The Wartime Memories Project

- HMS Bedouin during the Second World War -


Allied Forces Index
skip to content


This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site

please consider making a donation.




    Site Home

    WW2 Home

    Add Stories

    WW2 Search

    Library

    Help & FAQs


 WW2 Features

    Airfields

    Allied Army

    Allied Air Forces

    Allied Navy

    Axis Forces

    Home Front

    Battles

    Prisoners of War

    Allied Ships

    Women at War

    Those Who Served

    Day-by-Day

    Library

    The Great War

 Submissions

    Add Stories

    Time Capsule

    TWMP on Facebook



    Childrens Bookshop

 FAQ's

    Help & FAQs

    Glossary

    Volunteering

    Contact us

    News

    Bookshop

    About


Advertisements











World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

HMS Bedouin



   

HMS Bedouin was a tribal class destroyer, built by William Denny & Brothers of Dumbarton, Scotland she was launched 21 Dec, 1937. During the operations off Norway in April 1940 she was patrolling off Baroy when she was attacked by the German submarine U-25, the torpedoes exploded some distance from target.

The ship was lost on the 15th of June 1942 south of Pantellaria when the convoy in which she was sailing was intercepted by an Italian cruiser and destroyer force led by the cruisers Eugenio di Savoia and Montecuccoli. HMS Bedouin was completely disabled, but HMS Partridge managed to get under way once more, towing HMS Bedouin. When the Italian squadron later reappeared the tow was cast off as HMS Partridge endeavoured to defend herself. Eventually it was an Italian aircraft which finished off HMS Bedouin with an torpedo while HMS Partridge escaped. The aircraft was hit by one of the destroyer's guns and crashed into the sea. The torpedo hit Bedouin's engine room, blasting a hole clear through the ship. She immediately rolled over to port and sank with the loss of 28 men. At dusk, an Italian floatplane and a little Italian hospital ship picked up 213 survivors who were taken as Prisoners of War.

 

Sep 1939 Patrols

23rd Jan 1940 On the Move

23rd Jan 1940 On the Move

19th Mar 1940 Departures

20th Mar 1940 Raft  location map

21st Mar 1940 Training  location map

22nd Mar 1940 Tanker

23rd Mar 1940 Refuelling  location map

25th Mar 1940 Guns Fired  location map

26th Mar 1940 Rejoined  location map

27th Mar 1940 Poor Weather  location map

7th Apr 1940 Enemy Warships Sighted

8th Apr 1940 Enemy Occupation confirmed

9th Apr 1940 Patrol

13th April 1940 2nd Battle of Narvik

15th Apr 1940 Escort

22nd Apr 1940 Conference

23rd Apr 1940 Recconaissance

4th May 1940 Rescue

10th May 1940 Operation


If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here.



Those known to have served with

HMS Bedouin

during the Second World War 1939-1945.

  • Boyce Robert. Able Sea. (d.15th June 1942)
  • Bradshaw DSM. William Harold. Tel.
  • Bunyan Terrance.
  • Chalmers Alexander.
  • Chowles Alfred George. Ord. Sea. (d.15 June 1942)
  • Chowles Alfred George. Ord.Sea. (d.15th June 1942)
  • Clarke George.
  • Croxon Maurice Desmond Paul. Able.Sea. (d.15th Jun 1942)
  • Davis Cliff. Lead.Sea.
  • Doyle Terence William.
  • Edwards John. Able Sea.
  • Gibbons Nicholas Powers.
  • Harris Frederick George. Able Sea.
  • Ives Sidney James. Stoker.
  • Jones-Evans Robert. Off.Cadet.
  • Lavis Joseph. Ord Sea. (d.15th Jun 1942)
  • Mitchell Augustus.
  • Preston Albert.
  • Scurfield DSO, OBE. B. G.. Cdr.
  • Towers Brian Marshall.

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of HMS Bedouin from other sources.



The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements



  • The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web.
  • 27th April 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 264001 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible.
  • Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's
  • The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web.
    If you enjoy this site

    please consider making a donation.


Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text.



We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates.

If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page.


Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home.

If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion
Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.



Want to know more about HMS Bedouin?


There are:21 items tagged HMS Bedouin available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.


Terence William Doyle HMS Bedouin

I served on HMS Bedouin until sank and was then made a POW in Stalag 7A and 8B, I would be interested to hear from survivors particularly ones from the Bedouin, I have never attended a reunion as they were always in London, but would now like to.

Terence Doyle



Terrance Bunyan HMS Bedouin

My grandfather, Terrance Bunyan, served on HMS Bedouin. He was taken as a POW and held until the end of the war.

Mike Sloan



Ord Sea. Joseph Lavis H.M.S. Bedouin (d.15th Jun 1942)

Joseph Lavis is my Uncle Joe, my Mom's brother. She was only 10 at the time of his death. The family is from Port Saunders, NL and they all moved to Corner Brook, when the pulp and paper mill opened. At some point in time, the spelling of the last name Lavis became Lavers.

Josephine Kelly-Colbourne



Able.Sea. Maurice Desmond Paul Croxon HMS Bedouin (d.15th Jun 1942)

Maurice Croxon served in HMS Bedouin. His duty station was in the ship's engine room.

Sarah Croxon



Tel. William Harold Bradshaw DSM. HMS Bedouin

My father, William Bradshaw, was born in Carr Vale before moving to Bolsover. In his teens he worked in the coal mine at Bilsthorpe after his mother died of cancer in 1935. In 1937 his 16 year old brother was killed in a mine accident. After this he left home and joined the Royal Navy.

He served aboard HMS Bedouin, was aboard the HMS Lancaster (ex-USS Phillip) bringing the ship to the UK. He served in Combined Operations and was in the Lefoten Raid and Vaargso Raid before going to Madagascar. Here he was awarded the DSM. Later he went to Burma. He was captured but escaped and made his way to Allied lines en route to the UK. He was in the landings at Anzio.

After the war he was posted to Bermuda, Daniels Head W/T Station. He left the RN in 1948 and joined ACSWS (Admiralty Civilian Shore Wireless Service)which was part of GCHQ. In 1965 ACSWS was formally incorporated into GCHQ. Worked with GCHQ until 1982 when he retired. His son spent 6 years at sea in the Merchant Navy as a Radio Officer before joining the Diplomatic Wireless Service.

Ross Bradshaw



Lead.Sea. Cliff Davis HMS Bedouin

Cliff Davis served on HMS Bedouin

Tracy Davis



Off.Cadet. Robert Jones-Evans HMS Bedouin

Robin Evans was my Uncle. He lived in Southport until his death, aged 69. He was a seventeen year old officer cadet on HMS Bedouin, and was rescued by the Italians and spent the war as a prisoner, but didn't have such a bad time. But he was always a charmer which probably helped.

Gerry Kershaw



Albert Preston HMS Bedouin

My father, Albert Preston, served on HMS Bedouin from 1939 until she was sunk off Malta in 1942.

Malcolm Preston



George Clarke HMS Bedouin

My dad served as a cook on HMS Bedouin prior to her being sunk. Fortunately, he was in Iceland at the time of her sinking.

Jill Walker



Able Sea. Robert Boyce HMS Bedouin (d.15th June 1942)

My uncle Robert Boyce served on HMS Bedouin and was one of the people killed when she sank. Does anyone remember him?

Walter Baker









Recomended Reading.

Available at discounted prices.







Links


















The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items.

The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.



Hosted by:

The Wartime Memories Project Website

is archived for preservation by the British Library





Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved

We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.