*SUNK GALLIPOLI* HMS IRRESISTIBLE WW1 ROYAL NAVY MEDALS 177170 CHIEF STOKER HILL

A WW1 Trio and Good Conduct Medal (Edward VII), impressed named 177170. R.N.A. HILL. STO. P.O. H.M.S. ARIADNE. Court mounted for display. Comes with copy service records, medal roll and 1939 census.

Chief Stoker Rowland Nicholas Austin Hill was born on the 22/7/1873 in Bridport, Dorset. A tailor by trade, he enlisted into the Royal Navy on the 7/11/1893 as a Stoker.He served on a variety of H.M ship and shore bases including: Victory II, H.M.S Camperdown (Admiral class battleship) 5/7/1894 ? 12/10/1897. In 1897, Camperdown arrived off Crete to join the International Squadron, a multinational force made up of ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, French Navy, Imperial German Navy, Italian Royal Navy, Imperial Russian Navy, and Royal Navy that intervened in the 1897-1898 insurrection of Cretan Christians against the Ottoman Empire. 26th and 27th March 1897, she fired her guns in anger for the first time ? including four 567-kg rounds from her 13.5-inch guns ? bombarding Christian insurgents besieging the Ottoman-held Izzeddin Fortress near the entrance to Suvla Bay. Firing at a range of 5,000 yards, she forced the insurgents to abandon their siege. 21/4/1897, she anchored off Canea, where Ottoman troops, Cretan Turk civilians, and a force of British and Italian soldiers were besieged by an estimated 60,000 insurgents to deter insurgents who had begun a demonstration with two artillery pieces that threatened the town. In response to a violent riot by Cretan Turks at Candia (now Heraklion) the previous day, she arrived at Candia on 7/9/1898 to reinforce the occupation forces there and put a contingent of Royal Marines ashore. After the local Ottoman governor refused to meet various British demands during a meeting aboard the British flagship, the battleship HMS Revenge and Camperdown conducted a demonstration that overcame his reluctance.

He purchased his discharged on 31/12/1901, but re-joined 3/9/1902.

Further served H.M.S.: Trafalgar, Duke of Wellington II, Prince George, Indefatigable, Firequeen, Vernon torpedo store, Vernon, Ganges, Ariadne, Blake, Revenge.?WW1 Chief Stoker H.M.S. Irresistible (Formidable-class pre-dreadnought battleship) 23/5/191- 18/3/1915. She took part in the 1^stNaval attack on the Dardanelles February - March 1915. She was involved in numerous shore bombardments, received counter battery fire and landed several landing parties to blow up Turkish guns.

Sunk on the 18/3/1915: Irresistible joined the fray at 14:39, shortly after the French battleship Bouvet was mined and sunk in the straits; she and several other battleships attempted to suppress Ottoman guns that were firing on boats that were picking up survivors from Bouvet. Irresistible engaged the "Namazieh" Battery, which at that time was not actively firing. She quickly came under heavy fire from the "Hamidieh I" battery, which targeted the ship with four-shell salvos.

At 15:14, Irresistible was rocked by an explosion, and by 15:32, had begun to take on a list, prompting de Robeck to order her to withdraw to avoid further damage. At 16:15, Irresistible, having idled her engines, struck a mine that caused extensive damage to the ship. The mine detonated under her starboard engine room, flooding it and killing all but three of the men on duty there. The bulkhead that divided the starboard from the port engine room collapsed under the sudden weight of water, disabling that engine as well. Unable to manoeuvre, with a list of 7 degrees to starboard, and down by the stern, Irresistible became an attractive target for the Ottoman gunners. She drifted helplessly into range of Turkish guns, which laid down a heavy fire on her. Her main gun turrets began to malfunction, and she was obscured by smoke and spray. De Robeck ordered the battleship Ocean to take her under tow and pull her out of range of the Ottoman guns, and the destroyer Wear came alongside and rescued most of the crew?28 officers and 582 men despite the punishing Ottoman shelling. A group of ten men remained aboard to try to secure a line from Ocean. By the time Ocean had arrived it had become clear that Irresistible could not be saved. Her list had increased and the fire from the Ottoman guns had become very heavy, so the remaining men were evacuated and Ocean began to withdraw. Irresistible had drifted closer to shore and suffered further severe damage from their shore batteries before sinking at about 19:30. Irresistible's crew suffered about 150 casualties during her sinking.

H.M.S. Blenheim (destroyer depot ship) based at Mudros for the 5^th Destroyer Squadron 19/3/1915 ? 31/12/1915. Victory II (Although men were drafted onto the books of the various VICTORYs, they were not necessarily physically present. Many men on the books of HMS Victory were actually serving in (mainly small) ships, with Victory providing pay, administration and parenting services). 1/1/1916 ? 24/11/1917.??H.M.S. Minerva (Eclipse-class protected cruiser) stationed off East Africa until the end of the war. 25/11/1917 ? 17/6/1919 and on being demobilised, joined the Royal Fleet Reserve.

The 1939 census records him as living at the Engine House, Andersea working as a engineer in the pumping station. Notes list him as a pensioned Chief Stoker R.N. and Air Warden for Anderson. He died in March 1950 at Taunton, Somerset.

Awarded L.S. & G.C medal December 1909.