THE "Q SHIP" ANTI-SUBMARINE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL AND LONG SERVICE MEDAL PAIR TO PETTY OFFICER (LATER CHIEF PETTY OFFICER) R.C. SMITH, ROYAL NAVY, SMITH'S DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL BEING AWARDED FOR GALLANTRY DURING AN ATTACK ON A GERMAN SUBMARINE WHILST SERVING ABOARD THE DECOY SHIP "PC65" (HMS IDAHO, ALSO REFERRED TO IN CONTEMPORARY DOCUMENTS AS "P65" OR "PQ65") IN MAY 1918 IN ST. GEORGE'S CHANNEL, THE NARROW STRIP OF WATER LINKING THE SOUTHERN IRISH SEA TO THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. SMITH HAD PREVIOUSLY SEEN SERVICE AT THE ACTION IN DECEMBER 1917 WHEN THE "Q SHIP" HMS PENSHURST WAS SUNK BY THE GERMAN SUBMARINE U110, THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF HMS PC65, CAPTAIN EDWARD STIRLING CARVER, BEING COMMENDED BY THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY FOR HIS SERVICES ON THE OCCASION OF THE SINKING OF HMS PENSHURST. Two: Distinguished Service Medal, George V (officially named, impressed in serifed capital letters: J. 5688. R.C. SMITH. P.O. "P.C. 65." ST. GEORGES CHANNEL. 27. MAY. 1918.); Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, George V, admiral's bust, non-swiveling suspender, issue of 1920-30 (officially named, impressed in plain block capitals: J. 5688 R.C. SMITH. P.O. H.M.S. WOODCOCK.). Both medals with attractive old dark tone and original ribbons, MSM polished and with light overall contact marks from other medals, Good Fine or perhaps a little better, LSGC with couple of small bruises to obverse rim at 7 o'clock and 9 o'clock, otherwise Good Very Fine.
Petty Officer Smith's Distinguished Service Medal was announced in the London Gazette of 7/8/1918, page 9338 "For services in action with enemy submarines".
Medal accompanied by biographical details, extract 1901 census return, one page copied service record, 2 page medical record, London Gazette extract confirming award of D.S.M. and extract WW1 medal roll confirming Smith also entitled 1914-15 Star trio. Group also accompanied by 17 pages of copied documents from the Officer's Papers file for Captain Edward Stirling Carver, who commanded "PC69" whilst Smith was serving aboard that ship.
Reginald Clyde Smith was born on 10/1/1894 in Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of Sydney and Sarah Smith. He is recorded in the 1901 census as a 7 year old boy resident in Wood Green with his parents, an elder sister and four elder brothers. Smith enlisted into the Royal Navy on 10/1/1912, enlisting initially for 12 years and saw service aboard a wide variety of ships. His service record confirms service aboard HMS Idaho 1/12/1917 to 18/12/1918, his service record also confirming the dual identity of HMS Idaho, recording the ship as "Idaho (PC 65)". Smith was eventually invalided to shore on 6/1/1932 with the rank of Chief Petty Officer, after having seen almost 20 years service with the Royal Navy.
The HMS PC65 (HMS Idaho), aboard which the then Petty Officer Smith was serving when he won his Distinguished Medal, was a 43 ton steam yacht built in 1910 that was requisitioned by the Royal Navy in April 1915 and used as a patrol and decoy vessel, one of a number of small decoy boats of the Royal Navy which specialised in luring German submarines to the surface, whereupon they attempted to sink the unsuspecting submarine by ramming it. Various sources describe Idaho as being a lightly armed vessel, with either a one-pounder gun, a machine gun, or both. She was returned to her owners following the end of the war in February 1919.
HMS PC65 (HMS Idaho) was commanded by Captain Edward Stirling Carver, 15/10/1917 to 20/3/1919, Smith's entire period of service aboard HMS PC65 being whilst it was under the command of Captain Carver.
Captain Carver's service papers record that he was recommended for a Mention in Dispatches and twice commended by the First Sea Lord in 1918, his first entry with regard to commendations noting that he "Received an expression of Their Lordships appreciation for good service rendered on 24.12.17 whilst in Cmd. of HMS P65" (Received an expression of the First Sea Lord's appreciation for good services rendered on 24.12.17, this being the date of the action during which HMS Penshurst was sunk by U110), Carver's second recommendation reading as follows: "Received an expression of Their Lordships appreciation in connection with attack on an enemy submarine on 16th & 17th Aug 1918".
Captain Carver's Mention in Dispatches announced in the London Gazette of 7/8/1918, was one of a number of awards and mentions "For services in action with enemy submarines", the awards listed including the Distinguished Service Medal to Petty Officer Smith.
HMS Penshurst was perhaps the most famous and successful WWI "Q Ship". She was sunk on 24/12/1917 in the southern Irish sea by the German U-Boat U110. During the closing stages of the action between U-110 and HMS Penshurst. Having disabled the Penshurst with a torpedo, the U-110 was in the process of finishing off the Penshurst with her deck gun when HMS PC65 arrived on the scene and intervened, with the result that the U110 ceased firing, submerged and made off.
The seagoing HMS Idaho is not to be confused with the shore base of the same name at Milford Haven, which was the base for Auxiliary Patrol Craft.
The naming on Smith's Distinguished Service Medal and the announcement of its award in the London Gazette clearly indicate that it was awarded for service in action against enemy submarines aboard P.C. 65, HMS Idaho.
Chief Petty Officer Smith's medal group undoubtedly worthy of further research into the action of 27/5/1918 which resulted in his being awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.
