COMMANDER HUGH CROFTON SIMMS, D.S.O., R.N.
Hugh Crofton Simms was born in Weymouth, near the Portland Naval Base, on September 13th 1906. His father was Captain Henry William Simms, R.N., a senior navigator in the Royal Navy who became the Harbourmaster of Chatham at the end of the decade and later of Dover during WW1 before retiring to Fareham near Portsmouth.
Hugh Simms joined the Navy aged 14 and passed out of Dartmouth in 1924 as a Midshipman and joined the WW1 Battleship HMS Warspite, before serving on HMS Ships Hawkins, Cornwall, Bluebell and Wild Swan before early in 1935 becoming the No 1 on HMS Eclipse. That June he met his future wife Joan at the Imperial hotel in Torquay after the E-Class Flotilla regatta, which Eclipse won in style and again in 1936 after much secret training. In 1937 he was appointed Captain of HMS Acheron and early in 1938 of HMS Windsor.
He became Captain of HMS Scout that September and on October 1st 1938 Scout sailed for Hong Kong via Suez, India, Ceylon and Singapore, finally arriving in December. Initially Scout laid mines to protect Asian ports and installations from possible German attacks after Chamberlain’s failed Munich talks. Once war was declared in 1939 as there were no German ships around for Scout to torpedo Simms was recalled home in February 1940 for some real action.
The Japarua, a new Havant Class destroyer, was commandeered from Brazil after WW2 broke out and renamed HMS Hurricane, under the command of (then) Lieut Cmdr Hugh Simms, R.N. She was christened by his wife in Barrow on June 12 1940 and joined the 9th Destroyer Flotilla in the Home Fleet and after very short sea trials she started escorting Atlantic convoys and on her first patrol rescued over 100 people from 5 merchant ships.
During 1940 many Allied ships were lost in the Atlantic whilst the U-Boats were in control, thus involving Hurricane in many rescues. On 17th September 1940 S.S.”City of Benares” was in convoy OB 213 carrying 90 children being evacuated to Canada by CORB in the government’s overseas evacuation scheme. That afternoon she was sighted by U-48, (Bleichrodt) which waited until darkness and at 2200 hrs before fired four torpedoes hitting the Benares which sank 25 minutes later followed by S.S. Marina.
Having steamed 301 miles overnight against mountainous seas Hurricane picked up 115 survivors from 11 of 12 Benares lifeboats and one from the Marina. Lifeboat No 12 sailed out of the search box and remained at sea for another week before being sighted by a Sunderland Catalina aircraft who radioed HMS Anthony (Lieutenant Commander N.J.V. Thew, RNZ) nearby and escorted her to the final rescue of 46 souls. In total 260 of the 407 people on board were lost, including the Master, the Commodore, three CORB staff, plus 121 crew and 134 passengers. Only 13 of the 90 CORB children survived..
On March 7th 1941 S.S. Terje Viken, in Convoy OB 293 near Iceland, survived two torpedoes from U-47 (Gunther Prien, the U-Boat ace) which was lost after this action. Later other pack members U-70 (Metz) and U-99 (Kretchmer) finished her off: the crew abandoned ship and over 100 were rescued later by Hurricane. After small incidents and rescues in March Hurricane was involved in her biggest rescue on April 29th, west of Ireland, of 470 servicemen and families from S.S. City of Nagpur, a Benares sistership, sunk 20 hours earlier by U-75 (Ringlemann). Thereafter the Hurricane was nicknamed “The Atlantic Lifeboat”.
Alas Hurricane was bombed in dock on her return to Liverpool so in June Simms took command of a Hunt Class destroyer, HMS Lamerton, with much of Hurricane’s crew On 24th October 1941 Lamerton picked up 7 survivors from S.S. Ariosto some 300 miles west of Gibraltar. The next day the Italian submarine Galileo Ferraris was damaged by a Catalina aircraft and unable to dive. The aircraft radioed the nearby convoy HG 73 and Lamerton rushed to the scene. After a 5 mile gun duel and zigzag chase the Ferraris was hit and scuttled 400 miles east of the Azores,and Lamerton picked up her 44 crew. In March 1942 Simms was awarded the D.S.O. for this action and was mentioned in dispatches.
On 8th January 1942 Simms took command of HMS Javelin, a J-Class destroyer, commanded in 1940 by Mountbatten, who managed to get 200 ft of her bow and stern blown off in his first real skirmish off Brest in November 1940. Javelin was duly towed very slowly back to Devonport for repairs. In January 1942 Javelin was listed to take part in landings on Madagascar.and late in March she joined Convoy WS 17 for passage to Freetown and thence on April 6th onwards to Durban to join the 14th Destroyer Flotilla for action in the Indian Ocean.
Late in April Javelin was prepared in Durban for action in “Operation ‘Ironclad” to capture Madagascar from the Vichy French to prevent the Japanese capturing it for an Indian Ocean base. On May 5th she took part in the attack on Diego Suarez entering the harbour alongside HMS Anthony (of ‘Benares’ missing lifeboat fame) to provide extra firepower until the town fell into Allied hands. Subsequently her Flotilla was detached for passage to Alexandria via Mombasa, Aden and the Suez Canal. Javelin had to turn round in the canal to help a ship in trouble; a very difficult manoeuvre in a narrow channel. She finally arrived on June 9 and joined the Fleet ready for action in eastern Mediterranean.
Four days later she sailed as part of “Operation Vigorous”, a convoy with a huge naval escort intended to relieve and resupply Malta. At the same time another huge convoy left Gibraltar, codenamed “Operation Harpoon”, but alas only two small merchant ships reached Malta from this convoy after huge losses to its naval escort.
Javelin’s convoy came under numerous Axis air attacks from Crete. and on June 15th the convoy was ordered to reverse course following reports by Allied aircraft of a likely threat of a serious attack by an Italian Navy Battle Squadron. Despite sustained air attacks the order was rescinded later and the convoy resumed its westward passage. Several naval ships were hit by bombs, including an Australian destroyer HMAS Nestor, which Javelin took in tow in a Force 8 gale. After much yawing and the tow breaking thrice Javelin was ordered to sink her so she came alongside and the crew jumped ship without losing a single man overboard before Javelin sank her.
Later due to heavy naval losses and use of ammunition and fuel Admiral Cunningham, the Commander-in-Chief in Alexandria abandoned the whole operation ordering the convoy to return to Alexandria. This failed operation was a great disappointment to Simms as was hellbent on the relief of Malta as he’d been there several times pre-war. On arrival in Alexandria Simms was summoned by the Convoy Commodore, (Rear Admiral Philip Vian, R.N.,) to his ship for a sherry or two to congratulate him on his herculean efforts to save HMAS Nestor. He learned of his late promotion to Commander on June 30th.
Javelin remained based in Alexandria all August but was involved in attacks on Tobruk and Mersa Matruk and also in the sinking of Simms’s third U-Boat. He was however most disappointed not to be in the famous and successful “Operation ‘Pedestal’ in its mid August relief of Malta. Javelin remained on station in September and made further attacks to soften up the enemy on Tobruk, Mersa Matruk and on Daba.
On 30 September 1942, Simms took command of HMS Snapdragon, a Flower Class Corvette, and of a flotilla of 8 small ships to open harbours and escort military convoys as the Eighth Army moved west following the Battle of Alamein on October 23rd. Snapdragon’s flotilla opened many harbours as Montgomery succeeded and eventually reached Benghazi. On December 19th Snapdragon was the last to leave Benghazi in the evening and was attacked at 2000 hrs by a lone Junkers-88 which dropped four bombs, the third one hitting the bridge. The ship sank in 4 minutes and the mast fell pinning Simms to the bridge and not releasing him until the he was well underwater. HMS Erica (Lieut. Adrian Seligman, RNR) rushed to the scene and over the next two hours picked up 64 survivors including Simms, who died ashore 2 days later of a crushed chest.
His last words to two crewmates either side of him in hospital were “Please tell the boys I’m sorry for getting you all into this mess, I should have turned to starboard.” and with that aged 36 he passed on to end a distinguished career fought to his very last gasp.
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