Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry

Sold by Order of the Family‘Ohio, being the only tanker, was marked for particular attention, and during the course of her voyage suffered a direct hit from a torpedo, direct bomb hits, any number of near-misses, and was struck by two Luftwaffe aircraft shot down while attacking her. Despite her engines being dead and her hull practically broken in two, she was towed into Grand Harbour by three destroyers and a minesweeper with her cargo virtually intact.’ (The Ohio and Malta - the Legendary Tanker that Refused to Die by Michael Pearson)‘H.M. Ships were handled throughout with skill and daring, particularly during the final stages when, in the face of concentrated attack from air, submarine and surface forces, it became necessary to tow one of the most important and unwieldy vessels in the convoy, the S.S. Ohio, which had been seriously damaged.’ (Introduction to recommendations for awards to officers and men for Operation Pedestal - Honours and Awards Committee)The important Second War 1942 ‘Operation Pedestal’ D.S.O. group of twelve awarded to Commander H. J. A. S. Jerome, Royal Navy, who, as Commanding Officer of the 17th Minesweeping Flotilla, Malta Force, took operational command during the later stages of Operation Pedestal - the allies final effort to relieve the beleaguered island of Malta - and, under the most trying of circumstances, successfully co-ordinated the safe passage of the vital yet crippled tanker, Ohio, to the safe berth of Valetta’s Grand Harbour.Having arrived in H.M.S. Speedy following the departure of the main convoy escort, Jerome set about organising repeated efforts to stabilise the slowly sinking Ohio even as she remained the object of relentless air attack and under continuous threat from enemy submarines and E-boats. Finally, with a destroyer on either side, another destroyer secured astern to act as rudder and a minesweeper positioned for towing, he succeeded in slowly manoeuvring the fragile tanker through the heavily mined approach towards her ultimately tumultuous reception from the Maltese. A young Midshipman in the battle cruiser H.M.S. Courageous during the Great War, Jerome had served in submarines between the wars and went on to end his distinguished naval career as Commander in Chief of the Irish Navy.Sold with a substantial archive of related original material Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R., silver-gilt and enamel, reverse officially dated 1942, with integral top riband bar; British War and Victory Medals (Mid. H. J. A. S. Jerome. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, 1 clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star, 1 clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Minesweeping 1945-51 (Cdr/ H. J. A. S. Jerome. D.S.O. R.N.); Spain, Franco Period, Cross of Naval Merit with White Decoration; Italy, Republic, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Commander’s neck badge, silver gilt and enamel, the Great War pair very fine, otherwise nearly extremely fine (12) £8,000-£12,000---D.S.O. London Gazette 10 November 1942:‘For bravery and dauntless resolution while serving in H.M. Ships when an important Convoy was fought through to Malta in the face of relentless attacks by day and night from enemy submarines, aircraft and surface forces.’The original recommendation states:‘For the brilliantly successful feat of saving the tanker Ohio after she had been severely damaged and immobilised I consider the following officers worthy of immediate awards. Acting Commander H. J. A. S. Jerome (Commander Minesweepers Malta) who was in charge of operations during the last day and night on board Speedy.’Henry Joseph Alexander Savile Jerome was born on 3 June 1900 in Mexico City, the son of the diplomat Lucien Joseph James Robertson Jerome, then British Vice-Consul in Mexico, and his Australian wife Vivien Fane (Savill). He was admitted as an Officer Cadet to the Royal Naval College, Osborne in January 1914 and proceeded to the Royal Naval College Dartmouth before joining the battlecruiser H.M.S. Courageous as a Midshipman in April 1917, remaining in her until the conclusion of the war.Jerome was promoted Lieutenant in September 1921 and went up to Caius College, Cambridge two months later, winning the Oxford and Cambridge Universities Welterweight 1st prize medal in March 1922 (medal with lot) - an artist’s depiction of his victory over P. I. Bell (Queen’s, Oxford) subsequently appeared as a full page feature in the Christmas 1922 edition of The Field magazine (copy with lot).Returning to sea, Jerome joined the Submarine L 56 in September 1922 and served mostly in submarines until August 1927 when he joined the destroyer H.M.S. Sesame. His advancement to Lieutenant-Commander in 1929 was followed by service in a succession of surface ships until 1935 at which time he joined the Royal Marines in Egypt for a year. In 1936, he transferred to an Officer Instructor role with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (South Africa) and was still serving in this capacity when war broke out in 1939. Recalled to home waters, Lieutenant-Commander Jerome served in the Minesweeper Trawler H.M.S. Wardour from January 1941 until his appointment as Commander Minesweepers at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde in March of that year. Then, in June of 1942, with the war in the Mediterranean - and Malta’s prolonged siege in particular - reaching a critical stage, Jerome was sent to Valetta as Commander Minesweepers Malta, his arrival coming as immediate relief to the submariners of the 10th Submarine Flotilla who had been required to leave Malta on account of mines and the temporary supremacy of enemy aircraft:‘The one small success of the two failed convoy operations [Harpoon and Vigorous] had been the arrival in Malta of Commander Jerome in Speedy. He had led his three up-to-date fleet minesweepers round Cape Bon during the night of 14/15 June, unnoticed by the enemy who were concentrating on ‘Harpoon’ and the supply ships. The sweepers slipped safely into harbour. Their hard work and courage in the face of constant danger meant that the Tenth’s submarines could now return to their home base.’ (The Fighting Tenth - The Tenth Submarine Flotilla and the Siege of Malta by John Wingate D.S.C.)Operation PedestalWith Operations Harpoon and Vigourous having failed to revictualise the stricken island of Malta, the War Cabinet decided to make one last all out effort. Planning for Operation Pedestal began immediately and Churchill’s assertion that the ‘The Navy would never abandon Malta’ would be put to the test. As Leonard MacDonald, a Royal Marine in H.M.S. Manchester on Pedestal later put it:‘What other convoy during the war had an escort of 54 men o’ war, including 2 battleships, both 16 inch, four carriers, twelve cruisers and 40 destroyers plus the smaller stuff? We were warned that if we got one ship through and lost half the escort it would be classed as a success.’ Having left the Clyde on 3 August, the convoy passed through the straits of Gibraltar on 9/10 August and, together with its various escort formations, was then subjected to relentless attack from U-Boats and Italian submarines, the Luftwaffe and Regio Aeronautica, and from Axis surface vessels. This story of continuous violence needs no retelling here, but suffice it to say that by the afternoon 13 August, as the now depleted force neared the end of its epic journey, of the 14 merchantmen that originally set out, nine were sunk and three damaged, while the senior service had sustained losses of an aircraft carrier, a cruiser and a destroyer, as well as having another half a dozen ships damaged. Nearing Malta, the remnants of the convoy - Melbourne Star, Port Chalmers and Rochester Castle (torpedoed but progressing under her own steam) - steamed defiantly on to meet the four minesweepers and seven motor minesweepers of the 17th Minesweeper Flotilla of the Malta Escort Force under Jerome’s command. Conducting operations from H.M.S. Speedy, Jerome had been charged with responsibility for ‘Operation Statue’ - the final phase of Pedestal - and had ordered the channel swept clear of mines on the 12th; his force was now able to shepherd this trio of merchantmen into Grand Harbour at Valletta at 4.30pm on 13 August.Meanwhile, another merchant ship, Brisbane Star, was still missing, having had her bow nearly torn off by an aerial torpedo off Cap Bon, and a fifth participating vessel, the Ohio, whose fate also hung in the balance, was the most important of all - her cargo of fuel would be absolutely necessary if Malta was to continue her grim defence. The tanker had fallen victim to a torpedo amidships from the Italian submarine Axum on 12 August and nearing Pantelleria, she was marked out for the special attention of 60 Stukas, bombs and machine-gun fire raking her decks. Gunners broke up some of the approaching formations and downed at least one enemy aircraft - the wreckage of which crashed into Ohio’s starboard side, half of one wing smashing into the upper work of the bridge. Such was the onslaught that Captain Mason (later to receive the G.C.), when telephoned from aft by the chief officer, who told him that the Ju 87 had crashed into the sea and then bounced onto the ship, famously replied: ‘Oh that's nothing. We've had a Junkers 88 on the foredeck for nearly half an hour.’Commander Jerome, now the senior officer on Operation Pedestal, received intercepted signals outlining the mounting problems facing Ohio (and the merchant ship Dorset which ultimately sank), and despatched Rye and two Motor Launches to the assistance of Ohio which he recognised as ‘Vital to Malta’. Ohio had been torpedoed and hit by two aircraft, she had taken a bomb in the engine room, her funnel sat crooked and her rudder was jammed and still the enemy aircraft kept coming. Two sticks of bombs now straddled the tanker, lifting her clean out of the water and...