A good Great War Harwich Force and Dover Patrol Destroyer operations and long service group awarded to Stoker 1st Class M.J. Prynne, Royal Navy. Prynne from Plymouth, and later Barnstaple, Devon, saw considerable action aboard the destroyer Melpomene in the North Sea as part of the Harwich Force and sometime attached to the Dover Patrol. Aboard her between August 1915 and February 1917, he then spent the remainder of the war aboard the destroyer Satyr, and was present when in June 1917 she sank the German destroyer S20. He was recalled for the Second World War, and saw service out of Gibraltar aboard the destroyer Active for a period.
Group of 4: 1914-1915 Star; (K.623, M.J. PRYNNE, STO. 1., R.N.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (K.623 M.J. PRYNNE. STO.1 R.N.); Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, GVR Adm. bust; (K.623 M.J. PRYNNE. STO. 1. H.M.S. VIVID.)
Condition: light contact wear, about Good Very Fine.
Michael James Prynne was born on 19 May 1889 in Plymouth, Devon, and originally worked as a butchers assistant before joining the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class (Devonport No.K.623) with Vivid II from 15 May 1908. Advanced to Stoker 1st Class with with Leviathan on 3 June 1909, he was aboard cruiser Roxburgh on the outbreak of the Great War, As such he saw service aboard her with the 3rd Cruiser Squadron in the Grand Fleet, and tasked with patrolling the northern exits of the North Sea and the Norwegian coast. She captured a German merchantman on 6 August 1914.
Posted to Vivid II from 1 April 1915, he then joined the destroyer depot ship Dido for service aboard the destroyer Melpomene from 11 August 1915 and then saw service in the North Sea as part of the Harwich Force, a most active period, being attached to the Dover Patrol for the bombardment of the German-held port of Zeebrugge on 23 August 1915. On 30–31 October 1915, Melpomene took part in a sweep by the Harwich Force of the German Bight. The Swedish steamer Ostersund was stopped and sent back to the Humber as it was suspected that its cargo of iron ore might be contraband, but no German shipping was encountered. On 25 December 1915, Melpomene was one of eight destroyers from the Harwich Force that were ordered with the leader Nimrod to the Channel as a result of attacks by the German submarine U-24. As there was no sign of the submarine by the time they reached Portsmouth, they were sent on to Milford Haven, where poor weather kept them largely confined to harbour.
From 24 April 1916, the Dover Patrol carried out a large-scale operation off the Belgian coast to lay mines and nets, in an attempt to limit use of the ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge to German U-boats. Melpomene was one of twelve destroyers of the Harwich Force that took part in escorting the operations. On the afternoon of 24 April, three German torpedo boats attempted to interfere with the drifters laying the nets off Zeebrugge, and Melpomene, together with Milne, Medea and Murray, engaged the three torpedo boats, which retreated towards Zeebrugge with the four British destroyers in pursuit. The British destroyers came under heavy fire from German shore batteries. Melpomene was hit in the engine room by a shell, which although it did not explode, caused extensive flooding and eventual loss of power (she managed to keep steaming for 20 minutes after the hit, with the turbines awash and eventually submerged). Milne attempted to take Melpomene under tow, but fouled her port propeller with the tow cable, so Medea went to assist with the tow. The three German torpedo boats then returned to attack the British ships, with Medea hit three times by German shells, but were driven off by 12-inch fire from the monitor Prince Eugene. The minefield probably caused the loss of one U-Boat, UB-13, although at the time it was thought that four or five German submarines had been sunk. Melpomene underwent initial repair at Dunkirk before more permanent repair work in a British dockyard.
On the night of 22 July 1916, two light cruisers and eight destroyers of the Harwich Force set out on a patrol to prevent German torpedo boats based in Flanders from interfering with shipping traffic between Britain and the Netherlands. One group, consisting of the light cruiser Carysfort and four destroyers, was to patrol off the Mass estuary, while the second group, led by the cruiser Canterbury and including Melpomene, was to patrol off the North Hinder light vessel. Seven German destroyers of II Flotilla had set out from Zeeburgge on a mission to lay lines near the North Hinder light vessel, and at 00:15 on 23 July, Carysfort's group sighted the German force, which turned away and escaped under the cover of a smoke screen and a rain storm. The Canterbury group, including Matchless, was ordered to proceed to the Schouwen Bank to intercept the Germans. They encountered the Germans at about 01:45, and set off in pursuit. Matchless could not keep up with the chase and lagged behind, while Milne kept station with the lagging Matchless, leaving the chase to Melpomene and Morris. The two destroyers were recalled by Canterbury, but Melpomene did not respond to the recall order and continued the chase alone. The German destroyers managed to reach the safety of minefields and coastal defences near Zeebrugge, and the British broke off the chase. Melpomene was hit by a German shell which killed one and wounded two more of her crew. On 19 August, the German High Seas Fleet carried out a raid into the North Sea, with the intention of bombarding Sunderland and luring the British battlecruisers into an engagement with superior forces. The British were warned of the German sortie by radio intercepts, and as part of the British response, the seaplane carrier Vindex put out from Harwich with Melpomene as escort, but the weather was too poor for aircraft operations and Vindex returned to harbour.
On the night of 23/24 January 1917, the Harwich Force was ordered to intercept a German torpedo boat flotilla that was being transferred to Zeebrugge, with Melpomene part of a group of destroyers patrolling off the River Maas. The German torpedo boats ran into a cruiser division, with the torpedo boat V69 heavily damaged, but the Germans managed to escape, and some of the British destroyers, including Meteor dispersed from their patrol positions after hearing the noise of the engagement, allowing the German ships to slip through. One German straggler, S50 encountered a British destroyer patrol and sank the destroyer Simoom before escaping. On 29 January 1917, as a response to intelligence of a sortie of units of the German High Seas Fleet, Melpomene was one of 12 destroyers led by the flotilla leader Grenville ordered to patrol between Lowestoft and Harwich to guard against German raids. The British destroyers saw nothing, although several British submarines on patrol in the North Sea sighted German torpedo boats, and E29 unsuccessfully attacked four torpedo boats.
Prynne remained with Dido as part of the Harwich Force when he transferred off Melpomene to join the destroyer Satyr from 2 February 1917, as a part of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla. She was commanded by Commander Hubert de Burgh. On 4 June 1917, Satyr was deployed as part of a large group of 7 cruisers and 25 destroyers to protect the monitors Erebus and Terror in their bombardment of the German held Belgian port of Ostend. Along with sister ships Taurus, Sharpshooter and Torrent, Satyr sank the German destroyer S20. De Burgh received the Distinguished Service Order for his part in the action, particularly for saving the lives of seven of the crew of S20 while under fire. Satyr remained part of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla at the end of the war.
Prynne remained with Satyr for the rest of the war, and then transferred with her for service with the Torpedo School at Devonport. Aboard the destroyer Walker between June 1920 and May 1923, he then joined Vivid I through to April 1924 in which period he was awarded the Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. Service followed with the destroyer Verbena from May 1924 to October 1926, and after a couple of shore appointments, he was pensioned ashore on 14 May 1930 when he joined the Royal Fleet Reserve at Devonport. Having gone to work as a packer for the firm of Woollens, he was recalled as a Pensioned Stoker 1st Class on the outbreak of the Second Wold War, and then joined Cormorant at Gibraltar for service aboard the destroyer Active from 23 August 1939. As such he would have seen service with the 13th Destroyer Flotilla when she was heavily engaged in the Mediterranean. He may well have been aboard her when as s part of Force H in June 1940, she took part in Operation Catapult against the French fleet in Mers El Kebir. On 31 July Active set out from Gibraltar as part of Force H for Operation Hurry in which the aircraft carrier Ark Royal’s aircraft attacked Cagliari in Italy as a diversion while the carrier Argus ferried 12 Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft to Malta. Active returned to home waters in August 1940, joining the 12th Destroyer Flotilla for operations in the Western Approaches and with the Home Fleet.
Prynne may possible have left Active in April 1940, but that is unclear. What is known is that he was invalided from service on 9 May 1944. He died in September 1965 in Barnstaple, Devon.
