Percy James Smith
A/Ldg Stoker Smith
Percy James Smith joined the RNZN 12 October 1939 as a Stoker 2nd Class. His career started off in HMS Achilles 27 February 1940. From there, he progressed to Stoker 1st Class and served on various ships including HM Ships Leander, Wakakura, South Seas and Zambesi. He also served on Achilles another two times. Percy served on the Arctic Convoys, in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Pacific and NZ waters.
Two of his postings are particularly interesting.
1. HMNZS South Sea – Stoker Smith served on this ship 26 November 1942 until 7 April 1943. The dates are a bit ambiguous as the ship was sunk 19 December 1942. However, Navy Office has a funny way of decommissioning ships and the 7 April 1943 was Percy’s drafting off day. HMNZS South Sea was patrolling in Wellington Harbour and crossed the course of the inter-island steamer Wahine, outward bound for Lyttelton on a daylight sailing. Just after 0830, Wahine struck South Sea about 300 metres off Point Halswell. Only one navy man was injured and two were flung overboard, but rescued. Stoker Smith was one of the two men.
2. HMS Zambesi – Percy drafted on to HMS Zambesi 6 July 1944. HMS Zambesi was part of the Home Fleet which escorted Arctic convoys. On February 6 1945, HMS Zambesi was part of the Escort (including HMS Bellona) for Convoy JW64 which left Clyde on February 3. They successfully arrived at Murmansk, Russia 15th February, and the escorts went to wait at Kola Inlet in preparation for the return voyage.
HMS Zambesi
While the escorts waited at Kola for the homeward bound convoy (RA64), word came through of atrocities being committed by the Germans at Soroy in Norway. The Admiralty sent four destroyers HM Ships Zambesi, Zealous, Zest and HMCS Sioux to rescue the survivors. The four ships left Kola Inlet, sailed up Galten Fjord with their white ensigns flying and anchored off Soroy. 525 men, women and children were embarked on the four ships and taken back to Murmansk. These survivors were then distributed among the merchant ships sailing back to the UK on Convoy RA64.
The Convoy sailed from Kola Inlet 17th February and on the afternoon of the Saturday, February 18th, the weather deteriorated to force 8 on the Beaufort Scale, and the escort carriers were unable to operate aircraft. That night the storm intensified with winds gusting up to sixty knots (110 km/h) with a heavy sea and swell. The convoy split up and began to disperse. The storm continued through Sunday, February 19th.
On February 20th, the storm abated and the escort vessels started to round up the scattered ships. At 0400 the convoy had been detected by aircraft, and by 0900 twenty-nine of the ships were back on station with four still straggling.
Then, on February 22nd, the convoy ran into one of the worst storms ever recorded in the Barents Sea. Once again the convoy began to split up and was spread apart. The weather deteriorated to Beaufort scale force 12 with winds at 70 to 90 knots and temperatures 40 below zero. During this storm, one of the main springs on the SS Henry Bacon's (A US Liberty ship) steering gear was broken, and the retaining pin was sheared. This damage caused the Henry Bacon to drop out of the convoy to effect repairs.
Around 1500 on February 23, 1945, the Henry Bacon was some 50 to 60 nautical miles astern of the main convoy when she was attacked by twenty-three torpedo bombers of Luftwaffe Group KG26, out of Hammerfest, Norway, some 250 miles (400 km) away. The Germans were on their way to attack the main convoy, and thought they could finish the lone straggler easily. The Henry Bacon was armed with eight 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, with a 5 inch (127 mm) gun aft and a 3 in (76 mm) gun forward. The ship’s Naval Armed Guard gunners fought the attacking planes for over an hour, shot down five planes, damaged at least four others and managed to explode several torpedoes.
At 1520, one torpedo hit the starboard side of the No.5 hold, and detonated the aft ammunition magazine. A large hole was torn in the hull. The rudder, propeller and steering engine were destroyed. The ship settled by the stern and sank within an hour. This action helped save the main convoy, as most of the German planes were forced to return to base owing to battle damage, low fuel, and low ammunition.
The Henry Bacon was abandoned at 1600 at 67.38N 05.00W. Lifeboats #1 and #2 were launched safely. The #3 boat capsized while being lowered, and because the davits to the #4 boat had been damaged in the storm, this boat was also lost. Three of the four life rafts had been released prematurely and drifted away. The two surviving lifeboats were filled to capacity with all of the Norwegian passengers and some members of the crew.
The survivors were rescued by crew members from three British destroyers, HMS Zambesi, HMS Oppotune and HMS Zelast. The men in the water were so cold they were unable to help themselves, so the British sailors had to jump into the freezing sea with ropes tied around their waists to help them. Acting Leading Stoker Percy Smith was one of them.
Acting Leading Stoker Smith left the RNZN 23 January 1947 – he had decided that being in the water twice, was enough…
(In 1951, Percy was award five pounds and ten shillings prize money).
The article on the SS Henry Bacon – courtesy of Wikipedia
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