The outstanding and rare Second World War ‘Operation Aerial - the withdrawal of allied troops from Western France’ action with an enemy submarine 21 June 1940 Distinguished Service Order, Great War Indian Ocean, East Africa, Suez Canal and Dardanelles Egyptian Order of the Nile, November 1942 North African landings Mention in Despatches and 1920 Occupation Forces in Germany Royal Humane Society Medal in Bronze group awarded to Captain R.L. Hamer, D.S.O., Royal Navy. Hamer had a predominantly distinguished naval career between 1898 and 1945. He was the Flag Lieutenant-Commander aboard the battleship Swiftsure under Rear Admiral C. H. Pierce during the operations in the Persian Gulf and then the opening years of the First World War, during which period he married the daughter of Admiral Pierce. He was awarded the Order of the Nile 4th Class by the Kingdom of Egypt in October 1918, having ended under in command of destroyers. He was in command of the destroyer Stonehenge when he was awarded his Royal Humane Society Medal in Bronze whilst stationed at Flensburg on 12 May 1920, when he saved a man from drowning. From 1925 he was on the Staff of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and was appointed Deputy Chief Inspector, R.N.L.I. in 1930. With the Second World War he returned to active service, and found himself attached to the 88th Anti-Submarine Group and in command of H.M. Armed Yacht Viva II. The 88th Anti-Submarine Group formed part of Western Approaches Command, Liverpool Sub Command at Birkenhead under Commander H. S. M. Herbert. Viva II was involved in Operation Aerial, the withdrawal of allied troops from Western France. During this operation Viva II’s role was to patrol down the coast and find which towns had troops to evacuate and which were in Enemy Hands. She had a submarine contact on 21 June 1940 and, doubtless mindful of the number of troop ships operating in the area, Viva II attacked. Several awards were made to the ship for this attack on the U-boat with Captain Hamer receiving the Distinguished Service Order, as gazetted on 3 December 1940, ‘for courage and resource in successful attacks on Enemy Submarines’. He had command of the Landing Ship Headquarters H.M.S. Bulolo, a central communications ship designed to to assist in amphibious landings that operated under Combined Operations Headquarters, and for this role was awarded a Mention in Despatches for Operation Torch, the allied landings in North Africa in November 1942, but was subsequently the subject of a Court Martial and found guilty of hazarding his ship when entering Algiers Harbour. For these operations, Bulolo served as flagship of Admiral Sir Harold Burrough, destined for Oran and Algiers. Hamr’s passengers included high ranking officers from all three services, both British and American, including General Ryder and General Mark Clark. The voyage was uneventful at first, but after passing undetected through the strait of Gibraltar- enemy air attacks began interfering with the convoys progress. Nevertheless, landings were successfully achieved and in due time Bulolo was able to proceed, as planned, with imperial dignity, into Algiers harbour. Unfortunately, as Commander Anthony Kimmins reported in his BBC broadcast that night: ‘while approaching the harbour that morning, Bulolo had been heavily dive-bombed by Hun aircraft. A near miss had thrown the telegraph indicators from the bridge to the engine room out of action. As there had been no occasion to use the telegraph between then and coming into harbour there was no reason to suspect they had been damaged. Now, as the captain rang down ‘Stop-Half astern -Full astern’ the engineers below were blissfully unaware that they had been given any orders. Luckily a sandbank and some rafts broke the impact, but Bulolo hit the concrete jetty a tremendous crack before finally coming to rest. having visited Algiers a couple of times since then I can testify that the dent in the jetty wall is still there!’
Group of 12: Distinguished Service Order, D.S.O., GVI GRI 1st type cypher, reverse dated 1940, complete with top brooch bar; Naval General Service Medal 1909-1962, GVR Adm. bust, 1 Clasp: Persian Gulf 1909-1914; (LIEUT.-COMMR. R. L. HAMER. H.M.S. SWIFTSURE); 1914-1915 Star; (FLAG LT. COMMR. R.L. HAMER. R.N); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (COMMANDER R.L. HAMER.); 1939-1945 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star with North Africa 1942-43 Clasp; Italy Star; War Medal; Royal Humane Society Lifesaving Medal in Bronze for a Successful Act; (COMMR. R.L. HAMER. R.N. 14/9/1920); Egypt - Kingdom of: Order of the Nile, Officer 4th Class with Rosette on ribbon. These all housed in a fitted display frame.
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine.
Richard Lloyd Hamer was born on 13 January 1884 in Llanyblodwel, Shropshire, being educated at Stubbington House. He entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet with the Royal Navy Training Ship Britannia on 15 September 1898, and was appointed as a Midshipman on 15 July 1900, being then promoted to Sub-Lieutenant on 15 July 1903 when with the destroyer Myrmidon as part of the Mediterranean Fleet.
Hamer was still with Myrmidon when promoted to Lieutenant on 1 December 1905 and he then joined the company ofthe destroyer Cynthiathe next
year, and seeing further service in the Mediterranean. Going ashore in 1908 Hamer undertook several courses and special appointments, being promoted Lieutenant-Commander on 31 December 1911.
Hamer’s first independent command was the destroyerKestrelon 1 April 1913, a posting he occupied until 22 July 1913 when he found himself appointed as Flag Lieutenant-Commander aboard the battleship Swiftsure. His flag officer was Rear Admiral C. H. Pierce who was made Commander-in-Chief East Indies on the same day that Hamer took up his posting.
At the time of his appointment Rear-Admiral Pierse had a very small squadron, containingSwiftsure, the cruisersDartmouthandFoxand three sloops, one of which
had been detached to serve in the Persian Gulf while another been sent to Hong Kong to provide a crew for Triumph. As such Hamer saw service during the naval operations to obstruct the gun running in the Persian Gulf.
At the start of the First World War, when still the Flag Lieutenant-Commander to Admiral Pierce, Hamer had first to go to Singapore to defend against von Spee’s East Asian Squadron, but on 6 August he was ordered west to patrol the route from Colombo to Aden against a possible threat from the German raiderKonigsberg. The destruction of theEmdenand the inactivity of theKonigsbergfreed theSwiftsurefrom convoy escort duties, and in November she was posted to the Suez
Canal. However prior to his being posted there, Hamer married the daughter of Rear-Admiral Pierce, Blanch Carrina Feilden Pierce, at Bombay Cathedral on 14 November 1914.
The defence of the Suez Canal had been added to Admiral Pierse’s duties, and on 1 December he arrived at Port Said to raise his flag. With the Ottoman attack on the Suez Canal on 3-4 February 1915, Swiftsure was assigned at a station just north of Kantara. This area was the target of a subsidiary Turkish attack, which was soon repulsed with Swiftsure fired at the retreating Turks until 13:00 hours when they were finally out of range.
She was allocated to the fleet at the Dardanelles early in 1915- after theEuryalusarrived to take over as Pierse's flagship. Her first action here came on 2
March, when she entered the straits to attack the Turkish forts, later bothSwiftsureandTriumphwere detached to attack the forts defending the port of. The forts at Smyrna proved no more vulnerable to naval gunnery than those at the Dardanelles, but the Turks then sank block-ships in the harbour entrance. This did at least prevent its use as a submarines base for the Germans.
Swiftsureand theTriumphreturned to the Dardanelles to take part in the failed attempt to force the narrows on 18 March. During the Gallipoli landings on 25 AprilSwiftsurewas the flagship of Admiral Nicholson, covering the attacks at the tip of the peninsula. Her primary role was to bombard the Turkish positions around "W" beach. Hamer completed his time onSwiftsureon 31 December 1915, and then went to commandVividfrom 5 March 1916 to 8 September 1916 and then to the destroyerRowenafrom 13 September 1916.
Rowenawas an R Class destroyer and part of the Fifteenth Destroyer Flotilla. Having held command of her for two years Hamer was the subject of a Court of Enquiry into the collision ofRigorousandRowenain October 1918. He was informed by Admiral Beatty that ‘he hazarded the ships and that the method employed in
obtaining the mails was un-seamanlike’; and warned to ‘be more careful in the future’. This however was not to be the last time Hamer was accused of hazarding his ship.
For his distinguished services during the war, Hamer was awarded the Order of the Nile 4th Class by the Kingdom of Egypt, the award being published in the London Gazette for 29 October 1918.
Appointed to the command ofthe destroyer Tempeston 7 July 1919 andthe destroyer Stonehenge in August 1919, he was awarded his Royal Humane Society Medal in Bronze whilst with Stonehenge and stationed at Flensburg on 12 May 1920, when he saved a man from drowning.
Hamer relinquished command ofStonehengeon 2 February 1920 he took up the position of Naval Assistant Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence on 23
February. Hamer’s service record stating this being for Special Services inside the Admiralty (War Cabinet Secretariat). Leaving the position on 1 November 1921 he saw service withthe destroyers TorchandTuscanbefore being place on the retired list on 2 February 1923.
Having retired Hamer served on the Staff of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from 1925. Promoted to Captain (Retired List) on 13 January 1929, he was then appointed Deputy Chief Inspector, R.N.L.I. in 1930.
Hamer was recalled to active service at the outbreak of the Second World War, and found himself attached to the 88th Anti-Submarine Group and serving on H.M. Armed YachtViva II.
The 88th Anti-Submarine Group formed part of Western Approaches Command, Liverpool Sub Command at Birkenhead under Commander H. S. M. Herbert.Viva
IIwas involved in OperationAerial, the withdrawal of allied troops from Western France.
During this operationViva II’srole was to patrol down the coast and find which towns had troops to evacuate and which were in Enemy Hands. She had a submarine
contact on 21 June 1940 and, doubtless mindful of the number of troop ships operating in the area,Viva IIattacked. Several awards were made to the ship for
their attack on the U-boat with Captain Hamer receiving the Distinguished Service Order, this being announced in the London Gazette for 3 December 1940, the published general citation reading: ‘For courage and resource in successful attacks on Enemy Submarines’. Hamer’s award was subsequently presented to him in an investiture held on 22 September 1944.
The other awards for this acton and given to members of the crew of the Armed YachtViva II were a Distinguished Service Cross to Temporary Sub Lieutenant Henry Eric Butler; a Distinguished Service Medal to Able Seaman Frank Henry Talland Kimpton, and a Mention in Despatches to Able Seaman James George Tingley.
Hamer leftViva IIto take the command of the experimental Landing Ship Headquarters or L.S.H., H.M.S.Buloloin October 1940. The concept for a central
communications ship to assist in amphibious landings was taken up by Combined Operations Headquarters. Keen to try it Mountbatten cajoled the Ministry of War
Transport into providing him with a vessel to put the embryonic idea into practice.Bulolohad previously been an Australian Passenger ship of 6,400 tons, it was stripped of non-essential equipment and refitted with communications equipment and control room facilities. The work was completed in the summer of 1942 by which time the conversion of a second L.S.H. ship, H.M.S.Largs, was underway.
The following is an account by Edward (Ted) Pierce who served on HMSBulolo: ‘Having joined up in November 1941, drafted first to HMS Gelndower (Butlins Camp,
Pwllheli) and within a few weeks to HMS Valkyrie (Isle of Man), I was destined to become one of the early trainees in naval Radio Direction Finding (RDF), the term
Radar hadn’t come into use yet. Six weeks later, by now an Able Seaman RDF, I was drafted with instructions to join HMS Bulolo, at that time lying in Royal Albert Dock, London, undergoing a fundamental refit, transforming her from her former role as an armed merchant cruiser into what was to be the first ever Combined Ops HQ ship.’
Bulolo was ready for sea trials off the coast of Scotland by June 1941 during which time Mountbatten came to visit and inspect. Before long, signals personnel from
Army and Royal Air Force units joined the ship’s company and along with additional Naval officers and ratings. The R.D.F. ratings were responsible to a Canadian green-stripe sub-lieutenant and a leading seaman R.D.F. (Tom O’Carroll), drafted from a Flower Class corvette where he had earned himself a D.S.M. in recognition for detecting a U-Boat, leading to its sinking.
The coming months were spent in preparation for Operation Torch, the North African landings, where she served as flagship of Admiral Sir Harold Burrough, destined for Oran and Algiers. His passengers included high ranking officers from all three services, both British and American, including General Ryder and General Mark Clark.
The voyage was uneventful at first, until- soon after passing undetected through the strait of Gibraltar- enemy air attacks began interfering with the convoys progress. Nevertheless, landings were successfully achieved and in due timeBulolowas able to proceed, as planned, with imperial dignity, into Algiers harbour. Unfortunately, as Commander Anthony Kimmins reported in his BBC broadcast that night: ‘while approaching the harbour that morning, Bulolo had been heavily dive-bombed by Hun aircraft. A near miss had thrown the telegraph indicators from the bridge to the engine room out of action. As there had been no occasion to use the telegraph between then and coming into harbour there was no reason to suspect they had been damaged. Now, as the captain rang down ‘Stop-Half astern -Full astern’ the engineers below were blissfully unaware that they had been given any orders. Luckily a sandbank and some rafts broke the impact, but Bulolo hit the concrete jetty a tremendous crack before finally coming to rest. having visited Algiers a couple of times since then I can testify that the dent in the jetty wall is still there!
The following daysBulolowas the centre of activity for the initial political and military negotiations with the Vichy French authorities and of course the vital communications link with the American forces in Casablanca.
After four weeks alongside in Algiers she returned to the U.K. in time for Christmas leave. But her North African duty was not quite over yet. The Casablanca
conference, when Churchill and Roosevelt were to discuss plans for the next stage in the war, was scheduled for early January. Churchill knew that he would have
problems persuading Roosevelt and his staff to adopt his favoured approach for continuing the Mediterranean campaign, which he knew the Americans viewed as
simply delaying the main invasion of Europe. I quote from an account of these events by Rick Atkinson in his book An Army At Dawn, which states: ‘To help build his case, Churchill had ordered Bulolo to attend at Casablanca. With its war room full of planning studios bound in red leather dispatch folders, Bulolo symbolised the British empire’s formidable bureaucratic firepower.’
Here the British chiefs would lobby their American counterparts, all issues would be discussed fully, and the relentless British logic would win through. Those red leather folders would reveal ‘wondrously precise studies and statistics’ in support of Churchill’s strategic arguments.
Hamer was awarded a Mention in Despatches for his distinguished services during the ‘landings in North Africa’, the award being published in the London Gazette for 23 March 1943.
Hamer was however to face Court Martial on 10 September 1943 in respect to his having hazardedBulolo back in November 1942. ‘Two charges (a) Hazarding (b) Suffering HMS Bulolo bo be hazarded. Both charges were proved. Officer to be reprimanded.’ As a result of the Court Martial he was appointed to a land based command. Specifically, Naval Officer-in-ChargeThurso- H.M.S.Prosperine- on 7 March 1944 to July 1945.
Dispersed on 29 November 1945 he was released from the Fleet on 24 January 1946. The following day Hamer reverted to the Retired List, he died just six years later on the 16 December 1951, having latterly lived at Castellmoch, Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant,
Montgomery.
