Two Win V.Cs. In Gamble With Death

Northern Advocate, 11 June 1942, Page 3

Two Win V.Cs. In Gamble With Death

LONDON, June 10.

Two young men, Lieutenant Peter Scawen Roberts, aged 25, and PettyOfficer Thomas William Gould, aged 38, have been awarded the V.C. for conspicuous gallantry on His Majesty’s Thrasher, which is one of Britain’s latest and best submarines, of which constructional details are still secret. In cold blood, and in pitch darkness and a tumbling sea, they gambled with death for 50 minutes and saved their ship and shipmates. The citation states that on February 16, in daylight, the Thrasher attacked and sank a heavily-escorted supplyship. She was immediately attacked with depth charges and bombed from the air. The presence of two unexploded bombs in the gun casing was discovered when, after dark, she surfaced and began to roll. Bomb Bumped in Dark

Lieutenant Roberts dnd Petty-Officer Gould volunteered to remove the bombs, which were of a type unknown to them.

The danger of dealing with the second bomb was very great. To reach it they had to go through a casing which was so low that they had to lie full length. To move the bomb through this narrow space in the complete darkness they pushed and dragged the bomb 20 feet until it could be lowered over the side. Every time the bomb moved therd was a loud twanging noise, like a broken spring, which added nothing to their peace of mind.

Their deed was the more gallant because the Thrasher's presence was known to the enemy. She was close to the enemy coast, and in waters where patrols were known to be active day and night. The Thrasher might have had to crash-dive while they were in the casing. Had this happened they must have been drowned. A submarine’s casing is the structure built on top of the hull to form a fiat deck for gun-crews. The whole of this superstructure fills with water when the submarine submerges.