WW2 Group Able Seaman Whitelock KIA 18th Feb 1940 HMS Daring Sub Action

1939/45, Atlantic Stars War Medal all not named, with named Admiralty enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mr. A. Whitelock, Whitcombe, Corton Denham, Sherborne, Dorset’, together with copy photo of the crew and two original sweetheart letters from him.

Edward George Whitelock served during the Second World War in HMS Daring, a D-Class Destroyer that had, for a time, been the first command of Lord Louis Mountbatten. On 18 February 1940 she was one of four destroyers escorting a convoy from the Norway campaign to the UK. In the early hours of the morning the convoy was sighted by U-23, commanded by the man who would later become known as the ‘Wolf of the Atlantic’, Otto Ktretschmer. At a point some 30 miles East from Duncansby Head U-23 found herself trapped on the surface between the two port-side escorts of the convoy. In order to enable an escape Kretschmer decided to attack the stern destroyer, HMS Daring. Two torpedoes were fired and Daring was hit; almost immediately a explosion ripped through the ship, broke her in half she sank within two minutes, with the loss of 157 Officers and crew. There were only 5 survivors. Edward was amongst those killed, aged 22, and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Sold together with two original letters written by the recipient whilst at sea in H.M.S. Daring; and a photographic image of the ship’s crew.