Great War 1914-1915 Star trio and Royal Fleet Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal group awarded to Able Seaman E. Merrett, Royal Fleet Reserve who was serving aboard H.M.S. Cleopatra when she rammed the German destroyer G-194 cutting her in half and immediately sinking her. Cleaopatra was damaged in the same action when she collided with Undaunted, and would later take part in several other small actions in the North Sea as part of the Harwich Force. Merrett would receive his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 23rd May 1919 before being discharged on 7th June 1921.
Group of 4: 1914-1915 Star; (230535 E. MERRETT. A.B., R.N.) British War Medal and Victory Medal; (230535 E. MERRETT. A.B. R.N.) Royal Fleet Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, GVR Admiral’s bust; (230535 DEV.B. 7765 E. MERRETT. A.B. R.F.R.) Loose-mounted for wear with the LSGC medal at the front.
Condition: Loose-mounted for wear, Good Very Fine
Along with:
‘Sure Shield Medallion’ awarded to those who took part in the Naval tournaments and displays which took part in the Thames to commemorate the Navy’s Part in the Great War five years to the day war was declared.
Contemporary copy postcard showing the G194 being rammed and dated 21.7.1917 passed by Press Bureau.
Edwin Merrett was born in Lydney, Gloucestershire and giving his trade as a hairdresser enlisted as a Boy 2nd Class on 5th April 1904, being promoted to Boy 1st Class on 24th November 1904. His 12 years of service would begin on his 18th birthday on 22nd July 1906. He served on various ships before being discharged to the Royal Fleet Reserve in April 1914.
He would be recalled on 2nd August 1914 upon the outbreak of the Great War and would be posted to H.M.S. Eclipse until March 1915. He would then serve aboard H.M.S. Cleopatra from 10th June 1915 until 10th October 1918.
Cleopatra was commissioned into service in the Royal Navy in June 1915, Cleopatra was assigned to the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron in Harwich Force, which operated in the North Sea to guard the eastern approaches to the Strait of Dover and English Channel. In 1915, she was fitted with a runway on her forecastle to launch French-made Royal Naval Air Service monoplanes to attack German airships flying over the North Sea, but the aircraft proved unable to achieve the altitude necessary to attack the airships, and the runway had been removed by early 1916. In August 1915, she took part in the hunt in the North Sea for the Imperial German Navy auxiliary cruiser SMS Meteor. In February 1916, she replaced the recently lost light cruiser HMS Arethusa as flagship for Harwich Force's commander, Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt. She was part of the force covering a Royal Naval Air Service seaplane raid against the Imperial German Navy airship hangars at Tondern, then in northern Germany, on 24 March 1916 and, during the return journey, sighted the German destroyer G 194 ahead of her. She turned toward G 194 and rammed her, cutting the destroyer in half and sinking her immediately, but the manoeuvre took Cleopatra across the bows of the light cruiser HMS Undaunted, and the two cruisers collided; Cleopatra returned to base with the force despite the damage she suffered in the two collisions, but Undaunted was so badly damaged that it took her four days to reach port.
Cleopatra completed repairs and returned to service in time to take part in Royal Navy operations opposing the Lowestoft Raid – a German naval bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft – on 24–25 April 1916, and was part of the force under Commodore Tyrwhitt that found the German battlecruisers carrying out the raid. She was involved in an engagement with German destroyers in the North Sea on 18 July 1916. On 4 August 1916, she struck a mine off Thornton Ridge off the coast of Belgium, but soon returned to action after repairs.
In January 1917, Cleopatra participated in an unsuccessful operation to attack German destroyers off the Belgian coast. She underwent modernisation during 1917, and in October 1917 joined the other Harwich Force cruisers in a patrol zone to intercept any German attempt to intercept convoys steaming to and from Scandinavia. She was assigned to the 7th Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet in August 1918 as squadron flagship.
Merrett would subsequently transfer to H.M.S. Dauntless where he would serve until 13th March 1919. He would receive his Royal Fleet Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal to 23rd May 1919, and would be discharged on 7th June 1921 and was paid a war gratuity.