Memorial Window Lt Cdr W.B.W. Grubb

Memorial Window in St Nicholas's Church, Leeds, Kent.
"In loving memory of Ernest Watkins Grubb, Vicar of Sibbertswold, Kent who died Oct 2nd 1914 & Walter B Watkins Grubb Lt Commander/ Royal Navy HMS Cressy who died in action Sept 22nd 1914"

H.M.S. Cressy was the lead ship in the Cressy Class armoured cruisers built in 1900. On 22nd Sept 1914 Cressy was on patrol in the North Sea with her sister ships Aboukir and Hogue but without their escorting destroyers which had to turn back due to rough weather. U-9, under Kapitan Weddingen, had been hunting transport ships but again the weather interfered. Spotting the cruisers, he fired one torpedo at Aboukir which began to sink. Hogue moved into rescue survivors and was stopped in water when she was hit by 2 torpedoes and sank within 20 minutes. Cressy attempted unsuccessfully to ram the submarine before resuming rescue operations. Cressy was then hit by 2 out of 3 torpedoes fired at her and sank within 25 minutes. Between the ships, 62 Officers and 1,397 men were lost including 560 from the Cressy. 837 men were rescued by British and Dutch trawlers. Many of those that died and their bodies recovered are buried in The Netherlands..

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Source

• Text: Sharky Ward
• Photos: Julie Brewer 26 02 2012 (WMR-16262) Download (1), Julie Brewer 26 02 2012 (WMR-16262) (2), UK Government (3)