SUNK 1916 MALTA WW1 ROYAL NAVY LONG SERVICE MEDALS M3878 SVPO OSWALD GUROWICH

SUNK 1916 MALTA WW1 ROYAL NAVY LONG SERVICE MEDALS M3878 SVPO OSWALD GUROWICH

Offered is a 1914 – 15 Star, impressed named M.3878 O. GUROWICH. S.S.A. R.N.; British War and Victory Medals (1914 – 18), impressed named .M3878. O. GUROWICH. V.P.O. R.N.; Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (G.V.), impressed named M.3878 O. GUROWICH. S.C.P.O. H.M.S. LOWESTOFT. Court mounted as worn, and come with copy service records, medal roll and 1911 census.

Chief Petty officer Oswald Gurowich was born on 13/8/1892 at Devonport, Devon. A clerk by trade, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Ships Steward Assistant with the service #M3878 on 11/11/1911. Over the next 22 years he served on a variety of H.M. ships and shore bases including the following: Victory I, Vivid I, Dreadnought (Dreadnought), Attentive (Adventure-class scout cruiser), Impregnable (accommodation ship for the overflow from the barracks at Devonport), Powerful (tender to Impregnable), New Zealand (Indefatigable-class battlecruiser).

WW1 service. Cumberland (Monmouth-class armoured cruiser) 19/5/1914 – 30/11/1915. She was sent to West Africa after the beginning of the war in August and supported operations in the Cameroons where she captured 10 German merchantmen at Douala on 27/9/1914, assigned to the 5th Cruiser Squadron in January 1915. Vivid I 1/12/1915 – 4/2/1916.

Nasturtium (Arabis class sloop used for mine sweeping) 5/2/1916 – 18/5/1916. She was based at Malta. On 24/4/1916, she left Malta but was ordered to return immediately to search for a submarine in the vicinity. On 27 April the German submarine U-73 laid 22 mines outside the Grand Harbour of Valletta. The battleship HMS Russell sank after hitting two of these mines. Nasturtium arrived in Malta on 27 April and was under orderes to search for mines and submarines. At 19:10 she ended up in the same minefield as the Russell and struck a mine which exploded 7 feet below the waterline on her starboard side close to the foremost funnel. Seven crew members were killed. Her boiler rooms began to flood and the tug Prompt was sent from Sliema to assist her. By 21:00, she had a heavy list and all the crew were evacuated, except for a few hands on the forecastle. By 21:38 the remaining crew abandoned the ship since she was now listing by 30 degrees to port. At 21:50 the naval yacht HMY Aegusa hit a mine in the same minefield and sank. The Nasturtium finally sank on 28/4/1916.

Vivid I 19/5/1916 – 6/7/1916. Duke of Edinburgh (Duke of Edinburgh-class armoured cruiser) 7/7/1916 – 5/3/1917. Vivid I 6/3/1917 – 23/5/1917. Revenge (Revenge-class super-dreadnought) 24/5/1917 – 12/10/1920.

Post war he continued to serve and by now promoted to V.P.O. (Victualler Petty Officer) 28/2/1918. Vivid III, Vivid II, Cleopatria (C-class light cruiser), Pegasus (aircraft carrier/seaplane carrier) stationed at Singapore. Valiant (Queen Elizabeth-class battleship), Queen Elizabeth (battleship), Lowestoft (Town-class light cruiser) , Flora (base ship), Birmingham (Town-class light cruiser), Durban (Danae-class light cruiser), Rodney (Nelson-class battleship) 5/4/1930 – 11/4/1932 and was part of the Invergordon Mutiny (September 1931) and pensioned on the 10/12/1933.

Promoted to S.Y P.O (Supply Stores Chief Petty Officer) 10/11/1922.

16/3/1926 L.S. & G.C. medal with gratuity. Deprived of L.S. & G.C. Medal 17/8/1927 for theft.

He appears on the Portsmouth 1911 census with his father listed as  ‘Chief Gunner R.N.’ retired. Oswald was recorded as a clerk in the Army and Navy Stores. He died in 1971 at Plymouth.