GORDON, Robert Raymond
Service Number: | B2883 |
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Enlisted: | 5 November 1940 |
Last Rank: | Able Seaman |
Last Unit: | HMAS Rushcutter (Shore) |
Born: | Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, 13 August 1919 |
Home Town: | Ipswich, Queensland |
Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
Died: | Killed in Action, Indian Ocean, 7 March 1944, aged 24 years |
Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Kangaroo Point H.M.A.S. Moreton Honour Roll, Plymouth Naval Memorial to the Missing / Lost at Sea |
World War 2 Service
5 Nov 1940: | Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Ordinary Seaman, B2883, Brisbane, Queensland | |
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5 Nov 1940: | Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Able Seaman, B2883 | |
27 Feb 1941: | Involvement Royal Australian Navy, Ordinary Seaman, B2883, HMAS Cerberus (Shore) | |
7 Mar 1944: | Involvement Royal Australian Navy, Able Seaman, B2883, HMAS Rushcutter (Shore) |
Ship hit by torpedo
Robert Raymond GORDON was born on 13 Aug 1919 in Ipswich, Qld. Australia. He died on 7th Mar 1944 in the Arabian Sea during 2nd World War when he was stationed at H.M.S. Stag, which was a military shore base at Port Said at the most northerly end of the Suez Canal.
It seems a lot of military personnel were preparing for "Operation Husky" which was the invasion of Sicily.
Military Service: Able Seaman Service No. B2883. He was one of 3 killed when ship was hit by torpedos.
On 7 Mar, 1944, the unescorted Tarifa which was a Norwegian Merchant Ship (Master Hans Bjønness) was hit between #3 and #4 holds and near #5 hold by two torpedos from U-510 about 250 miles east of Socotra. The ship had joined a convoy on 3 March, but continued alone on a zigzag course three days later near Ras al Hadd. The explosions destroyed the radio station and a lifeboat, so the master, 46 crew members,101 military personnel from Australia and New Zealand (Capt A.I.F.S.R. Dawson) and one passenger on board abandoned ship in five lifeboats within 5 minutes and a few minutes before the ship sank. An Australian soldier and a gunner had been killed and another gunner fatally injured who was later buried at sea. The survivors were distributed between the boats that each took a raft in tow and then set sail for landfall at the RAF base on Socotra in the evening on 12 March. The next day, aircraft were sent out and located the remaining survivors within an hour. They were picked up by HMS Avon (K 97) (LtCdr P.G.A. King, DSC, RD, RNR) on 14 March and landed at Aden.
One of Robert Raymond's ship mates conveyed the story to the family that Robert never had a chance of survival as he was in one part of the ship that was hit directly by one of the torpedos.
Submitted 3 August 2016 by Jude Spalding