Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte

A rare Great War Baltic operations D.S.M. group of eight awarded to Lieutenant-Commander (E.) T. W. Collis, Royal Navy, who was decorated for gallant services in the submarine E. 9

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (272395 T. W. Collis, E.R.A. 2 Cl., H.M. Sub. E 9); 1914-15 Star (272395 T. W. Collis, E.R.A. 2, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Art. Eng. T. W. Collis, R.N.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Russia, St. George’s Cross for Bravery, 3rd Class, the reverse officially numbered ‘72121’; Russia, St. George’s Medal for Bravery, 4th Class, the reverse officially numbered, ‘269690’, mounted as worn, good very fine (8) £3000-3500

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.M. London Gazette 19 November 1915.

Thomas William Collis was born in Limehouse, London, in April 1882 and entered the Royal Navy as an Acting Engine Room Artificer 4th Class.

Transferring to the fledgling submarine service in September 1912, he was serving as an E.R.A. 2nd Class borne on the books of the depot ship Maidstone at the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, but in all probability already as a member of E. 9’s crew - if so, he was present in her, under Max Horton, at the destruction of the German light cruiser Hela in the Heligoland Bight on 23 September, when a brace of well-delivered torpedoes sent the enemy ship to the bottom in 15 minutes. Moreover, three weeks later, the E. 9 accounted for the German destroyer S. 116 off the mouth of the Ems, fine work that won Horton the D.S.O.

Still under Horton’s command, the E. 9 was ordered to the Baltic in mid-October 1914, and in common with other submarines called upon to make the same journey, she was pursued over many hours by enemy destroyers, but she got through and joined the Russian naval forces at Lapvik, where she came under the overall command of Admiral von Essen, the Russian naval C.-in-C. And the latter was quickly impressed by Horton’s determination to get to grips with the enemy, however icy and perilous the conditions: thus, in January 1915, a masterful attack from 600 yards against a German destroyer, when E. 9 was shaken by the resultant explosion and the former went down in three minutes.

And E. 9’s successes continued apace. We Dive at Dawn takes up the story:

‘On 5 May 1915, both E. 1 and E. 9 left their base for a real offensive operation against the Germans, who were known to have been concentrating a naval force at Danzig. E. 9 was to operate to the south of the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, whilst E. 1 went farther south to the neighbourhood of Bornholm. Five days later, after the Germans had captured Libau, E. 9 moved south to work on the line of communication between Danzig and Libau.

Almost immediately E. 9 fell in with the enemy. She sighted a convoy of three large transports, escorted by three cruisers. Both the convoy and the escorting cruisers were strongly screened by destroyers. Horton attacked at once. He dived under the destroyer screen on the port bow of the cruisers and fired both his bow torpedoes at one of the cruisers. Both torpedoes ran deep and missed. By this time E. 9 was right in the middle of the enemy ships. With the helm hard over, Horton brought his port-beam tube to bear on the leading transport and fired. The range was only 200 yards, and again the torpedo passed under its target. Still turning at high speed, and by this time under heavy fire from the warships, Horton fired his stern torpedo at the second transport. At last a hit! A column of water and smoke shot up just before the funnel. But she did not sink at once, and Horton was in no mind to leave her to be towed to safety. From the moment he had fired his bow torpedoes his crew had been straining to reload. The tube was reloaded and ready. Horton turned E. 9 and, in spite of the storm of shells falling round his periscope making it very difficult to see, fired the bow tube at the crippled transport. That finished her.

E. 9 dived deep and set about evading the hunt, which was now up with a vengeance. Destroyers seemed to be dashing about in all directions above E. 9.  What was worse, some of the destroyers were using explosive sweeps to search for the submarine, and one of these was exploded uncomfortably close to E. 9.  But she got safely away to Reval, where she embarked more torpedoes.

Both E. 1 and E. 9 continued their patrols until 1 June, but neither made further contact with the enemy. On that day E. 1 developed a serious defect in one of her main motors, and had to go back to Reval to refit, leaving E. 9 to carry on alone.

E. 9 had an eventful time. On 4 June she was told that a German submarine had sunk the Russian minelayer Yenisei south of the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. She dashed off, and actually sighted the U-boat, but the latter dived just as E. 9 dived to attack, and she was not seen again. During the afternoon of the same day Horton found German naval forces coaling. There were two destroyers coaling and two destroyers waiting to go alongside the collier. A light cruiser was standing by. E. 9 was ambitious. Horton manoeuvred her so as to attack the cruiser and the collier simultaneously. There was nothing wrong with E. 9’s attack, but the torpedo fired from the beam tube missed the light cruiser. At the same moment, however, both bow torpedoes got home on the collier, sinking both her and one of the destroyers that was coaling alongside. E. 9 had a narrow escape from being rammed by one of the destroyers which were standing by, but avoided her; and the enemy soon cleared off, fearing further torpedo attacks. E. 9 thereupon surfaced and picked up a few survivors from the sunken collier and destroyer.

But bigger game was to follow. Edwards’ We Dive at Dawn continues:

It was not until 2 July that E. 9 again made contact with the German naval forces. At this time there was operating in the Baltic a Russian cruiser patrol. This patrol ran into a German cruiser patrol in a fog. Nothing very decisive occurred, and the Russian force, although superior, made off in face of the offensive action of the German squadron. E. 9 found herself right in the path of the Germans. Norton was momentarily at a loss, owing to lack of information and the low visibility. He got in an attack, however, and fired both bow torpedo-tubes at the leading German ship. Both torpedoes hit, but Horton had no time to watch their effect, for it was only by a rapid crash dive that E. 9 avoided being rammed by a destroyer, which hunted her for an hour afterwards. It was subsequently established that E. 9’s torpedoes had hit the Pommern, which ship had to be escorted back to harbour in a badly damaged condition. That same afternoon Horton sighted the German cruiser Roon and two light cruisers but was too far off to get in an attack. That was the end of E.9’s exploits for the time being, for she had developed defects which necessitated lying up at Reval.’

Collis was awarded the D.S.M. for the period leading up to 4 July 1915 (his recommendation refers), and was twice decorated by the Russians, the latter distinctions being verified on his Certificate of Service.

In August 1916, he removed to the E. 19, in which capacity he remained actively employed in the Baltic until June 1917. Commissioned as an Artificer Engineer, he next joined the battleship New Zealand in October 1917, but quickly removed to the cruiser Devonshire in the following month, and is believed to have remained similarly employed until the War’s end.

Post-war, Collis returned to the submarine branch, and served variously in the M. 1, L. 3, L. 6 and L. 16, including time in the Far East, between 1920 and his retirement as a Lieutenant-Commander (E.) in 1932. Recalled on the renewal of hostilities, he served on boom defence duties at Devonport 1939-45; sold with the recipient’s original Certificate of Service, which includes confirmation of his two Russian decorations.