The fine Second World War Mediterranean Force Q Battle of Skerki Bank night action of 1 December 1942 Destruction of an Italian Troop Convoy Distinguished Service Medal and long service group awarded to Petty Officer F.C. Miles, D.S.M., Royal Navy. From Stansted, Essex, he saw service in the navy between June 1927 and September 1951. During the war he saw service aboard the cruiser Argonaut in the Mediterranean from August 1942 to July 1943. As such he participated with Force H in Operation Torch, and then formed part of Force Q under Rear Admiral Cecil Harcourt, with the mission of disrupting German–Italian convoys on the Tunisian coast. It was for the brilliant night action of 1-2 December 1942, known as the Battle of Skerki Bank, that he was the decorated for his work as the Layer of the Director Control Tower aboard Argonaut. This action resulted in four Italian supply ships of Convoy H being sunk, together with one of the escorting destroyers. Miles was still aboard Argonaut when she was heavily damaged by a torpedo fired by the Italian submarine Lazzaro Mocenigo on 14 December 1942, and then travelled with her to the United States for repairs, being out there, with New Jersey R.N. Accounting Base, Asbury, when he qualified for his award of the Royal Navy long service medal. He was briefly aboard the convoy escort frigate Barbados and operating out of Northern Ireland during November 1944 to January 1945.
Group of 7: Distinguished Service Medal, GVI 1st type bust, officially impressed naming; (JX.130259 F.C. MILES. P.O.); 1939-1945 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star with North Africa 1942-43 Clasp; Defence Medal; War Medal; Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, GVI 1st type bust; (JX.130259 F.C. MILES P.O. H.M.S. ASBURY), mounted swing style as worn.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Together with the following original documentation and ephemera:
Admiralty letter notifying Miles of his award of the Distinguished Service Medal ‘for your outstanding skill and devotion to duty as Layer of the Director Control Tower of H.M.S. Argonaut during the brilliant action in the Mediterranean on the night of 1st/2nd December, 1942, when an escorted Italian Convoy was destroyed.’, dated 22 April 1943, and with typed details for: ‘Petty Officer Frederick Charles Miles, D.S.M., P/JX.130259.’ This with the remnants of the original envelope addressed to him aboard Argonaut.
Buckingham Palace forwarding slip for his award of the Distinguished Service Medal.
The original forwarding envelope for his Distinguished Service Medal, as sent to him from the Admiralty Honours and Awards Branch, dated 12 July 1948, and addressed to: ‘Petty Officer F.C. Miles D.S.M., P/JX.130259’, when serving with H.M.S. Excellent, Portsmouth.
Royal Navy Parchment Certificate of Service, issued to: Frederick Charles Miles, covering his service between June 1927 and September 1951.
Wartime period Royal Navy Gunnery Branch wire bullion and cloth sleeve insignia for a Captain of Turret.
Wartime photograph of the cruiser H.M.S Argonaut at sea.
Wartime group photograph of the crew of the H.M.S Argonaut in 1943, showing all the crew posing around her two forward guns. This image now damaged, with some conferrable creasing and loss.
Wartime photograph of the recipient and a sailor, the recipient in the background wearing his Petty Officer’s cap, and believed taken when in the Director Control Tower of H.M.S. Argonaut, in which position he was when he earned his Distinguished Service Medal.
Photograph of the recipient, believed taken pre-war, with his wife and two young daughters.
4 x group photographs relating to the recipients service, one being inscribed on the back and sent home as a photo card.
Frederick Charles Miles was born on 17 March 1911 in Stansted, Essex, and having worked as a messenger, then joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class (Portsmouth No.JX.130259) with Ganges on 21 June 1927, being rated as a Boy 1st Class on 19 February 1928, and was aboard the battleship Emperor of India as part of the Third Battle Squadron in the Atlantic between May and December 1928.
Miles then saw service aboard the battlecruiser Renown from January to May 1929, during which period he was rated as an Ordinary Seaman on 17 March 1929, she being the flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron in the Atlantic. Aboard the light cruiser Champion from June to September 1929, he then saw service with the battleship Nelson from September 1929 to March 1930 when he joined the battleship Revenge, seeing service with her between March 1930 and June 1931 when in the Mediterranean, being rated as an Able Seaman on 17 September 1930. Miles was now serving in the Gunnery Branch.
Aboard the battleship Nelson again between September 1932 and January 1935, she being the flagship of the Home Fleet. He next saw service afloat aboard the destroyer flotilla leader Grenville from July 1936 through to July 1938, during which period he saw service in the Mediterranean when operating out of Malta between August 1936 and May 1938, when she was the flagship of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla and spent ten months deployed off the Spanish coast in the Western Mediterranean during the Spanish Civil War. He was aboard her when rated as an Acting Leading Seaman on 22 May 1937 and then confirmed as a Leading Seaman on 22 May 1938.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Miles was stationed with Cochrane, the Rosyth naval base, and was aboard the destroyer depot ship Greenwich, where he remained until September 1940 when posted back to Victory. Whilst with her he was rated as a Leading Seaman on 30 July 1939, and appointed to Acting Petty Officer on 1 April 1940. From 21 September 1940 he was with the gunnery establishment Excellent at Portsmouth, and was there when promoted to Petty Officer on 1 April 1941.
Miles was posted to Victory III for service aboard the destroyer Quentin from 4 February 1942 until posted back to Victory on 5 June 1942. At this time she was working up awaiting her first commissioning, she being commissioned on 15 April, and then employed on convoy protection duty. Miles was posted from Victory to Excellent on 20 June 1942, and then joined the Liverpool naval base Eaglet for service aboard the light cruiser Argonaut from 4 July 1942, she being then in the process of being readied for her first commission. Argonaut was commissioned on 8 August 1942, and immediately assigned to the Mediterranean. Miles would remain with Argonaut through to July 1943.
During October and November 1942, Argonaut served as part of Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa. The cruiser formed part of Force H, based in Gibraltar and commanded by Vice Admiral Sir E.N. Syfret. It was charged with guarding the landings against possible attack from Italian or Vichy French naval forces. HMS Argonaut, in particular, was dispatched on a diversionary mission into the Mediterranean. In December 1942, Argonaut joined the newly formed Force Q, commanded by Rear Admiral Cecil Harcourt, with the mission of disrupting German–Italian convoys on the Tunisian coast. In addition to Argonaut, Force Q included the cruisers Aurora and Sirius, and the destroyers Quentin and HMAS Quiberon.
Soon after the beginning of Operation Torch, the Allied commanders began to make arrangements to intensify the offensive against the Axis supply route from Italy to Tunis and Bizerta in Tunisia. On 30 November, once Allied fighter cover could give sufficient protection, Force Q was based at Bone, a port on the north-east Algerian coast, not far from the Tunisian border.
On 1 December, Argonaut and the other ships in Force Q took part in the Battle of Skerki Bank – attacking and largely destroying an Italian convoy. It was for this action that Miles was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.
Convoy H comprised the German transport KT-1 (850 GRT), Aventino (3,794 GRT), Puccini (2,422 GRT) and the converted ferry Aspromonte (976 GRT). The ships were carrying reinforcements to Africa, which included 1,766 troops, 698 long tons (709 t) of cargo (mainly ammunition), four tanks, 32 other vehicles and twelve artillery pieces. The escort was commanded by Captain Aldo Cocchia in the destroyer Nicoloso da Recco (flagship) with Camicia Nera and Folgore, together with the torpedo boats Clio and Procione.
On 1 December, Force Q sailed to attack Axis shipping on the convoy route from Trapani in Sicily to Tunis. Four convoys were at sea, comprising thirteen merchantmen escorted by seven destroyers and twelve torpedo boats. Three convoys were ordered to return after being spotted by British reconnaissance aircraft but Convoy H continued towards Tunis. The convoy was overflown by aircraft during the night of 1/2 December and flares marked the course of the ships; at 00:30 Force Q picked up the Italian ships on radar, 60 nautical miles north-east of Bizerta. Cocchia sent Procione ahead to sweep for mines. Supermarina had emphasised the importance of the convoy keeping in close formation but realising that hostile ships were in the area, Cocchia ordered the convoy to make a 90° turn south south-east at 00:01. At 00:17 Cocchia ordered a turn to west south-west; the convoy should have doglegged 3 nautical miles to the south, which was close as was prudent to unmarked minefields. The convoy lost formation because Puccini missed the turn order and rammed Aspromonte; KT 1, which had no wireless, failed to follow Puccini and strayed to the north-west.
At 00:27, Force Q, sailing at 20 knots, reached the convoy. De Recco was on a west south-west course, ahead of Aventino, Clio and Aspromonte. Puccini and Folgore were side by side, 6,000 yards behind De Recco, heading south south-west; Camicia Nera was 3,000 yards to the north of Puccini and Procione was minesweeping 6,000 yards south of De Recco, all heading west south-west. Force Q approached with Aurora leading, followed by Sirius, Argonaut, Quiberon and Quentin; at 00:38, 1,800 yards distant, the leading ships fired on KT 1 which exploded. Argonaut and Quiberon opened fire on Procione (or De Recco) as Cocchia ordered the escorts to attack. Force Q went around the hulk of KT 1 and Argonaut fired and launched a torpedo at KT 1, then at 00:39 Argonaut sailed to the north-east to what turned out to be a false contact. After a couple of minutes, Argonaut fired at Camicia Nera as it advanced to the attack, Aurora also firing at the destroyer, under the impression that it was a merchant ship. Camicia Nera turned and launched six torpedoes in two minutes from 00:43 at 2,200 yards range then turned north, amidst shell splashes. Aspromonte was 900 yards to the left of Aurora and Aventino 4,000 yards away. Argonaut was also preparing to fire on Aventino as Sirius fired on Folgore and Clio.
Folgore had attacked before receiving Cocchia's order and at 00:47 fired three torpedoes to port at Aurora, at a range underestimated at 1,500 yards and turned away. Sirius caught a freighter in one of its searchlights and at 00:50 Folgore turned tightly to port and fired its last three torpedoes at the searchlight; the torpedoes missed but two hits were claimed by mistake. Folgore made to the south-west at 27 knots but at 00:52 it was hit by nine shells from Argonaut causing severe flooding and a large fire. Folgore listed by 20° and capsized at 01:16. When the British attack began, Procione tangled its paravane and failed to sight Sirius until it had closed to 2,000 yards on the starboard side and opened fire at 00:53. The shells killed the forward gun crew and the captain took evasive action then headed towards the south-west. Clio began to make smoke, firing at searchlights and gun flashes; De Recco tried to make a torpedo attack.
At 00:55 Quiberon broke formation to attack Clio, was bracketed by return fire. Sirius and Argonaut were firing on Puccini and at 00:58, Argonaut fired a torpedo at Puccini then one to port soon after at Aventino which was on fire. At 01:12 Sirius also launched a torpedo at Aventino which exploded and sank. At 01:16 Quiberon sailed through water full of survivors and attacked Puccini and at 01:12 Quentin followed Quiberon, both destroyers setting Puccini on fire; Aurora was engaging Aspromonte from 8,000 yards which began to sink; the British cruisers changed target to Clio but after five minutes Clio escaped without damage. De Recco had got within 4,500 yards of Force Q by 01:30 and launched torpedoes which missed; shell hits from Sirius, Quiberon and Quentin killed 118 members of the crew and left De Recco stopped in the water, eventually to be towed to port by Pigafetta. The British ships completed their circuit around the Italian ships and set course for Bône. Force Q was attacked by Luftwaffe torpedo bombers at 06:30 on 3 December, sinking Quentin with one torpedo and damaging Quiberon.
In 1966 the British official historians wrote that Force Q has a "spectacular success"; in an hour, Force Q had sunk 7,800 long tons of shipping during a "one-sided engagement" for no damage. Just after dawn, as Force Q was on the return journey to Bône, Quentin was sunk by a torpedo bomber. In 2009, Vincent O’Hara wrote that the battle was a serious Italian defeat, in which a large escort force had failed to prevent the four supply ships from being sunk. The minor damage inflicted by the Italian ships on their opponents stood in stark contrast, despite the convoy escorts managing launch so many torpedoes at such close range. The convoy had been attacked while disorganised and could not achieve a co-ordinated reply. After more than two years of war, the Regia Marina was still incapable of accurately aiming torpedoes at night, partly because Supermarina accepted claims of torpedo hits uncritically, which obscured the significance of the failing.
Of the four freighters of Convoy H, three were sunk and one scuttled; the escort Folgore was also sunk. Two hundred members of the merchant and Regia Marina crews and 1,527 troops, embarked on Aventino and Puccini were killed. The crew of Folgore suffered 126 casualties, Nicoloso da Recco 118, Aspromonte 39, Procione three. The British ships had minor splinter damage but lost Quentin to a torpedo bomber on the return journey to Bône, with the loss of 20 men.
Miles’ award of the Distinguished Service Medal was notified to him by the Admiralty in a letter on 22 April 1943, the letter reading ‘for your outstanding skill and devotion to duty as Layer of the Director Control Tower of H.M.S. Argonaut during the brilliant action in the Mediterranean on the night of 1st/2nd December, 1942, when an escorted Italian Convoy was destroyed.’ His award was published in the London Gazette for 6 April 1943, and was subsequently posted to him in July 1948.
On 14 December 1942, Argonaut was heavily damaged when the Italian submarine Lazzaro Mocenigo struck the cruiser with two torpedoes from a spread of four, causing serious damage. The bow and stern sections of the cruiser were effectively blown off and the steering wrecked. Though only three crew members were killed, the damage was so severe that German authorities mistakenly believed the Argonaut had been sunk. The ship was patched up and limped to Algiers for more temporary repairs. It then sailed for the United States, where it underwent a seven-month reconstruction, completed in November 1943.
Miles had sailed across the Atlantic with the damaged Argonaut, and was posted off her to United States based Royal Navy base Saker on 26 July 1943, before being posted there to Asbury, the RN Barracks and Accounting Base at Asbury Park, New Jersey from 11 November 1943, and was there when he qualified for the award of the Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, though it would not be presented to him until 16 June 1945.
Posted back to Saker from 1 March 1944, he then transferred to the books of Ferret, the shore establishment and naval base of the Royal Navy at Derry in Northern Ireland on joining the frigate Ferret on 3 November 1944. This vessel was a part of the United States Lend Lease Scheme, and saw service on patrol and convoy escort duty. Posted back to Victory from 17 January 1945, Miles joined Excellent from 28 February 1945 and was with this establishment at Portsmouth at the end of the war.
He next saw service afloat aboard the battleship Howe from 13 August 1946 until July 1947, and saw service with the Home Fleet. Posted back to Excellent he then saw service with the training establishment Bruce between September 1947 and September 1948, after which he saw shore service at Portsmouth until pensioned from service on his being discharged ‘physically unfit’ on 26 September 1951. Confirmed as his full entitlement.
