Si Biggs

Royal Oak in Scapa Flow At 01.16 hours on 14 October 1939 U-47 fired a spread of three torpedoes at HMS Royal Oak (08) and the British seaplane tender HMS Pegasus lying at anchor in the harbour of Scapa Flow, then turned around and fired a stern torpedo at 01.21 hours. Marines John Stevenson, aged 23 At 01.23 hours, the U-boat fired a second spread of three torpedoes which hit HMS Royal Oak (08) on the starboard side and caused a magazine to blow up. The battleship rolled over and sank in 19...

ARETHUSA-Class cruiser ordered from HM Dockyard Portsmouth under the 1934 Programme on 1st March 1935 and laid down on 23rd July 1935. The ship was launched on 20th August 1936 by Lady Fisher, the wife of the renowned Admiral 'Jackie' Fisher and was the 10th Royal Navy warship to carry the name, first used in 1758 for the Prize ABENOIRE. HMS Aurora in the North Atlantic 1940 The ship was commissioned for Home Fleet service on 9th November 1937 at a cost of almost £1.25M. She is easy to...

It has been suggested that the Dieppe raid in August 1942 (amongst other things) was a diversionary activity for a pinch operation mounted by an elite commando unit assigned as 30 Commando Assault Unit (30AU) to target a number of key locations in and around Dieppe. These included the Hotel Moderne by the port housing the German Naval HQ and allied intelligence had also convinced themselves that trawlers moored in Dieppe harbour were acting as secret German signals intelligence collection...