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Auction: 26002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 179

A Submariner's D.S.M. group of six awarded to Petty Officer S. V. Wragg, Royal Navy, H.M.S. Submarine Satyr which sunk U-987 in June 1944 and who later served aboard H.M.S. Submarine Taciturn during her Far East patrols

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (P.O. S. V. Wragg, C/JX. 144505), officially engraved naming; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Burma Star, 1 clasp, Pacific; War Medal 1939-45, minor contact marks, otherwise generally good very fine (6)

D.S.M. London Gazette 15 August 1944, the original citation states:

'For undaunted courage, skill and devotion to duty in successful patrols in H.M. Submarines.'

Sydney Valentine Wragg, the son of William Wragg, was born on 20 October 1918 at Tynemouth, Northumberland. He was living at County school, Hendon, London when he enlisted in the Royal Navy as an Able Seaman on 20 October 1937. Advanced to Leading Seaman on 1 February 1939 he joined the submarine service on 26 June 1939. His first wartime posting was to the Triumph, which lasted until February 1940. He subsequently held appointments aboard two or three other submarines, the P. 31 among them, but his first posting of any length was that aboard the Satyr between February 1943 and June 1944. And it was during this period, on 15 June 1944, that the Satyr torpedoed and sank the U-987 off Norway:

Norwegian patrols & the sinking of U-987

'Satyr (Lieutenant T. S. Weston in command) on patrol west of the Lofoten Islands from 10 June to 24th had better fortune. U-Boats were sighted on the 13th and 16th. On the 15th a U-Boat was sighted at 0701 at 700 yards but Satyr was too broad on the bow to attack. Two hours later another U-Boat was sighted at 4000 yards range and attacked. In spite of the first two torpedoes of a salvo of six colliding and exploding, the attack was successful and two hits were obtained on U-987 (on her first, and only war patrol) which sank immediately leaving no survivors.

Reloading was commenced but not completed until 1305. Two minutes later another U-Boat was sighted but on 140 degrees track and no attack was possible. Had the reloading drill been more efficient there is no doubt that Satyr would have had an excellent chance of scoring a double. Patrol was shifted that night at 120 miles north and west on orders from Flag Officer Submarines who had received intelligence of U-Boats in that vicinity. This move resulted in the sighting already recorded on 16 June but the U-Boat was too far off to attack. This was an exciting and fruitful patrol which resulted in the sinking of an outward-bound U-Boat and the award of the D.S.O. to Lieutenant Weston, one D.S.C. and four D.S.Ms.

The Far East beckons

Following his time in Satyr, Wragg was posted to Taciturn on 1 August 1944 serving aboard her until the end of the war.

H.M.S. Taciturn (P314) was a 'T' Class Submarine by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness and was Commissioned on 8 October 1944. With a crew of 59, Taciturn was Commanded by Lieutenant Edward Talbot Stanley, D.S.O., D.S.C. between 1 November 1944 and 28 February 1946; his biography, The Life and Times of Commander Edward Stanley, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N., was published in 1996.

After testing and trials in Scotland, H.M.S. Taciturn set out on her first War Patrol in the North Sea on 23 January 1945. A month later she departed from Holy Loch for Gibraltar on the first leg of the passage to the Far East. In the meantime Wragg was invested with his D.S.M. at Buckingham Palace in February 1945.

After more trials on arrival in the Far East, she set off on her second War Patrol on 13 May 1945, where she was ordered to patrol in the Java and South China Seas.

According to her log, on 29 May 1945, Taciturn attacked a Japanese 'submarine chaser' with three torpedoes off the North coast of Java. No hits were obtained and Taciturn was depth charged following this attack. Minor damage was done to Taciturn. However, on 16 June 1945 she sank a Japanese air warning picket hulk (this was the hulk of the salvaged former Dutch submarine K XVIII, the Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 105, and a Japanese sailing vessel). The following day, she sank a schooner north of Surabaya, Java. Ten days later she ended her second patrol.

On 25 July 1945, Taciturn departed from Fremantle for her third War Patrol in the Java Sea. On 1 August 1945, Taciturn, in company with H.M.S. Thorough, attacked Japanese shipping and shore targets off northern Bali. Taciturn sank two Japanese sailing vessels with gunfire. On 15 August 1945, Taciturn was ordered to return to Fremantle. Arriving 6 days later, this was her last wartime offensive patrol, Wragg remained aboard her until 20 December 1945.

Posted back to Dolphin he remained in the submarine service and was released from service on 30 September 1948; sold together with copied research.

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Estimate
£1,400 to £1,800

Starting price
£1200