were the Master, the Second Mate, an AB and the Engineer (J Edwards).

The British War Medal and Imperial Service Medal to J Edwards were recently sold on e-Bay. Unfortunately I was the underbidder and missed out on these. Since I have managed to buy the same pair of medals to Joseph Beavin; he served as a Leading Stoker on Desire but for some reason was not present on that fateful day. Probably it was fortunate for him as the L Sto on-board, a C Tucker, was one of those reported as missing. Beavin’s medals are shown below. His British War Medal is named: J. BEAVIN SERVICE WITH THE ROYAL NAVY. His Imperial Service Medal was awarded in 1938 (LG 18 Feb 1938) on retirement; he had been serving as a Leading Stoker (Hired Confirmed Engineer II) at Chatham Dockyard.

[Jan Steer]

Thank you for your meticulously researched posts Odin. Your knowledge is, as always, invaluable to our forum.

best wishes
Jan

[steve roberts]

Hi Odin.I had never previously heard of this medal.Thank you for your detailed posts on its award and conditions required for the Award.I can only echo Jan's sentiments on an enlightening post.Regards Steve.