Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte

The Great War D.S.O., O.B.E. group of eight awarded to Captain G. L. Parnell, Royal Navy, who won the former distinction for his gallant command of the torpedo boat destroyer Nith in anti-submarine patrols in 1917, and the latter for his services as Resident Naval Officer at Baku during the Caspian Sea operations of 1919: but his additional “mention” perhaps reflected greater deeds, namely an all-afternoon surface-to-surface shooting match with U-Boat ace Lothar von Arnauld

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 1st type breast badge, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London 1919; 1914-15 Star (Commr. G. L. Parnell, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Commr. G. L. Parnell, R.N.); Defence Medal 1939-45; French Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, gilt and enamel; French Croix de Guerre 1914-1917, with bronze palm, mounted court-style as worn, generally good very fine and better (8) £2500-3000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte.

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D.S.O. London Gazette 8 March 1918:
‘For services in the Destroyer and Torpedo Boat Flotillas during the period ending 31 December 1917.’

O.B.E. London Gazette 11 November 1919:
‘For valuable services in connection with operations in the Caspian Sea.’

French Legion of Honour London Gazette 4 December 1917.

French Croix de Guerre London Gazette 17 May 1918.

Gerald Langdon Parnell was born in Forest Hill, London in February 1880 and entered the Royal Navy as a Naval Cadet in Britannia in January 1894, and was appointed Midshipman in the cruiser Charybdis in the Channel Squadron in January 1896. Advanced to Lieutenant in July 1900 and to Lieutenant-Commander in December 1912, he was serving in command of the torpedo boat destroyer Swale on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914.

Removing to the command of a similar vessel, the Nith, in February 1916, he participated in an attack on the UC-39 off the east coast early in the following year, the enemy submarine diving just before Nith reached her. Parnell, however, ordered an immediate depth-charge attack, a large patch of oil rising to the surface shortly afterwards - a patch probably released by the UC-39’s commander, since the U-Boat was actually finished off by the Thrasher. Still in command of Nith, Parnell was commended by Their Lordships ‘for his services in the salvage of the S.S. Glenelg when she was attacked by an enemy submarine on 12 September 1917’. He was awarded the D.S.O.

In January 1918, Parnell assumed command of the armed boarding steamer Perth, an appointment that led to a spectacular encounter with an enemy submarine that October. In point of fact, this was a remarkable surface-to-surface action against the U-139, the latest of U-Boats armed with 5.9-inch guns, and under the command of the ace Lothar von Arnauld. The latter attacked Perth’s convoy - HG. 109 - off Cape Finisterre, and a surface duel raged throughout the afternoon of 1 October, the German ace sinking two merchantmen and severely damaging the Perth, but not without cost to his own command, no mean feat given Perth’s inferior 4.7-inch guns. As von Arnauld would later admit, ‘Our upper works were hopelessly ruined ... our three periscopes hanging by wire.’ In point of fact, Parnell’s gunners got off over a hundred rounds in three separate duels that afternoon, his Executive Officer, Lieutenant W. B. Chilton, R.N.R., winning a D.S.C. in the process, while the Gunner’s Mate and the Signalman won D.S.Ms - the latter’s recommendation serves as testament to the ferocious nature of the engagements that afternoon:

‘In the first action he was struck by a shell splinter but refused to report himself sick. In the third action he was swept off his legs into the signal house by the body of Assistant Paymaster C. G. Maile, which had been struck by a complete 5.9-inch shell. Splashed with human remains he kept to his post and all orders to the guns were passed by him as usual.’

Parnell was mentioned in despatches.

In December 1918, he joined the cruiser Theseus ‘for duties in the Caspian Sea as Resident Naval Officer Baku’, an appointment that resulted in him being commended for his ‘excellent work’ in the eventual evacuation of that place and being awarded the O.B.E. Admitted to the R.N.H. Haslar on his return to the U.K., he was sufficiently recovered to attend a Buckingham Palace investiture in March 1920, when he received both his D.S.O. and O.B.E. He was placed on the Retired List in the rank of Captain in the early 1920s.