Commander Jake Wright RIP

Kyt · May 26, 2008

Commander Jake Wright - Telegraph

Commander Jake Wright, who died on May 10 aged 92, was a courageous and successful commander in the Battle of the Narrow Seas.

Wright's war was fought in fast motorboats in the Narrow Seas of the English Channel and the southern North Sea. He was first blooded when, as first lieutenant of MTB 32, his patrol sank two armed trawlers off Calais on October 11 1940.

Then, on the night of December 17/18, when patrolling silently through the mist off the River Scheldt, Wright had just told his commanding officer, "Any closer and we'll be in the Grand Hotel at Flushing", when the 6,300-ton freighter Birkenfels appeared out of the gloom. She was promptly torpedoed.

Wright quickly rose to command his own boats, and after a year in MTB 331 and in his old boat, MTB 32, he was awarded, in September 1942, his first DSC for enterprise and coolness in action against enemy E-boats.

On March 15/16 1943, on his first sortie as senior officer, 22nd MTB Flotilla, Wright scored a notable success off the Dutch coast. Employing a tactic which would become his trademark, he stalked an enemy convoy at low speed in order to avoid showing any bow wave. Patiently, he took an hour and a half to creep up on the convoy from the port quarter, moving across its wake and up on its starboard side so as to take advantage of the light of the moon.

Then, from close range, Wright launched a sudden torpedo attack on three merchant ships and a destroyer, hitting two of them. For this "thoroughly satisfying little engagement" Wright was awarded, in the New Year's Honours of 1944, a Bar to his DSC.

Throughout July 1944 Wright fought a series of successful actions. On the night of July 3/4 he torpedoed a minesweeper; and on July 13/14 1944 he fought a battle with three German patrol boats off Ijmuiden, sinking one of them. He was awarded a second Bar to his DSC for outstanding courage, skill and determination.

So far Wright's war had been fought in "short" motorboats, which were armed either with guns or torpedoes. But in August 1944 he was given command of a flotilla of five improved Fairmile D-class boats known as "Dog Boats". These were fitted with the latest improvements, including both guns and torpedoes, as well as bridge armour and radar. The Dog Boats were, however, still made of plywood and carried several thousand gallons of fuel, and were thus fragile and vulnerable in action.

In August 1944 Wright was commanding officer of MTB 687 and senior officer of the 58th MTB Flotilla, and by now one of the most experienced of all coastal forces commanders. While leading a patrol across the North Sea, north of Walcheren he detected a heavily-escorted enemy convoy and stalked it for an hour. Approaching silently until he was at 1,000 yards range, he ordered full power and launched a devastating attack with guns and torpedoes, sinking or hitting four of the enemy ships.

Wright was mentioned in dispatches in November 1944 for his outstanding courage, resolution and skill in many successful engagements with the enemy. It was said that with Wright at the helm his crew would come back alive, and consequently men were keen to serve in his boat and his flotilla.

On May 13 1945, accompanied by his fellow MTB captains (including the future naturalist and broadcaster Lt-Cdr Peter Scott), Wright rendezvoused at the South Falls buoy at the entrance to the Thames with two surrendered German E-boats which had come to hand over charts of German minefields and wore flags of surrender.

Wright boarded the boat carrying Admiral Karl Brauning and, for last 50 miles to Felixstowe, he had the opportunity to compare the seakeeping qualities of the different boats. In the British boats – which were susceptible to wash over the bows – the crew wore oilskins; the German boats were drier, and Admiral Brauning wore his smart leather overcoat. But Wright also noted that the E-boats rolled more, making them poor gun platforms.

Derek George Harbroe Wright, known to his naval friends as Jake, was born at Mortlake on September 29 1915 and educated at Framlingham College. He hated his schooldays and in later life never referred to them. He joined Brooke Bond in 1932, intending to learn the tea trade before joining his mother's family's company, SAP Smith (Tea Brokers).

His family lived at Teddington and owned various sailing vessels on the Thames and on the south coast. Wright volunteered for the RNVR in 1937, served in a tug at Dunkirk, and in July 1940 was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant at the training establishment HMS King Alfred at Hove marina.

After the war Wright re-joined Brooke Bond, which put him on a troopship to Calcutta and on to Ceylon, where he was to become senior tea buyer. His sojourn in the Indian subcontinent lasted 15 years, by the end of which he had built the company into Ceylon's premier exporter and had opened Trincomalee, in the north of the island far from the politically turbulent capital, as a tea-shipping port. By 1962 Sri Lanka (as Ceylon had become) exported nearly one-third of the world's tea.

Wright returned to England in 1963 to join the board and to direct Brooke Bond's global tea-buying and planting responsibilities. He developed tea-growing in East Africa and began to develop instant tea as a commercial product.

He also represented the tea trade to governmental organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the International Standards Organisation, and the British Standards Institute. By 1971 he had been president of the Tea Buyers' Association, and chairman of the Tea Trade Committee and of the Annual Tea Trade Dinner. He founded the Tea Trade Council and was its chairman in its early years, helping to promote the benefits of tea-drinking. Wright's own favourite tipple, however, was Irish whiskey.

Wright was an exemplary product of his generation, modest, private, courteous and charming, yet with the leader's gift of being able to enthuse and motivate those around him.

Jake Wright married first, in 1940, Mary Elspeth Robinson; the marriage ended only with her death 50 years later. He married secondly, the television scriptwriter and director Jacquemine Charrott Lodwige, who survives him, together with a son and daughter of his first marriage.
Click to expand...

Antipodean Andy · Jun 1, 2008

What a great man he would have been to meet. RIP.

Are there many books on the MTBs at war? Do like his favourite tipple!

Kyt · Jun 2, 2008

I not up on MTB operations, especially in the Channel but a couple of books on the Med that I've had on my wishlist for a while are:

Amazon.co.uk: Motor Gunboat 658: The Small Boat War in the Mediterranean (Cassell Military Paperbacks): Len Reynolds: Books

Amazon.co.uk: Flag 4: The Battle of Coastal Forces in the Mediterranean: Dudley Pope: Books

Antipodean Andy · Jun 2, 2008

Tried to get the 658 book last year but it was put on back order and that was the last I heard.

Kyt · Jun 2, 2008

If you want to chase it up, and if no luck then let me know. Seems to be relatively cheap here for a used copy.

Antipodean Andy · Jun 2, 2008

Will do. Thanks.

Log in or Sign up

Commander Jake Wright RIP

Kyt Άρης

Antipodean Andy New Member

Kyt Άρης

Antipodean Andy New Member

Kyt Άρης

Antipodean Andy New Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Commander Jake Wright RIP

Thread Tools

Kyt Άρης

Antipodean Andy New Member

Kyt Άρης

Antipodean Andy New Member

Kyt Άρης

Antipodean Andy New Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches