BAILEY, FREDERICK BOWYER Rank: Stoker 2nd Class Service No: D/KX 130216 Date of Death: 12/11/1942 Age: 32 Regiment/Service: Royal Navy H.M.S. Hecla Panel Reference: Panel 70, Column 3. Memorial: PLYMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL Additional Information: Son of Frederick and Marcella Bailey; husband of Edna Bailey, of Newton Heath, Lancashire.http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2475041/BAILEY,%20FREDERICK%20BOWYER
In 1941 HMS Hecla was based at Hvalfjord, Iceland, she tended the captured German U-boat U-570 until the boat was towed to UK and renamed HMS Graph. On 16 April 1942 the German minelayer Doggerbank laid 80 EMC mines in 5 sections off Cape Agulhas. On May 15th whilst on passage eastward to join the Far Eastern Fleet she struck a mine in one of these sectors, Hecla was seriously damaged, but managed to reach Simonstown towed by the cruiser HMS Gambia, and the South African Naval Forces two minesweepers Southern Barrier and Terje who swept ahead of the escort. On immediate arrival she was placed in the Selborne dry dock. June was spent in the Selborne dry dock affecting repairs to the underwater damage. The explosion had occurred under her huge workshops and storerooms. Dozens of torpedoes and mines were scattered and destroyed, but fortunately none exploded. A total of 24 men lost their lives, and 112 were wounded. The dead were buried in False Bay Simonstown. July was spent conducting trials in False Bay. August - September, was again spent in the dry dock, later during September she was declared operational. On November 12th, during the Allied landings in North Africa, HMS Hecla (A/Capt. George Vivian Barnett Faulkner, RN) was torpedoed just after midnight by U-515 and sunk west of Gibraltar in position 35º43'N, 09º54'W. The escorting destroyer HMS Marne was also torpedoed whilst attempting to rescue the survivors, and the destroyer had to be towed to Gibraltar. The destroyer HMS Venomous succeeded in rescuing more survivors from Hecla and landed them at Casablanca. In all 279 off her crew went down with the ship and 568 men were rescued. Hit by U-boat Sunk on 12 Nov 1942 by U-515 (Henke). http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/7286.html
If you have further details of this stoker in HMS HECLA I can create a biographical entry for him on the HECLA WEBSITE with a link from his name on the crew list: HMS_HECLA-Crew List
Frederick Bowyer Bailey in the UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 Name: Frederick Bowyer Bailey Event: Death Birth Date: 23 Jan 1911 Birth Place: Newton Heath, Lancs. Death Date: 12 Nov 1942 Death Age: 31 TD
