The rare Great War Dardanelles veteran’s Naval General Service Medal 1915-1962, GVR, 1 Clasp: Iraq 1919-1920 awarded to Able Seaman C.E. Smith, Royal Navy who having served aboard H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth including during the Dardanelles Campaign in the spring of 1915. He would later serve aboard H.M.S. Espiegle from 11th March until 4th September 1921 and is confirmed on the Medal Roll as being lent from HMS Espiegle to the river craft Tug 1 from 11th August to 8th September 1920. The recipients of the rare clasp Iraq 1919-1920 came from the crew of H.M. Ships Clio, Espiegle and Triad who served in the River Gun Boats within the borders of Iraq between 1st July and 17th November 1920. A total of 122 clasps were issued.
Naval General Service Medal 1915-1962, GVR, 1 Clasp: Iraq 1919-1920; (J.26383 C.E. SMITH. A.B. R.N.)
Condition: light contact marks, Good Very Fine
Charles Edward Smith was born at Winchester on 12th November 1896 at Winchester, by 1901 he was living with his father, Charles Smith, a railway porter, and Mother Edith born on the Isle of Wight.
He would join the Navy and was posted to H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth from 22nd December 1914 until 27th April 1916
After the ships of the British and French fleets had shelled the outer forts of the Gallipoli peninsula on 3 November 1914, it was decided to launch a complete amphibious operation in January 1915. Therefore, the Admiralty ordered a convoy of eight ships – including Queen Elizabeth – to the Dardanelles. She was scheduled to reach the Dardanelles on 15 February. But due to an accident off Gibraltar on 12 February, in which she had torn off the blades of one of her turbines and was thus no longer able to travel at more than half speed, her arrival was postponed to 25 February. Upon their arrival on 25 February, Queen Elizabeth, together with Agamemnon, Irresistible and Gaulois, launched a new attack with the aim of destroying the outer forts at close range and all the way to the entrance. Since the attack on 19 February had shown how little hope there was of permanently disabling a battery by the mere firing of shells, the order for the attacking ships was to destroy every single gun by a direct hit. The general plan was for four ships to sail in groups of two to the entrance of the strait, turn around and then attack Cape Helles and Kum Kale with their secondary armament until they reached a distance of about 3,300 yards. In pursuance of these orders, Queen Elizabeth anchored 7 miles southwest of the Cape Helles lighthouse, set her sights on Sedd el Bahr and took out the two modern 23 cm guns there. During the first week of March, several bombardments of the inner forts proved fruitless. On 5 March, Queen Elizabeth fired for four hours from a distance of 13 kilometers at the forts on the European side of the strait, but with almost no effect. The next day she fired on Chemenlik, but the Ottomans had moved unnoticed the old pre-dreadnought Hairredin Barbarossa into the strait at Chanak, from where it could fire on Queen Elizabeth. The first shells were ignored thinking they were coming from a mobile field howitzer, but to be safe they moved 1 km away from this position. When the Ottoman ship's observation post on the coast was discovered, Queen Elizabeth, Agamemmnon and Ocean fired at it with several salvos, but the Ottomans quickly moved to a new position, so Hairredin Barbarossa fired again at Queen Elizabeth, finally hitting her three times below the waterline. However, the shells could not penetrate the battleship's belt armor. In order to avoid further damage, the ship withdrew from this position.
The event that decided the battle took place on the night of 18 March, when the Ottoman minelayer Nusret laid a series of mines across the head of Eren Köy Bay, a wide bay along the Asiatic coast right at the entrance to the strait, in front of the Kephez minefield. The Ottomans had noticed that the British ships were turning to starboard as they retreated into the bay. The new line of 20 mines ran parallel to the shore, anchored at a height of fifteen metres and spaced about 91 metres apart. Because of the clear water, the mines could be seen through the water by reconnaissance aircraft. The British plan for 18 March was to take out the defences of the first five minefields, which were to be cleared overnight. The next day, the remaining defences around the Narrows were to be overcome and the last five minefields removed. The operation continued without the British and French knowing of the recent additions to the Ottoman minefields. The battleships were deployed in three lines, two British and one French, with support ships on the flanks and two ships in reserve. After Queen Elizabeth had slowly entered the strait under constant fire, she reached her attack position at around 11:00 and opened fire on the fortifications at Çanakkale at 11:25. At first, the attack seemed to go according to plan, but after several ships hit the mines laid earlier in the afternoon, it was decided to withdraw as darkness fell. Queen Elizabeth took part in further naval operations with heavy losses until the beginning of May. But after several battleships were sunk in May, the Admiralty decided to cease constant battleship support. Thus, on 12 May, Queen Elizabeth left the Dardanelles and returned home. She then proceeded to Gibraltar and on to Scapa Flow, where she joined the 5th Battle Squadron on 26 May 1916.
He would then serve aboard Vindictive from 27th September 1916 until 12th December 1917 which would see the ship serve in the White Sea off Northern Russia.
Finally he would serve aboard H.M.S. Espiegle from 11th March until 4th September 1921 and is confirmed on the Medal Roll as being lent from HMS Espiegle to the river craft Tug 1 from 11th August to 8th September 1920. The recipients of the rare clasp Iraq 1919-1920 came from the crew of H.M. Ships Clio, Espiegle and Triad who served in the River Gun Boats within the borders of Iraq between 1st July and 17th November 1920. A total of 122 clasps were issued.
Smith joined the Royal Fleet Reserve on 12th November 1926.
