Service for HMS Neptune

Kyt · Mar 12, 2009

Service for sailors who died in tragedy - Portsmouth Today

Sailors who died in one of the worst tragedies of the Second World War will be remembered at a service in Southsea.
Members of the Neptune Association will meet at the Royal Navy War Memorial at 11am on Saturday.

Then they will go to the D-Day museum on Southsea Esplanade to watch a film about the tragic sinkings of HMS Neptune and Kandahar nearly 68 years ago.

Group member Graham Davies said: 'Neptune was a Portsmouth-built ship and members, relatives and friends of both ships are welcome to come and pay their respects.

'Neptune lost 763 men, with just one survivor. Kandahar had her stern blown off and lost 73 men.

'The total lost at sea from both ships was the Royal Navy's fifth worst loss of life in the whole war.'

The vessels had left Malta to intercept an enemy convoy loaded with Panzer tanks, fuel and equipment en route to Libya to reinforce General Rommel's Axis forces.The sinkings occurred early on December 19, 1941.

Norma Hudson, a daughter of Neptune survivor Norman Walton, has just published a biography about her father, who survived three sinkings before the age of 21.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Neptune_(20)

Antipodean Andy · Mar 12, 2009

Sobering to think that many men lost was the fifth-largest RN loss of the war.

Here's details of the book written about Norman Walton, the sole survivor of the Neptune. He was a remarkable man and this sounds like a moving tribute to him and well worth a read.

'Sole Survivor' book launch

'Sole Survivor'

Norma Hudson, daughter of Norman Walton, has written a biography of her father, and the book was launched on November 15th 2008

Norma Hudson, daughter of Norman Walton, has written a biography of her father, the only survivor from the catastrophic loss of HMS Neptune, a cruiser sunk in a minefield off the Libyan coast in December 1941. This unique book would never have been written if Norma had not found her father's 'ditty' box containing his diaries and stories after he died in February 2005. It gives an extraordinary insight into the tragedy of HMS Neptune and is a valuable contribution to the nation’s knowledge of WWII.

Able Seaman Norman Walton, aged 20, was the sole survivor of the 765-man crew of HMS Neptune. She perished along with 73 men from HMS Kandahar and it was the Royal Navy’s 5th worst loss of life in the war, a little known tragedy. Force K, 7 ships, left Malta to intercept a vital convoy loaded with Panzer tanks, fuel and military equipment en route for Tripoli, Libya, to reinforce General Rommel’s Axis forces. Neptune entered a huge enemy minefield, hit 4 mines and sank in the early hours of a dark, stormy night in the Mediterranean on the 19th December 1941. Kandahar tried to rescue the survivors but was badly damaged and then sunk by HMS Jaguar.

Norman Walton spent 6 days on a Carley Float after Neptune sank and witnessed his shipmates dying around him. His Captain, Rory O'Conor, died in his arms on the fourth day. Rescued by an Italian Torpedo Boat, he spent 15 months in a POW camp before being released in a prisoner exchange.

Norman arrived home in June 1943 for 3 weeks survivors leave (after 4 years away)
and he was greeted not only by his family but also by a sack of mail from relatives
of crew members, with every letter reducing him to tears. A mother even arrived to chastise him for being alive while her son was dead.

For the next 60 years he took on an extraordinary role as 'Counsellor' to every relative who needed to know what happened and why. The letters kept arriving year after year - not just from hundreds of relatives but also from senior officers and naval historians who wanted his eyewitness description of the loss of such a large ship. For a 20-year-old Able Seaman, who had been sunk twice previously, his role was unique in WWII naval tragedies, since in no other ship was there just one survivor with so little explanation of why the tragedy occurred.

Norma’s book also tells of how Norman became a professional middleweight boxer after leaving the Navy in 1946, with 146 recorded fights (82 wins). His sharpness was still evident just 2 years before his death as he was mugged by two youths who demanded his wallet. He said “You will have to get it out of my pocket”. As one moved forward he butted him on the nose, then landed a left hook on the second and struck them both with his stick. As they ran off, what upset Norman the most was not being able to chase them!

Norman Walton died in April 2005 aged 84 and as a measure of the stature of the man, lead obituaries were published in The Times and the Daily Telegraph.

The climax for Norma was in April 2007, when 60 members of the Neptune Association made a pilgrimage to Tripoli and went by Libyan ship to the site where it is believed Neptune's wreck lies. It was a very moving occasion as she scattered Norman's ashes so that he could join his mates, in accordance with his wishes.

Norma Hudson launched her father’s biography on the 15th November at the Union Jack Club, London at the Neptune Association’s AGM. The Neptune Association
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The Neptune Association

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Service for HMS Neptune

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