Lt. Cdr. (A) Eugene Esmonde VC DSO Mid RN

[Blaydon]

Lieutenant Commander (A) Eugene Kingsmill Esmonde VC DSO MiD RN

Born 1st March 1909, at Thurgoland, Wortley, Yorkshire where his father Dr. John Joseph Esmonde (1862–1915) was in temporary General Practice. Though by birth English, his parents were from Ireland and he returned to his family's ancestral home of the Esmonde Baronets in Drominagh, co. Tipperary as a boy and was educated by the Jesuits, first at Wimbledon College in London and then at Clongowes Wood College in co. Kildare, Ireland.
He had three elder half-brothers from his father's first marriage, Sir John Esmonde, 14th Baronet, who served in the Great War, 2nd Lt. Geoffrey Esmonde (1897–1916) who was killed in action in the First World War serving with the 26th Tyneside Irish Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers, and Sir Anthony Esmonde, 15th Baronet.

Eugene Esmonde was first commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the RAF on the 28th December 1928, and was posted to the Fleet Air Arm, serving in the Mediterranean until the expiry of his commission five years later.

On leaving the RAF, he joined Imperial Airways as a First Officer on the 9th August 1934. He flew on the mail carrying routes between London and Glasgow, and as Imperial Airways expanded its service, to the Middle East and India. In 1935, he flew on regular service between Rangoon and Mandalay in Burma, and survived a serious accident when his aircraft crashed into Irrawaddy. He was promoted to Captain on the 3rd July 1937, and was one of the first to fly the giant flying boats which introduced the first airmail service between the UK and Australia. On the 3rd May 1939, Esmonde resigned to take up a commission as a Lieutenant-Commander in the Fleet Air Arm.

Esmonde was a survivor of the carrier HMS Courageous, which was torpedoed and sunk in the Western Approaches on the 17th September 1939. Courageous served with the Home Fleet in the Channel Force at the start of World War II. On 17 September 1939, under the command of Captain W. T. Mackaig-Jones, she was on an anti-submarine patrol off the coast of Ireland. Two of her four escorting destroyers had been sent to help a merchant ship under attack. During this time, Courageous was stalked for over two hours by the U-29, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Otto Schuhart. Then Courageous turned into the wind to launch her aircraft. This maneuver put the ship right across the bow of the U-29, which then fired three torpedoes. Two of the torpedoes struck the ship on her port side, and she capsized and sank in 15 minutes with the loss of 518 of her crew, including her captain. She was the first British warship to be lost in the war; the civilian passenger liner Athenia having been sunk two weeks earlier.

Following this he served at RNAS Lee-on-Solent and other naval air stations in the south of England. He was then appointed to the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious. On on the night of 24 May 1941, Esmonde led No. 825 Naval Air Squadron's nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers in an attack against the German battleship Bismarck. This attack was part of the pursuit that took place after the battle of the Denmark Strait, in which HMS Hood was sunk by shells fired by the Bismarck. The biplanes, flying from Victorious, made a 120 mile flight in foul North Atlantic weather to attack the Bismarck. Esmonde’s aircraft attacked through intense anti-aircraft fire from Bismarck and scored one hit, amidships on the starboard side. The ships rudder was disabled some days later by a separate Swordfish torpedo strike from HMS Ark Royal. Unable to effectively steer, the Bismarck was doomed. The ship was sunk the next day by the naval forces pursuing her (last battle of the battleship Bismarck). As a result of Esmonde's leadership and actions in the hunt for the Bismark battle he was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order on 11 February 1942 (the award was actually announced on 16 September 1941

Esmonde’s next appointment was on HMS Ark Royal, His squadron was serving on HMS Ark Royal when she was torpedoed in November 1941 by U-81 in the western Mediterranean. Attempts to tow her to Gibraltar were abandoned, and on 14 November 1941 she sank. The Swordfish of the squadron ferried some of the ship's crew off the doomed ship prior to her eventual sinking, and Esmonde was Mentioned in Despatches.

By the end of November, Esmonde was back at Lee-on-Solent, until 12th February 1942, the day when the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, with the cruiser Prinz Eugen, and a strong escort of surface craft, made their ‘Channel dash’ from Brest back to Germany.

In the winter of 1941-42 the German battleships 'Scharnhorst' and 'Gneisenau', together with the heavy cruiser 'Prinz Eugen' were defensively in harbour at Brest, western France. The battleships had taken part in the invasion of Norway in 1940, after which they became commerce raiders. Relentlessly harried by the Royal Navy, the three ships found refuge at Brest, where they were encircled by hundreds of anti-aircraft guns. Whilst the warships remained operational it was not necessary to use them at sea - the threat they posed to Britain was enough to dictate naval strategy in the Atlantic and northern waters.
After RAF raids had damaged 'Scharnhorst' the German High Command decided to move all three ships to home waters at Wilhelmshaven. The date of 12 February 1942 was fixed for what became known as the 'Channel Dash'.
To stop the German warships one contingency plan, code-named Operation Fuller, involved 825 Squadron, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde, of the Fleet Air Arm, then standing by at Manston Airfield in Kent. The squadron was equipped with the Fairy Swordfish planes which could only attain a top speed of 100 mph when carrying a torpedo. Eugene Esmonde's plan was for his six aircraft, in two sections, to launch their torpedoes at an altitude of 50 feet towards the German ships.
In the Straits of Dover, Esmonde led the 825 Squadron of six Swordfish aircraft to attack the German ships. The squadron encountered a hail of fire from the German ships off Calais in their desperate but unsuccessful attempt at least to damage the enemy vessels. Esmonde’s plane sustained a direct hit, just after he had fired its torpedo, he continued the run-in towards his target until his plane burst into flames and crashed into the sea. The attack continued and three of the other Swordfish were also shot down and their crews killed. Five men of Esmonde’s flight survived, four of them wounded. The four officers received the DSO, while the sole rating who survived received the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. Admiral Ramsey stated that ‘the gallant sortie of these six Swordfish constitutes one of the finest exhibitions of self sacrifice and devotion to duty that the war has yet witnessed’. About seven weeks later Eugene Esmonde's body, still in his lifejacket, was washed ashore in the Thames Estuary near the River Medway.
Esmonde was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions, which was gazetted on the 3rd March 1942. A memorial to Eugene Esmonde is at Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.

The German War Diary entry for 12 February 1942 stated "the mothball attack of a handful of ancient planes piloted by men whose bravery surpasses any other action by either side that day".
It was later confirmed that all three German warships reached safety. The 'Gneisenau' was damaged in RAF raids on Kiel, decommissioned in July 1942 and scuttled in Gdynia at the end of the war. 'Scharnhorst' was damaged by mines during the Channel Dash and was imobilized until early 1943. She later operated in northern Norway against Allied convoys but in December 1943 was sunk by British warships with the loss of 1,864 men. 'Prinz Eugen' survived the war and was turned over to the Allies.

[ London Gazette, 3 March 1942 ], Straits of Dover, English Channel, 12 February 1942, Lieutenant Commander Eugene Kingsmill Esmonde, Royal Navy ( 825 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm ).
On the morning of Thursday, 12th February, 1942, Lieutenant-Commander Esmonde, in command of a Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, was told that the German Battle-Cruisers 'Scharnhorst' and 'Gneisenau' and the Cruiser 'Prinz Eugen', strongly escorted by some thirty surface craft, were entering the Straits of Dover, and that his Squadron must attack before they reached the sand-banks North East of Calais. Lieutenant-Commander Esmonde knew well that his enterprise was desperate.
Soon after noon he and his squadron of six Swordfish set course for the Enemy, and after ten minutes flight were attacked by a strong force of Enemy fighters. Touch was lost with his fighter escort and in the action which followed all his aircraft were damaged. He flew on, cool and resolute, serenely challenging hopeless odds, to encounter the deadly fire of the Battle-Cruisers and their Escort, which shattered the port wing of his aircraft.
Undismayed, he led his Squadron on, straight through this inferno of fire, in steady flight towards their target. Almost at once he was shot down: but his Squadron went on to launch a gallant attack, in which at least one torpedo is believed to have struck the German Battle-Cruisers, and from which not one of the six aircraft returned.
His high courage and splendid resolution will live in the traditions of the Royal Navy, and remain for many generations a fine and stirring memory.

The photo of the group in front of a Swordfish are the Officers and ratings who were decorated for the part they played in the sinking of the BISMARCK. Left to right: Lieutenant P D Gick, RN, awarded DSC; Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde, RN, awarded DSO; Sub Lieutenant V K Norfolk, RN, awarded DSC; A/PO Air L D Sayer awarded DSM; A/Ldg Air A L Johnson, awarded DSM.

[mike mayer]

Correct me if I am wrong,was not this tale told in that excellent book War in a Stringbag, unfortunatly the author eludes me at the this time.The name Lambe comes to mind but not sure. Great story though well appreciated thanks.
Mike

[Blaydon]

ISBN-13: 9780304358410

War in a Stringbag Charles Lamb

This one? I do not think i have read this one, the only one I remember reading is the Lord Killbracken one.

[Mousey]

You may be interested to know the HMS Fulmar's, RNAS Lossiemouth, married quarters were situated on the Lossie side of Elgin and one of the roads is named after him - Esmonde Gardens.

[Blaydon]

Yes I know that, I never lived in those quarters but a good friend of mine did, I was at Lossie for about ten years.

[mike mayer]

[quote=Blaydon;49939]ISBN-13: 9780304358410

War in a Stringbag Charles Lamb

This one? I do not think i have read this one, the only one I remember reading is the Lord Killbracken one.[/QU
Yes that is the book a good narrative and an excellent read.
Mike.

[Blaydon]

War in a Stringbag Charles Lamb

Just had it delivered from EBay and reading it now.