Victory Medal awarded to Able Seaman P.O.W.
Shingleston, Royal Navy.
A veteran of the Battle of the Falklands aboard
H.M.S. Carnarvon and the Battle of Jutland aboard H.M.S. Calliope.
Victory Medal awarded to Able Seaman P.O.W.
Shingleston, Royal Navy a veteran of the Battle of the Falklands aboard H.M.S.
Carnarvon and the Battle of Jutland aboard H.M.S. Calliope. Victory Medal;
(J.27384 P.O.W. SHINGLESTON. A.B. R.N.) Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine
Percival Dudley Wentworth Shingleston was born in Ramsgate, Kent and giving his
trade as General Worker joined the Royal Navy on 2nd September 1913. His
wartime service saw him aboard H.M.S. Carnarvon between 1st October 1914 and
2nd February 1915 including at the Battle of the Falklands. Upon arrival at
Port Stanley on 7 December, Sturdee informed his captains that he planned to
recoal the entire squadron the following day from the two available colliers
and to begin the search for the East Asia Squadron, believed to be running for
home around the tip of South America, the day after. Vice-Admiral Maximilian
von Spee, commander of the German squadron, had other plans and intended to
destroy the radio station at Port Stanley on the morning of 8 December. The
appearance of two German ships at 07:30 caught Sturdee's ships by surprise, but
the Germans were driven off by 12-inch (300 mm) shells fired by the
predreadnought battleship Canopus when they came within range around 09:20.
Carnarvon completed recoaling at 08:00 and the squadron cleared the harbour by
10:30. Sturdee ordered "general chase" at that time, but Carnarvon
could only manage 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) and fell behind the other British
ships. His two battlecruisers were the fastest ships present and inexorably
began to close on the German cruisers, opening fire at 12:55 that straddled the
light cruiser Leipzig, the rear ship in the German formation. It was clear to
Spee that his ships could not outrun the battlecruisers and that the only hope
for any of his ships to survive was to scatter. So he turned his two armoured
cruisers around to buy time by engaging the battlecruisers and ordered his
three light cruisers to disperse at 13:20. Carnarvon, now 10 nautical miles (19
km; 12 mi) behind, had no hope of catching the scattering German ships and
continued to trail the battlecruisers. Carnarvon finally came within range of
the German armoured cruisers and opened fire shortly before Scharnhorst rolled
over and capsized at 16:17. She then engaged Gneisenau until Sturdee ordered
"cease fire" at 17:50. The German captain had started to scuttle his
ship 10 minutes earlier when it was clear that the situation was hopeless and
his ship sank at 18:00. Carnarvon rescued 20 survivors from Gneisenau, but only
wreckage was visible when she later steamed through the area where Scharnhorst
had sunk. After the battle she participated in the hunt for the light cruiser
Dresden that had escaped during the battle and investigated anchorages in
Argentina, Chile and the island of South Georgia before proceeding north to
Brazil in February. He would later serve aboard H.M.S. Calliope from 4th May
1915 until 20th December 1916 .Calliope was badly damaged by a fuel oil fire in
her boiler room while at sea on 19 March 1916, but was repaired in time to be
one of the five ships in the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron at the Battle of
Jutland on 31 May-1 June 1916. Under the command of Commodore Charles E. Le
Mesurier , HMS Calliope received a number of hits just before nightfall on 31
May (notably by the German battleships Kaiser and Markgraf), and 10 of her crew
were killed. Shingleston would also see service aboard HMS Chester from 2nd
January 1917 until 23rd April 1918 but saw little action during this time. He
would finally be sent ashore and demobilised on 5th November 1919.
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine