Description

Offered is a Royal Navy medal group to Boy & Ordinary Seaman Ernest Hambly, who saw action at the Battle of Jutland, whilst aboard H.M.S Orion

1914 – 15 Star, impressed named J.31817. E.A.R. HAMBLY. BOY.1. R.N.; British War and Victory Medals (1914 – 18), impressed named j.31817. E.A.R. HAMBLY. ORD. R.N. Comes with copy service records and medal roll.

Ernest Alfred Reuben Hambly was born at Leyton, Essex on 5/6/1898, an office boy by trade he enlisted into the Royal Navy on his 16^th birthday 5/6/1914 as a Boy 1^st Class, at the time he was just 5 ft tall.

He attended H.M.S. Powerful (training ship) 11/6/1914 – 7/2/1915. From there to the H.M.S Orion (dreadnought) 8/2/1915 – 26/3/1917.

Battle of Jutland: H.M.S. Orion saw action during the Battle of Jutland as the lead ship of the 2nd Division and was the fifth ship from the head of the Battle. In the early stages of the battle, she fired four salvos of armour-piercing, capped shells from her main guns at the Markgraf at 1832hrs, scoring one hit that knocked out a 5.9″ gun and killed or disabled its crew. About 1915hrs, she engaged Lützow at about 19,000yds with six salvos of APC shells and claimed to straddle her with the last two salvos. These last salvos were actually fired at the destroyer G38 which was screening the battlecruiser and laying a smoke screen. Lützow was also fired at by Monarch during this time and was hit five times between the sisters. They knocked out two of her main guns, temporarily knocked out the power to the stern most turret as well as causing a fair amount of flooding. She expended a total of 51 13.5″ APC shells.

He was posted to H.M.S. Victory I (the accounting and holding Barracks for the Fleet sailing out of Portsmouth), 27/3/1917 – 18/10/1917 and invalided from the Royal Navy (tumour). The 1939 census recorded him working as a scrap metal worker at Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey. He died 1963 at Bournemouth.