HMS Paxton

HMS Paxton was a First World War Royal Navy Q-Ship torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-46 on 20 May 1917 in the Atlantic Ocean 90 miles west of Great Skellig, Eire.[1] The ship was originally ordered as Lady Patricia for the British and Irish Steam Packet Company[1] but taken over on completion by the British Government as HMAV Lady Patricia.[2]

History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMAV Lady Patricia
Builder:	Ardrossan Dockyard & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Ardrossan[1]
Yard number:	268[1]
Launched:	1916[1]
Refit:	March-30 April 1917 (Conversion to Q Ship)[2]
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Paxton
Commissioned:	1 May 1917[2]
Fate:	Sunk 20 May 1917[1]
General characteristics
Tonnage:	1372 grt[1]
Length:	75.9 m[1]
Beam:	11.6 m[1]
Propulsion:	Triple expansion steam engine built by John G. Kincaid & Company driving single screw, 162 n.h.p[1]
Armament:	One 4 inch gun, two 12 pounder guns[1]

The ship was damaged by gunfire from the German submarine U-57 on 30 March 1917 in St George's Channel and six crew killed.[3][4] Shortly afterwards work started on converting her to an anti-submarine Q-ship, Q25, which was completed on 30 April 1917.[2] The ship was commissioned as HMS Paxton the following day and sunk less than three weeks later.

Sinking

At about 9:00 on 20 May 1917 the ship was heading west at about 8 knots when an unknown German submarine surfaced and shelled her with its deck gun, hitting the ship once. Paxton responded by firing back at the submarine with her stern 4 inch gun, thus revealing herself as a Q-Ship. The submarine dived to escape.[5]

Paxton continued on her westerly course, and the crew changed her disguise by painting the name of a Swedish ship on her sides.[5] At 19:15 on the same day U-46 torpedoed her,[1] disabling the engines.[5] Two men were killed, including the chief engineer,[5] but the ship remained afloat because she was loaded with lumber.[5] The submarine fired a second torpedo fifteen minutes later which broke the ship's back and it sank within about five minutes.[5] The surviving crew abandoned the ship on two boats and two rafts, but had not been able to send a distress radio message.[5] The submarine surfaced and took the captain, Commander George Hewett[6] and the second engineer,[5] Engineer Sub-Lieutenant James Wilfred Johnson[7] prisoner.

The boats and rafts stayed together overnight, but at 5 am one boat separated to make for Berehaven (now Castletownbere) for help.[5] The boat had no food or water onboard.[5] However it was spotted just after 9 pm, by an American destroyer, USS Wadsworth, which rescued the three officers and eight ratings on it but despite spending the following day searching the destroyer could not locate the other survivors.[5] On 26 May a further four crew were rescued from a raft by another ship,[2] and on 26[5] or 27 May[2] the second boat, containing the remaining survivors reached Killybegs.[5] Provisions and water had run out four days before the boat arrived, and two people had died en route.[5] In all 31 people were killed.[1][2]

Surgeon Sub-Lieutenant Annesley George Lennon Brown, RNVR was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in June 1919 for his gallantry and devotion to duty following the torpedoing.[8][9]

References

1. "HMAV Lady Patricia (Anchusa Q25 Paxton) (+1917)". wrecksite. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
2. "Richard Tallack". A Tale of one City. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
3. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Lady Patricia". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net.
4. Kindell, Don (2009). Royal Navy Roll of Honour - World War 1, Part 2 - by Date and Ship/Unit. p. 337. ISBN 978-1445205359.
5. William N. Still, Jr. (1996). The Queenstown Patrol, 1917: The Diary of Commander Joseph Knefler Taussig, U.S. Navy (PDF). Naval War College Press. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
6. "British Special Service or Q-Ships". World War I at Sea. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
7. "Germany: Prisoners, including: Appeal for war loan sent to prisoners in Germany..." UK National Archives. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
8. "Royal Navy Medals - Awards of the Distinguished Service Cross". Naval History .net. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
9. "Supplement to the London Gazette, 11 June, 1919" (PDF). London Gazette. Retrieved 25 May 2015.