The rare ship Great War Battle of Jutland night action of 31 May to 1 June 1916 Destroyer Casualty group awarded to Able Seaman M.J.E. Wassell, Royal Navy. From Limehouse and later Clapham, London, by the outbreak of the war he was aboard the destroyer Lizard, and as such, together with the First Destroyer Flotilla, fought on 28 August 1914 at the Battle of Heligoland Bight. Wassell had the great misfortune to transfer from Lizard directly to the destroyer Petard on 29 May 1916, this being a vessel of the 13th Destroyer Flotilla. Only two days later on 31 May, she was heavily involved in the Battle of Jutland. In the afternoon of 31 May, she became involved in the destroyer actions when the opposing sides attempted to torpedo each other, and the destroyers then fought a gun battle with each other. Petard fired a torpedo on a high speed setting at a group of four German destroyers, possibly achieving a hit from about 3,000 yards range, and a second at a slower speed against the German battlecruisers from a range of about 9,000 yards. She is credited with having caused severe damage to the Seydlitz. Petard then turned roughly parallel to the German battlecruisers but slightly converging, so as to get ahead of the column before once more turning towards the enemy to fire the remaining two torpedoes. These crossed the enemy line. She then picked up a single survivor from the Queen Mary, one of 20 in all from the 1,200 of this battleship which had blown up. As the night came on, there would be a series of battles between the Germans and the British light cruisers and destroyers, and owing to the darkness confusion reigned supreme, with neither side being exactly sure of who was who. As such Petard was one of 7 vessels from the 13th Flotilla to lose their leader and end up tagging onto the end of the combined 9th/10th Destroyer Flotillas led by Commander M. Goldsmith. Goldsmith was unaware of the extra seven ships that had joined him. Furthermore, he too failed to grasp that the large dark shapes in the darkness were enemies; instead of launching a torpedo attack on them, he led his flotilla to the south, out of their way. Goldsmith therefore led his flotilla across the head of the German battle line. However, he judged his course believing that he had only four destroyers behind him; in fact there were eleven and the rear of the line came very close to the German battleships. The last two ships were Petard and Turbulent. It was now a little after midnight and in the early hours of 1 June 1916. The Petard’s commanding officer details as follows: ‘We sighted a dark mass about five or six points on our starboard bow, steering south-east, about 600 yards away. On looking at her closely there could be no doubt at all what she was, as the angle we sighted her at, we could see clearly large crane derricks silhouetted against the sky, and only German ships have these fittings. At the same moment the German battleships switched on recognition lights, consisting of two red lights over a white one. As Petard had fired all her torpedoes in the day attack, there was nothing we could do but get away, so we increased to full speed and altered course about a point to port to clear the enemy’s stern. As soon as we had passed ahead of her, she switched her foremost group of headlights on to us, but they just missed our stern on being switched on, though they were trained round to the right directly and then illuminated us perfectly. Immediately afterwards we saw the flashes of the enemy’s secondary armament being fired, and on the bridge we felt the ship tremble slightly, and guessed we had been hit aft. They seemed to give us another salvo, and then the second ship in the line - we could now see four - also joined in. This second salvo struck us further forward in the ship, but luckily missed the bridge and the midship guns’ crews. At this moment the foremost group of German searchlights were switched off and trained around to port altogether on to the Turbulent, my next astern.’ The Petard crossed the German line 200 yards ahead of the Westfalen, but behind her, the Turbulent was in a hopeless position; at the last moment, to avoid being rammed, she turned to come alongside Westfalen and was blown out of the water. There were no survivors. By comparison, Petard got off quite lightly; she was struck by four 5.9 or 3.5-inch shells, and, the one on the port side of the quarter deck, disabled the crew of the after 4-inch gun. This caused casualties of nine killed and six wounded, with one of those killed being Wessell. His body was brought to shore and he is now buried in Edinburgh.
Group of 3: 1914-1915 Star; (SS.3281, M.J.E. WASSELL. A.B., R.N.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (SS.3281 M.J.E. WASSELL. A.B. R.N.), together with original ribbons and remnants of named card boxes of issue.
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine.
Martin James Edward Wassell was born on 11 March 1892 in Limehouse, London, the son of Walter and Catharine Wassel, his father being a publican. As of 1901 he was living in Clapham, and having worked as a gardener, then joined the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman (Chatham No.S.S.3281) with Pembroke I from 11 April 1910. He was rated as an Able Seaman whilst aboard the battleship Duncan on 22 December 1911 and with the outbreak of the Great War was with the destroyer depot ship Woolwich and aboard the destroyer Lizard, serving in the Seaman Gunnery Branch.
As such Wassel was there when Lizard was present with the First Destroyer Flotilla on 28 August 1914 at the Battle of Heligoland Bight, where the flotilla was led by the light cruiser Fearless. Wassel remained with Lizard until he had the misfortune to be transferred to another destroyer, Petard on 29 May 1916, this vessel being part of the 13th Destroyer Flotilla. Petard was one of ten destroyers of the 13th Destroyer Flotilla assigned to screen the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron, following the lead of light cruiser Champion at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May to 1 June 1916.
The first engagement of the battle was between a British force of six battlecruisers and four battleships and lighter vessels commanded by Admiral Beatty and a German squadron of five battlecruisers plus accompanying vessels commanded by Admiral Hipper. At 4.15pm on 31 May 1916, the opposing fleets sent their destroyers in to deliver a torpedo attack on the opposing line. Petard was one of eight destroyers of the 13th flotilla to respond, along with three destroyers of other formations. The opposing destroyers fought a gun battle in hopes of blunting the enemy's torpedo attack while striving to deliver their own. Petard fired a torpedo on a high speed setting at a group of four German destroyers, possibly achieving a hit from about 3,000 yards range, and a second at a slower speed against the German battlecruisers from a range of about 9,000 yards. Petard then turned roughly parallel to the German battlecruisers but slightly converging, so as to get ahead of the column before once more turning towards the enemy to fire the remaining two torpedoes. Petard reported that her torpedoes must have crossed the enemy line, but did not claim a hit.
Turning back towards the British ships, Petard passed Nestor, which was also returning but at reduced speed because of damage. It now became apparent that further German ships were approaching, which proved to be the main German High Seas Fleet. Proceeding, Petard approached an oil slick where Laurel was picking up survivors from the battlecruiser Queen Mary, sunk by German gunfire, and picked up one man. Approximately 20 survivors in total were rescued from the 1200 man crew. Petard then returned to her station at the head of the battlecruiser line.
As the night came on, there would be a series of battles between the Germans and the British light cruisers and destroyers. To the east. Captain Fairie commanding the 13th Destroyer Flotilla, heard and saw heavy firing and steered away. His reasoning was that there were friendly forces between himself and the enemy, he was unable to attack. However, he did not signal to his flotilla and only two of them observed his turn to the east and followed; Petard, together with five of the destroyers and another stray from the 4th Destroyer Flotilla then attached themselves to the rear of the combined 9th/10th Destroyer Flotillas led by Commander M. Goldsmith. However, Goldsmith was unaware of the extra seven ships that had joined him. Furthermore, he too failed to grasp that the large dark shapes in the darkness were enemies; instead of launching a torpedo attack on them, he led his flotilla to the south, out of their way. Goldsmith therefore led his flotilla across the head of the German battle line. However, he judged his course believing that he had only four destroyers behind him; in fact there were eleven and the rear of the line came very close to the German battleships. The last two ships were Petard and Turbulent. It was now a little after midnight and in the early hours of 1 June 1916.
The Petard’s commanding officer details as follows: ‘We sighted a dark mass about five or six points on our starboard bow, steering south-east, about 600 yards away. On looking at her closely there could be no doubt at all what she was, as the angle we sighted her at, we could see clearly large crane derricks silhouetted against the sky, and only German ships have these fittings. At the same moment the German battleships switched on recognition lights, consisting of two red lights over a white one. As Petard had fired all her torpedoes in the day attack, there was nothing we could do but get away, so we increased to full speed and altered course about a point to port to clear the enemy’s stern. As soon as we had passed ahead of her, she switched her foremost group of headlights on to us, but they just missed our stern on being switched on, though they were trained round to the right directly and then illuminated us perfectly. Immediately afterwards we saw the flashes of the enemy’s secondary armament being fired, and on the bridge we felt the ship tremble slightly, and guessed we had been hit aft. They seemed to give us another salvo, and then the second ship in the line - we could now see four - also joined in. This second salvo struck us further forward in the ship, but luckily missed the bridge and the midship guns’ crews. At this moment the foremost group of German searchlights were switched off and trained around to port altogether on to the Turbulent, my next astern.’
The Petard crossed the German line 200 yards ahead of the Westfalen, but behind her, the Turbulent was in a hopeless position; at the last moment, to avoid being rammed, she turned to come alongside Westfalen and was blown out of the water. There were no survivors. By comparison, Petard got off quite lightly; she was struck by four 5.9 or 3.5-inch shells, as follows: (1) port side of quarter deck, disabled crew of after 4-inch gun, (2) struck ship’s side aft and wrecked cabins, (3) struck upper deck over No.2 boiler room, entered stoke-hold and caused a considerable oil-fire, (4) burst just short of the ship in line with the first two funnels and showered splinters over this area. The first hit caused casualties of nine killed and six wounded, with one of those killed being Wessell.
Petard returned to port in company with Nestor. At 15.30 hours on 1 June a U-boat attempted to torpedo her off Berwick but she evaded the torpedo and reached port safely. Wassel’s body was brought back to shore, and now lies buried in Queensferry Cemetery near to Edinburgh. Despite his being killed in the early hours of 1 June, he is nevertheless shown on his services records and on his headstone as killed on 31 May 1916, the date given for Battle of Jutland casualties.
