Victory Medal awarded to Stoker 1st Class A.C. Johnson, Royal Navy who saw service aboard H.M.S. Achilles from February 1917 including alongside the armed boarding steamer Dundee during the action against the German auxiliary cruiser Leopard off of the Shetland Islands on 16th March 1917.
Victory Medal; (K.36100 A.C. JOHNSON. STO.1 R.N.)
Condition: Very Fine
Albert Charles Johnson was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 5th July 1881 and joined the Royal Navy for the duration of hostilities as of 1st September 1916, after initial service ashore he would serve aboard H.M.S. Achilles as a Stoker 2nd Class and later Stoker 1st Class from 10th February 1917 until 28th February 1919 when he was demobilised ashore.
On 16 March 1917, Achilles and the armed boarding steamer Dundee were patrolling north of the Shetland Islands when they encountered the disguised German auxiliary cruiser Leopard. The latter ship heaved to when commanded, but manoeuvred to prevent Dundee from boarding her and then fired two torpedoes which missed. Dundee retaliated by raking Leopard's stern, badly damaging the German ship and then Achilles opened fire herself. The German ship sank an hour later with no survivors. Achilles was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station in August 1917 for convoy escort duties,] but returned to Britain for a refit between February and December 1918.
