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Those known to have sailed in HMS Hardy during the Second World War 1939-1945. - Boyd CdG. Frank Weston. L/Tel.
- Warburton-Lee VC. Bernard Armitage Warburton. Capt. (d.10th April 1940)
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,
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Records of HMS Hardy from other sources.
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Want to know more about HMS Hardy? There are:10 items tagged HMS Hardy 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. |
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L/Tel. Frank Weston Boyd CdG. HMS Hardy  Frank Boyd passed away in 1984, I have a paper cutting from 1944 of his valour award and key parts of his service:
Middlesbrough Sailor Awarded Croix de Guerre. The Croix de Guerre, with bronze star, has been awarded to Leading Telegraphist Frank W. Boyd, aged 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. Boyd, of 65, Cranfield Ave., Middlesbrough. The citation states that Boyd, accomplished his mission with greatest possible coolness during the course of an engagement fought by his ship on 29th February 1940 against an enemy convoy which was destroyed in the 1st Battle of Narvik.
Leading Telegraphist Boyd, who is on a French light cruiser in a liaison capacity, was decorated with all due ceremony before the ship’s company by Admiral Le Monnier. One of few British sailors to be so decorated in this war, he has served on eight naval vessels during hostilities. He has been eight years in the Navy.
He was on the Hardy when that ship was lost in the early part of the war, and was at Taranto, Matapan, the evacuation of Greece and Crete, and at Oran, and was on the headquarters' staff of Admiral Cunningham at Algiers. Formerly, he had been a choir boy at St. Paul's, Middlesbrough.
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Capt. Bernard Armitage Warburton Warburton-Lee VC. HMS Hardy (d.10th April 1940) Captain Bernard Armitage Warburton Warburton-Lee was 44 years old, and a captain in the Royal Navy when was awarded the VC.
"On 10th of April 1940 in Ofotfjord, Narvik, Norway, in the First Battle of Narvik, Captain Warburton-Lee of HMS Hardy commanded the British 2nd Destroyer Flotilla consisting of five destroyers, HMS Hardy, Havock, Hostile, Hotspur and Hunter, in a surprise attack on German destroyers and merchant ships in a blinding snowstorm. This was successful, and was almost immediately followed by an engagement with five more German destroyers, during which Captain Warburton-Lee was mortally wounded by a shell which hit Hardy's bridge. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, posthumously. His citation reads as follows:
"For gallantry, enterprise and daring in command of the force engaged in the First Battle of Narvik, on 10th April, 1940. On being ordered to carry out an attack on Narvik, Captain Warburton-Lee learned that the enemy was holding the place in much greater force than had been thought. He signalled to the Admiralty that six German destroyers and one submarine were there, that the channel might be mined, and that he intended to attack at dawn. The Admiralty replied that he alone could judge whether to attack, and that whatever decision he made would have full support. Captain Warburton led his flotilla of five destroyers up the fjord in heavy snow-storms, arriving off Narvik just after daybreak. He took the enemy completely by surprise and made three successful attacks on warships and merchantmen in the harbour. As the flotilla withdrew, five enemy destroyers of superior gunpower were encountered and engaged. The captain was mortally wounded by a shell which hit the bridge of H.M.S. Hardy. His last signal was "Continue to engage the enemy"."
His was the first VC to be gazetted in the Second World War.
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