Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A poignant Second World War D.S.M. group of seven awarded to Chief Petty Officer S. H. “Sam” Dixon, Royal Navy, H.M. Submarine Splendid, one of few submariners to escape from a stricken submarine in the 1939-45 War, only to be taken P.O.W. and killed by Allied aircraft in February 1945, while being forced marched by his captors away from the advancing Russians

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue (JX. 125574 S. H. Dixon, P.O.); Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1936-39 (JX. 125574 A./P.O., R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 2nd issue (JX. 125574, D.S.M., C.P.O., H.M.S. Pembroke) the last largely officially re-impressed, extremely fine (7) £1400-1600

D.S.M. London Gazette 6 April 1943: ‘For bravery in successful submarine patrols.’

The recommendation states: ‘For consistent zeal and devotion to duty during three successful patrols in which two enemy destroyers, three merchant ships totalling 10,000 tons, two A./S. schooners and one A./S. trawler were sunk. During these patrols ten torpedo attacks have been carried out, five of which were on screened targets. He displayed particular coolness and skill in firing a salvo of torpedoes shortly after depth charges had been dropped during an attack on a convoy.’

Samuel Hughes “Sam” Dixon was born in October 1910 and entered the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday. Seeing service in assorted surface vessels before the War, including operations off Palestine, he was advanced to Temporary Petty Officer in May 1939. Then in early 1942, he joined the Submarine Branch, passing his D.S.E.A. course that February and being rated as a Petty Officer Torpedo Gunner’s Mate. His initial postings were to the L. 26 and H. 50, but in October 1942 he joined a newly built ‘S’ class submarine, the P. 228, afterwards named Splendid.

The first destination of this Chatham-built vessel was Gibraltar, under the care of the depot ship Maidstone of the 8th Submarine Flotilla, and under the command of Lieutenant I. McGeoch, R.N. (afterwards Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McGeogh, K.C.B., D.S.O., D.S.C.).

And her subsequent commission was an eventful one, her first five war patrols accounting for more tanker and supply ship tonnage than any other submarine for the period November 1942 to April 1943. The total tonnage of six escorted supply ships, including two tankers, sunk by torpedo, was 26, 424, and one ship of 3576 tons by gunfire, not withstanding the Italian destroyers and A./S. ships sunk or damaged, as per Dixon’s recommendation. One of these destroyers was the Aviere, sunk off Bizerta on 17 December 1942.

And throughout these operations, Dixon, a vital member of Splendid’s attack team, remained, in the words of his Captain, a ‘calm and utterly reliable torpedo expert ... one of the finest men I was privileged to be shipmates with ... I certainly recommended him for a decoration ... he richly deserved it.’

Splendid met her end in the course of her sixth patrol, on 21 April 1943. McGeogh had been summoned to the control room as hydrophone effect noises had been heard, and a quick look through the periscope revealed an enemy destroyer. An attack sequence was immediately started but the enemy destroyer was on Splendid before any torpedoes could be fired. Her attack was prolonged and accurate. McGeogh took the submarine down to 300 feet to avoid the depth charges but to no avail. The enemy’s final attack caused massive damage to the submarine, leaving it suspended in the water at 500 feet, with her stern down by an angle of 20 degrees or more. The only available option was to blow the main ballast, and after an agonizing wait Splendid moved towards the surface, accelerating at the end as she leapt out of the water to lie helpless on the surface.

McGeogh gave the order to abandon ship, all 48 crew getting out of the submarine, but the enemy destroyer, now about a mile away, continued to engage with her main and secondary armaments and 18 men were killed - Splendid had a jammed rudder and her one remaining motor had driven her round in a wide sweep, suggesting to the enemy that she was getting into position for an attack. Dixon and his Captain were among those who were afterwards picked up by the enemy destroyer, a ship that transpired to be the ex-Greek Navy, British-built Hermes, but now, of course, crewed by well-trained Germans.

A full account of this incident, and of Splendid’s wartime patrols, may be found in McGeogh’s An Affair of Chances, published by the Imperial War Museum in 1991. Apart from several references to Dixon, the book contains a photograph of her crew at Algiers, taken in February 1943.

Dixon, who was originally held as a P.O.W. in Italy, was killed in a strafing raid by Allied Mustangs near Halberstadt on 19 February 1945, while being forced marched by his captors away from the advancing Russians. He left a widow in Folkestone and his remains were re-interred in the Berlin War Cemetery after the War.