SECOND BATTLE OF NARVIK

One of the battle honours proudly worn by HMS COSSACK was the Second Battle of Narvik. I have put together a brief history of this action, thanks mainly to the Imperial War Museum, who gave me permission to use a transcript of an audio tape - painstakingly copied by Peter Harrison, of a discussion between ex-Chief Petty Officer A. D. Grant, D.S.M., and the Curator of the Museum. This provided an eye witness account, as Leading Seaman Grant (as he then was), was manning the Torpedo Tubes (his Action Station), on the central part of the upper deck. This gave him a good view of the events as they unfolded, whereas others were so busy concentrating efforts on their own particular job that they were oblivious to anything else. It was he who first met the two young Norwegians and accepted the German flag from them. Before he died David's daughter, Mrs Anne Smith, managed, through the Norwegian Embassy, to contact Lief Hansen (Torsten had died), and he and David corresponded regularly after that.

While the COSSACK was in Skelfjord, in the Lofoten Islands being repaired, she was assisted by 8 Norwegians from Kabelvaag. Two of them, Mr Rothli and Mr Lorentzen are still alive and we have been delighted to enrol them as Honorary Members of the Association as a gesture of appreciation for the work they did. Other than the children's party, there was no acknowledgement of the assistance given to our ships in Skelfjord by the Norwegians. A sad ommission. At least the Association has done something to make two old men happy.

During the battle Lord HAW-HAW (William Joyce the Irishman the Germans used to broadcast English language propaganda), announced that COSSACK had been captured and her crew were all prisoners. Yet another he got wrong!. Joyce was executed for treason after the war.

Another incident concerned the Bismarck. The much feared German battleship had been sighted in the Denmark Strait on 21st May 1941 in an attempt to break out into the Atlantic but when brought to battle it was the British who had come off worst. The loss of our battleship HMS Hood with enormous loss of life and only three survivors was a black day for Britain. Bismarck got away and for several days her whereabouts were unknown. On the 26th, Cossack was escorting a convoy when Captain Vian received orders to leave the convoy and take four other destroyers, the Sikh, Zulu and Maori and the Polish ship Piorun, to relieve other destroyers which were escorting the Home Fleet battleships King George V and Rodney.

Seven hours later a message from an aircraft was intercepted which reported the position of the Bismarck. Without breaking radio silence, Captain Vian decided to head for that position instead of continuing on to join the battleships. In appalling weather and very heavy seas they battled towards the position and ten hours later sighted Bismarck. Throughout the night the destroyers attacked and harried the German battleship despite being heavily out-gunned. It was important that they held her until the British battleships could arrive, which they did at eight o'clock the next morning. Bismarck was sunk and, despite attacks from large formations of German aircraft, the ships safely returned to U.K.

In October 1941 Cossack was one of the escorts for a convoy from Gibraltar to the U.K. when, on the night of the 21st she was struck by a torpedo from a German U-boat. The explosion just forward of her bridge blew off her bows and about a third of the forward section of the ship killing 159 officers and ratings. Survivors were picked up by two other escorts, the Legion and the Carnation, the latter staying close to the hulk of the ship whilst it remained afloat. Some of the survivors and some men from Carnation, went back aboard the following morning, put the fires out and attempted to get her engines going again. On the 25th a tug arrived from Gibraltar and took Cossack in tow stern first. In worsening weather the salvage party were taken off the following evening and the next morning conditions were so bad that they could not get back aboard. As the weather deteriorated the tow had to be slipped and Cossack sank soon after.

HMS COSSACK - No 6

The Sixth HMS COSSACK was completed and commissioned in August 1945 by which time the war in Europe was over and the Japanese had just surrendered. She was still to go to the Far East though and was to become the leader of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla for a while forming part of the occupation forces. In the main though her duties in the Far East were to be those peacetime functions of showing the flag, patrolling trade routes, exercises and training for war and the many other duties which befall a Royal Navy destroyer.

Pennant No D57

From June 1950 until 1953 Cossack was involved as part of the United Nations force in the Korean War and aquitted herself well. With many changes of her ship's company taking place over the years, Cossack remained on the Far East Station until the beginning of November 1959 when she left Singapore to return to the U.K. Arriving at Devonport on 9th December 1959 she finally paid off and was eventually scrapped in 1961.

Life aboard a ship of war has never been an easy one, with conditions even in peacetime worse than would now be tolerated for animals in transit. In fact the conditions laid down by the Admiralty for the payment of "hard-lying money" to men in small ships, was that conditions had to be inferior to that in a trawler in normal service in the North Sea. The allowance was paid to those serving in the Cossack. From 1945 until 1954 the normal period that a man would be on the ship was two and a half years. From 1954 it became one year and a half. It is not surprising that during those 14 years which Cossack spent in the Far East many close friendships were made.