Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, EVII awarded to Stoker Petty Officer R. Phillips, Royal Navy who was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal whilst serving aboard HMS Leviathan on 9th February 1909. He would later see service during the Great War aboard HMS Tiger, being aboard when 10 men of the ship were killed at the Battle of Dogger Bank when she was struck by a shell that hit Q Turret and then at Jutland where the ship was struck by 17 shells, all bar one of which came from the German battleship Moltke.
Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, EVII (148917 ROBERT PHILLIPS. STO. P.O. H.M.S. LEVIATHAN.)
Condition: Good Very Fine
Robert Phillips was born in Totnes, Devon on 28th February 1869 and would join the Royal Navy on 13th May 1889 being posted initially to Indus as a Stoker 2nd Class. He would subsequently be posted to Undaunted on 18th February 1890, being promoted Stoker on 1st April 1890 and remaining aboard until 20th June 1893. He would return ashore with Vivid II from 21st June 1893 remaining there until he was posted Halcyon on 16th May 1895. Whilst aboard Halcyon he would be promoted Leading Stoker 2nd Class on 12th January 1898 before leaving the ship on 10th February 1898.
He would be posted ashore to Vivid II for a month from 11th February 1898 until 11th March 1898 when he would return to Halcyon. He would be promoted to Leading Stoker 1st Class on 12th January 1899 and would remain aboard the ship until 7th May 1901.
Posted to Vivid II on 8th May 1901, he would remain ashore until on 18th September 1902 he would be posted to Isis where he served until 29th April 1904. A week ashore aboard Vivid II followed until posted to Medusa on 7th May 1904, this was a posting of just 11 days, then being posted back ashore to Vivid II from 19th May until 4th November 1904. He would serve aboard Andromeda on 5th November 1904 until 18th July 1905.
He would then be posted to the Wei Hai Wei Depot, this in the leased territory in north-east China of the same name, being promoted to Stoker Petty Officer whilst serving there on 1st July 1906. He would return ashore with Vivid II on 7th October 1907 before being sent Leviathan from 18th March to 31st March 1908, a single day aboard Black Prince followed before being returned to Leviathan where he served from 1st April 1908 until 18th April 1911, and being awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 9th February 1909.
Having returned ashore on 19th April 1911, he would be shore pensioned from Vivid II on 23rd May 1911, subsequently joining the Royal Fleet Reserve at Devonport the following day.
He would be recalled for the outbreak of the Great War, initially serving with Vivid II from 22nd October 1914 before he was posted to HMS Tiger on 23rd October 1914 where he would serve until 1st March 1917.
On 23 January 1915, a force of German battlecruisers under the command of Admiral Franz von Hipper sortied to clear the Dogger Bank of any British fishing boats or small craft that might be there to collect intelligence on German movements. However, the British were reading their coded messages and sailed to intercept them with a larger force of British battlecruisers under the command of Admiral Beatty. Contact was initiated at 07:20 on the 24th, when the British light cruiser Arethusa spotted the German light cruiser Kolberg. By 07:35, the Germans had spotted Beatty's force and Hipper ordered a turn to the south at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), believing this would suffice if the ships he saw to his north-west were British battleships and that he could always increase speed to Blücher's maximum speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) if they were British battlecruisers.
Beatty ordered his battlecruisers to make all practicable speed to catch the Germans before they could escape. The leading ships, Lion, Princess Royal and Tiger, were doing 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph) in pursuit and Lion opened fire at 08:52 at a range of 20,000 yards (18,000 m). The other ships followed a few minutes later but, hampered by the extreme range and decreasing visibility, they did not score their first hit on Blücher until 09:09. The German battlecruisers opened fire themselves a few minutes later at 09:11, at a range of 18,000 yards (16,000 m), and concentrated their fire on Lion. At 09:35, Beatty signalled "Engage the corresponding ships in the enemy's line", but Captain Pelly, believing that Indomitable was already engaging Blücher, fired at Seydlitz, as did Lion, which left Moltke free to continue attacking Lion without risk
In the meantime, Blücher had been heavily damaged by fire from all the other battlecruisers; her speed had dropped to 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) and her steering gear had been jammed. Beatty ordered Indomitable to attack her at 10:48. Six minutes later, Beatty spotted what he thought was a submarine periscope on the starboard bow and ordered an immediate 90° turn to port to avoid the submarine, although he failed to hoist the "Submarine Warning" flag because most of Lion's signal halyards had been shot away. Shortly afterward, Lion lost her remaining dynamo to the rising water which knocked out all remaining light and power. He ordered "Course north-east" at 11:02 to bring his ships back to their pursuit of Hipper. He also hoisted "Attack the rear of the enemy" on the other halyard, although there was no connection between the two signals. Rear-Admiral Sir Gordon Moore, temporarily commanding in New Zealand, thought that the signals meant for him to attack Blücher, which was about 8,000 yards (7,300 m) to the north-east, which he did, turning away from Hipper's main body. Beatty tried to correct the mistake, but he was so far behind the leading battlecruisers that his signals could not be read amidst the smoke and haze.
He transferred his flag to the destroyer Attack at 11:50 and set off in pursuit of his battlecruisers. He caught up to them shortly before Blücher sank and boarded Princess Royal at 12:20. He ordered the pursuit of the German battlecruisers to be resumed, but rescinded the order when it became clear that too much time had been wasted sinking Blücher and Hipper's ships would be able to reach German waters before the British could catch them. Lion was headed home at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) when the rest of the battlecruisers caught up with her around 12:45.
During the action, Tiger was hit by six German shells, the most significant of which was a 28-centimetre (11 in) shell that burst on the roof of 'Q' turret. Although most of the shell was deflected overboard, fragments penetrated the roof, damaged the left gun's breech mechanism and jammed the training gear, knocking the turret out of action. Ten men were killed during the battle and 11 wounded. Tiger's repairs were completed on 8 February. Like the rest of the battlecruisers, Tiger's own gunnery was rapid, but inaccurate, and she achieved only two hits out of 355 13.5-inch (340 mm) shells fired, scoring one hit each on Seydlitz and Derfflinger. Her performance was noted and commented upon by the senior leadership of the Royal Navy: Lord Fisher criticised Pelly's performance, calling him a "poltroon" and adding "The Tiger's gunnery seems to have been villainously bad on January 24, yet she seems to have had a lot of practice." In a memorandum of 11 February 1915, Beatty explained to Pelly where the latter had misconstrued the standing orders, going through Tiger's part in the battle blow by blow and comparing it to that of other ships. His final paragraph was conciliatory however: "In making these remarks I have no wish to express censure in any form. I realise that a newly-commissioned ship in her first action has many difficulties to contend with, and I am quite ready to make the fullest allowance for them. My chief aim is to ensure that our next action shall be a complete success." The ship was given a refit in December 1915
On 31 May 1916, Tiger and the 1st BCS had put to sea with the rest of the Battlecruiser Fleet, under Beatty's overall command, to intercept a sortie by the High Seas Fleet into the North Sea. The British had decoded the German radio messages, and left their bases before the Germans put to sea. Hipper's battlecruisers spotted the Battlecruiser Fleet to their west at 15:20, but Beatty's ships did not see the Germans to their east until 15:30. Two minutes later, Beatty ordered a course change to east-southeast, positioning the British ships to cut off the German's line of retreat, and signalled action stations. Hipper ordered his ships to turn to starboard, away from the British, to assume a south-easterly course, and reduced speed to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) to allow three light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group to catch up. With this turn, Hipper was falling back on the High Seas Fleet, 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) behind him. Beatty altered course to the east, as he was still too far north to cut Hipper off.
This was later characterised as the "Run to the South" as Beatty changed course to steer east-southeast at 15:45, now paralleling Hipper's course less than 18,000 yards (16,000 m) away. The Germans opened fire first at 15:48, followed by the British. The British ships were still in the process of making their turn as only the two leading ships, Lion and Princess Royal, had steadied on their course when the Germans opened fire. The 1st BCS was echeloned to the right with Tiger in the rear and the furthest to the west, closest to the Germans. Tiger missed Beatty's fire distribution order, as had Queen Mary, and Tiger engaged Moltke, instead of Seydlitz as Beatty intended. The German fire was accurate from the start, with Tiger hit six times by Moltke within the first seven minutes; although two of these hits temporarily disabled both 'Q' and 'X' turrets, she was not seriously damaged. By 15:54, the range was down to 12,900 yards (11,800 m); Beatty ordered a course change two points to starboard to open up the range at 15:57. Around 16:00, Indefatigable was hit around the rear turret by two or three shells from Von der Tann. She fell out of formation to starboard and started sinking toward the stern and listing to port. Her magazines exploded at 16:03 after more hits destroying the ship with the loss of all hands but three. The range gradually increased until the distance between the British and German ships was too great for accurate fire, so Beatty altered course four points to port between 16:12 and 16:15 to close the range. By 16:25, the range was down to 14,400 yards (13,200 m) and Beatty turned two points to starboard to open the range again. Around this time, Queen Mary was hit multiple times in quick succession and her forward magazines exploded. Tiger, following in Queen Mary's wake at a distance of only 500 yards (460 m), had to put her helm hard-a-starboard to avoid colliding with the wreckage. At 16:30, the light cruiser Southampton, scouting in front of Beatty's ships, spotted the lead elements of the High Seas Fleet coming north at top speed. Three minutes later, she sighted the topmasts of Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer's battleships, but did not report this for another five minutes. Beatty continued south for another two minutes to confirm the sighting before ordering his force to turn north. By this time, Tiger had been hit a total of 17 times, all but one fired by Moltke, but she remained fit to fight.
The German battlecruisers made their own turn north in pursuit, but Beatty's ships maintained full speed, and gradually moved out of range. The British battlecruisers turned north, then north-east, to try to rendezvous with the main body of the Grand Fleet, and at 17:40 opened fire again on their German counterparts. The setting sun blinded the German gunners and they could not make out the British ships and turned away to the north-east at 17:47. Beatty gradually turned toward the east so his ships could cover the Grand Fleet as it deployed into battle formation, but he mistimed his manoeuvre and forced the leading British division further from the Germans. By 18:35, Beatty was following the 3rd BCS as they were leading the Grand Fleet east-southeast, and continuing to engage Hipper's battlecruisers to their south-west. A few minutes earlier, Scheer had ordered a simultaneous 180° starboard turn, and Beatty lost sight of them in the haze. At 18:44, Beatty turned his ships south-east, then south-southeast four minutes later, to find Hipper's force. He then ordered the two surviving ships of the 3rd BCS to take position astern of New Zealand, while slowing to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) and altering course to the south to stay close to the Grand Fleet. At this moment, Lion's gyrocompass failed, and she—followed by the rest of the battlecruisers—made a complete circle before her steering was brought back under control. At 18:55, Scheer ordered another 180° turn, which put the German ships on a converging course again with the Grand Fleet. However, the British had altered course to the south, allowing the Grand Fleet to cross Scheer's "T" and inflict damage on the leading German ships. Scheer ordered yet another 180° turn at 19:13, and successfully extricated the High Seas Fleet from the trap his manoeuvring caused
The British lost sight of the Germans until Castor spotted smoke to the west-northwest at 20:05, then identified and engaged several German torpedo boats. On hearing the sound of gunfire, Beatty ordered his ships west, and spotted the German battlecruisers only 8,500 yards (7,800 m) away. Inflexible opened fire at 20:20, followed almost immediately by the rest of the battlecruisers. Shortly after 8:30, the pre-dreadnought battleships of Rear Admiral Franz Mauve's II Battle Squadron were spotted. The British battlecruisers and German pre-dreadnoughts exchanged fire; the Germans fired only a few times before turning away to the west because of poor visibility and the more accurate British gunnery, and disappeared into the mist around 20:40. Beatty's battlecruisers sailed south-southeast, ahead of both the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet, until the order to reverse course for home was given at 02:55.
Tiger and the rest of the battlecruisers reached Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland on the morning of 2 June. Docked the next day for repairs which took until 1 July, she was the first of the "Splendid Cats" to be repaired. Tiger was hit a total of 18 times during the battle, mostly by shells fired by Moltke, suffering 24 men killed and 46 wounded. The battlecruiser fired 303 shells from her main guns during the battle and is credited with one hit on Moltke and two on Von der Tann. The ship also fired 136 rounds from her 6-inch guns at the light cruiser Wiesbaden and German destroyers
After her repairs were completed, Tiger served as the temporary flagship of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron while Lion was under repair. In the meantime, on the evening of 18 August the Grand Fleet put to sea in response to a message deciphered by Room 40 which indicated that the High Seas Fleet, less the II Squadron, would be leaving harbour that night. The German objective was to bombard Sunderland on the 19th, with extensive reconnaissance provided by airships and submarines. The Grand Fleet sailed with 29 dreadnought battleships and six battlecruisers, including Tiger. Throughout the 19th, Jellicoe and Scheer received conflicting intelligence, with the result that having reached its rendezvous in the North Sea, the Grand Fleet steered north in the erroneous belief it had entered a minefield before turning south again. Scheer steered south-eastward pursuing a lone British battle squadron reported by an airship, which was in fact the Harwich Force under Commodore Tyrwhitt. Having realised their mistake, the Germans then steered for home. The only contact came in the evening when Tyrwhitt sighted the High Seas Fleet, but he was unable to achieve an advantageous attack position before dark, and broke off contact. Both the British and the German fleets returned home; the British had lost two cruisers to submarine attacks, and a German dreadnought had been damaged by a torpedo.
Phillips would remain aboard the ship during its subsequent lengthy refit at Rosyth, and would leave on 1st March 1917 to return ashore to Vivid II, he would then spend time with Attentive III from 24th September 1917 until 30th October 1917 and then Pembroke for 10 days. Until on 1st November 1917 he joined Wallington, the auxiliary patrol base on the Humber.
He would then serve with HMS Lavatera attached to L92 from 12th March 1918 until 20th January 1919, Lavatera being the depot ship for the Auxiliary Patrol stationed at Inverness His service would end aboard Crescent on 14th May 1919.
