Motor Mechanic C/MX 621236 Edward Ashton

Family details:
Son of William and Doris Ashton. of St. Helens, Lancashire.

Census details:
1939 - Although Edward is masked out he is residing at 99 Kirkland Street, St Helens with father William Ashton who was born 06/03/1896 and employed as a Glass Beveller / Heavy Worker. Mother Doris Ashton born 07/12/1900 an Unpaid Domestic. Siblings Betty Bagshaw (Ashton) born 22/03/1925 and employed as a Collar Presser in Shirt Factory. Eric Ashton born 09/09/1927 who was still at school.

Notes:
[url=lmem.php?lmem=28]Remembered on St Lukes War Memorial, Knowsley Road.[/url]

HMS Lanka was in fact a RN base (Shore Establishment) near Colombo Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Edward Ashton lost his life however in one of the most controversial actions of the war in the East. The Khedive Ismail was launched as the Aconcagua by Scotts of Greenock in 1922. The 7,513 ton steamship passed into Egyptian ownership and was renamed after Khedive Ismail, the former ruler of Egypt. In 1940 the Khedive Ismail was requisitioned as a British troopship and on the 6th February 1944 left Kilindini Harbour, Mombasa, Kenya bound for Colombo, Ceylon. Edward Ashton was on Board. The Convoy KR-8 consisted of five troop transports:- Khedive Ismail, City of Paris, Varsova, Ekma and Ellenga. They were escorted by the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins and the destroyers HMS Petard and HMS Paladin.In the early afternoon of Saturday 12th February 1944, a Japanese B1 type submarine I-27, commanded by Lt-Cdr Toshiaki Fukumura, attacked the convoy in the 'One and a Half Degree Channel', south-west of the Maldives near coordinates 01 25'N 72 22'E. . The Khedive Ismail was carrying 1,511 personnel including 178 crew, 996 officers and men of the East African Artillery's 301st Field Regiment, 271 Royal Navy personnel, and a detachment of 19 Wrens. Also on board were 53 nursing sisters accompanied by one matron, and 9 members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. The submarine sank the Khedive Ismail with two torpedoes. The Japanese Commander Fukumura had a history of machine-gunning survivors of ships she had sunk, including the Liberty ship SS Sambridge and the Fort Mumford.There were many survivors in the sea and the Japanese submarine hid beneath them and the flotsam. HMS Paladin lowered boats over the side to begin rescuing survivors but HMS Petard released depth charges in an attempt to sink the submarine.On Petard's third run, her depth charges forced I-27 to the surface. Paladin rammed the submarine, causing herself considerable damage. A torpedo from Petard finally destroyed the I-27.No fewer than 1,297 people, including 77 women, lost their lives in the two minutes it took for the Khedive Ismail to sink. Only 208 men and 6 women survived. The sinking was the third worst Allied shipping disaster of World War II and the single worst loss of female service personnel in the history of the Commonwealth of Nations. Many of those who perished did so from the depth charges released from HMS Petard. There were no survivors from the Japanese Submarine. [center][img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31IF4Jo-06L.jpg[/img][/center] A detailed account of the whole incident can be found in the above book. Given the dramatic circumstances of the sinking and the scale of the loss , here are some more in-depth details of the actual events; for those who may be interested:- Cdr Fukumura closes in from ahead to attack, probably intending to target heavy cruiser HAWKINS, the leader of the port column, from the starboard quarter of the convoy. He dives under the screening destroyers without being detected and raises his periscope for a snap shot only 50 yds astern of VARSOVA, the leading ship of the starboard column. Fukumura then fires a spread of four torpedoes at the cruiser, partially overlapped by KHEDIVE ISMAIL, the leading ship of the center column. Three gunners on the stern gun platform of VARSOVA sight a dark green periscope protruding some 3 ft above the water and traveling towards KHEDIVE ISMAIL at 4 kts. They attempt to target it, but their gun cannot be depressed deep enough. At 1433 (convoy time), KHEDIVE ISMAIL receives a torpedo hit to her starboard side engine room and starts to list to starboard. The aft mast collapses and the adjacent superstructure caves in, while the after hatch covers are blown upwards. Approximately 5 seconds later the second torpedo strikes the boiler room forward, directly below the ship's funnel, causing a major explosion inside the ship. Once on her beam ends, KHEDIVE ISMAIL breaks in two; the stern sinks first, the bow upends and then corkscrews beneath the surface only one minute and 40 seconds after the first hit, at 00-57N, 72-16E. Of 1,511 passengers and crew 1,279 are lost, including a total of 77 women Two remaining torpedoes, one of them a surface runner, pass ahead and astern of HMS HAWKINS, forcing her to take evasive action. The two destroyers each turn 180 degrees outwards while the convoy scatters, to regroup at 02-41N, 74-49E. Multiple periscope sightings are reported by different vessels and confusion ensues. At 1436 Lt Edward A.S. Bailey's HMS PALADIN first establishes an asdic (sonar) contact N of the position of the now-sunken KHEDIVE ISMAIL, dropping a pattern of ten depth charges near the stern of the retreating HMS HAWKINS. PALADIN then chases a false contact and at 1449 drops a single depth charge at a periscope detected by the steamer CITY OF PARIS. PALADIN's next attack with ten depth charges against an unreliable target fails, but then a new contact is detected. After her asdic operator reports hearing a noise resembling the blowing of ballast tanks, nine depth charges are dropped at 1502. Cdr Rupert C. Egan's HMS PETARD likewise chases several contacts about a mile SW of the sinking. The first target is lost during the approach. At 1500, PETARD drops a pattern of seven depth charges, followed by eight depth charges five minutes later. After the final attack with nine depth charges at 1513, this contact is lost. Following an unsuccessful sweep to the westward, at 1536 Cdr Egan gives permission to pick up the survivors from KHEDIVE ISMAIL. At 1620, the stationary I-27 suddenly surfaces about a mile and a half off PETARD's and PALADIN's starboard quarter, down by the stern. Both destroyers open fire from all guns, claiming numerous hits. PETARD passes close to I-27's stern and fires a pattern of three depth charges set to 50 feet. These cause no visible damage and the submarine starts to move, steering 250 degrees at 4 kts and simultaneously correcting her trim. The CO of HMS PALADIN decides to ram the submarine to prevent her from diving again. At 1621, when 600 yds away from the submarine, he receives an order from PETARD not to ram. HMS PALADIN turns away to port, grazing the submarine's port foreplane with her starboard side. The impact tears an 80-feet long gash 12 inches below PALADIN's waterline, flooding her engine and gearing rooms, two fuel tanks, and the after magazine. The destroyer goes dead in the water, but fires two depth charges, one of which explodes right under the I-27's bows. Now fighting the increasing list, the destroyer lowers her scrambling nets to pick up the last survivors from KHEDIVE ISMAIL. Two minutes later five gunners scramble from I-27's conning tower in an attempt to man the deck gun. PALADIN's No. 2 Oerlikon AA gun opens fire from 400 yds distance, blowing one of them overboard and killing the others. I-27 increases her speed to 8-10 kts, going round in circles and still down by the stern. PETARD fires a number of 4-in rounds that riddle I-27's conning tower, disable one of the periscopes and the deck gun. Since the high-explosive shells seem to inflict no apparent damage to the submarine's pressure hull, the officers of PETARD discuss the possibility to board the I-27 and storm its conning tower with Sten guns and hand grenades, or to plant explosive charges on its hull. Both plans are given up as too dangerous. At 1700, PETARD commences launching single torpedoes, six of which miss the target one by one. At 1723, the seventh torpedo finally strikes the crippled submarine, blowing her in half. As the column of water settles, the bow and stern are seen sinking at 01-25N, 72-22E. An oil slick and pieces of decking are sighted in the area, but no survivors. [url]http://www.39-45war.com/petard.html[/url] [pic]imgs/WW2_memorials/ChathamMemorialpanel78.png[/pic][caption]The panel on the Chatham Naval Memorial bearing the inscription for Motor Mechanic Edward Ashton [url=http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=11429.0]Image Courtesy Of Bobdonk[/url][/caption]