Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A good Second War D.S.M. and Second Award Bar group of eight awarded to Chief Engine Room Artificer H. J. Otley, Royal Navy, the Bar for service in H.M.S. Enterprise during operation ‘Stonewall’ which resulted in the sinking of three German destroyers

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar (MX.47750 H. J. Otley. A/C.E.R.A.(Ty.)); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Pacific Star; Defence and War Medals, these unnamed as issued; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (MX 47750 H. J. Otley. C.E.R.A. H.M.S. Kelantan) mounted for display, contact marks, otherwise nearly very fine (8) £3,000-£4,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of David Lloyd.

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Provenance: Ron Tuppen Collection of Naval Medals to Engine-Room Artificers, Dix Noonan Webb, March 2013.

D.S.M. London Gazette 7 December 1943:
‘For outstanding skill and devotion to duty in the Engine Room of H.M.S. Acute in a dangerous Minesweeping Operation in the Mediterranean in May 1943.’

D.S.M. Second Award Bar London Gazette 14 March 1944:
‘For outstanding courage and devotion to duty shown in H.M.S. Enterprise when she and H.M.S. Glasgow routed eleven enemy Destroyer in the Bay of Biscay on 28th December 1943, sank three of them and damaged others.’

‘The Glasgow and Enterprise became known as the "Good Companions" when they agreed to share the honours after whipping eleven German destroyers in a remarkable action in the approaches to the Bay of Biscay in the last days of 1943.  

A Sunderland flying-boat on patrol, in a position about 500 miles west-north-west of Cape Finisterre, sighted a suspicious vessel of about 5,000 tons on the morning of December 27. Other aircraft in the vicinity were diverted to the area. The ship, a blockade runner, had a gun mounted on the poop and others in the bows and amidships. She was proceeding un-escorted on an easterly course at about 15 knots. She appeared to be heading for one of the French west coast ports.

As soon as the Sunderland's signal was received, H.M.S. Glasgow and Enterprise were ordered to intercept, and Coastal Command Halifaxes and Liberators were sent out. Weather conditions were not good but air attacks were made on the enemy ship, and a Liberator from a Czech squadron scored a bomb-hit on her stern. There was a big explosion, and in a short time the vessel was on fire, with other explosions taking place at intervals. The crew abandoned ship, and about seventy survivors were seen in boats and on rafts.

Soon after dawn the next day, a Liberator of the U.S. Navy, operating with Coastal Command, sighted eleven German destroyers in a position about 200 miles from the scene of the previous day's action. They were proceeding on a westerly course at about twenty knots, and were probably intent on escorting the blockade-runner on the last, and certainly most dangerous, lap of her voyage.

By that time H.M.S. Glasgow and Enterprise had arrived in a position which put them between the enemy ships and the enemy base. When they received a signal from the Liberator giving the position of the Nazi force, they at once altered course and went at full speed to make contact.

Far from promising a one-sided action between powerful cruisers and light destroyers, the odds were on the Germans, because five of the destroyers were modern "Narvik" class ships of 2,400 tons, each mounting five 5.9-inch guns. The other six destroyers were of the "Elbing" class, with four 4·1-inch guns. In addition, the destroyers had their torpedo armament and the advantage of an extra 5 knots turn of speed over the two British cruisers. Against the nineteen 6-inch guns of the British, the Germans had forty-nine 5.9 or 4·1-inch guns, and they had a superiority of seventy-six torpedo tubes to fourteen.

Our aircraft continued to shadow the enemy ships until the Glasgow and Enterprise came in sight of them early in the afternoon. At long range, both cruisers opened fire and the enemy quickly replied.  For an hour there was a running fight as the opposing ships steamed hard on a south-easterly course.  A number of hits were scored on the destroyers, and, with our aircraft joining in, the Germans split up, first into two or three groups and then into smaller units, as they tried to escape.  Although this meant that some were bound to get away, it was also fatal for those on which the cruisers decided to concentrate. Smoke screens and their extra speed failed to save them, and three of the destroyers were sunk, while others only escaped after receiving damage.

Considerable significance was attached to the action, because it was felt that if the Germans were not prepared to fight on such advantageous terms, their morale must be affected.  It was argued that, having got the valuable "Narvik" class destroyers through to the French ports, the German High Command was anxious to keep them as a strategic reserve.  They had the power of a miniature cruiser squadron.  But, as the Commanding Officer of a British destroyer said to me at the time, "What would we give for the chance to meet two German cruisers - and one of them need not be twenty years old - with such a force of destroyers!"

The British cruisers suffered slight damage and a few casualties but, coming within a day or two of the destruction of the Scharnhorst, their success enabled the Royal Navy to conclude 1943 on a note of triumph.’ (ref. The King’s Cruisers, by Gordon Holman).

With original Admiralty letter, dated 24 December 1943, informing Otley of the award of the D.S.M., for ‘outstanding skill and devotion to duty in the Engine Room of H.M.S. Acute in a dangerous Minesweeping Operation in the Mediterranean in May 1943’; another letter from the Admiralty (damaged and repaired), dated 23 March 1944, informing Otley of the award of the Bar to his D.S.M., ‘for outstanding courage and devotion to duty shown in H.M.S. Enterprise when she and H.M.S. Glasgow routed eleven enemy Destroyer in the Bay of Biscay on 28th December 1943, sank three of them and damaged others.’; two ‘Admiralty Whitehall’ cards re the presentation of medals at Buckingham Palace on 14 March 1944 and 16 May 1944; plus two newspaper cuttings re the awards. Also with copied research.