Harold Cole
Portsmouth Naval Memorial
H.M.S. Dainty
William Kirby and Brenda McMahon have submitted the following:-
Harold was born at Sunderland on 14th December 1918 the son of William Simpson Cole and Sarah Jane (nee Hudson). The couple had married in 1895. Harold had a twin brother Frederick along with other siblings.
The 1911 census shows that the couple had 7 children at that point but unfortunately 3 died. Of course, by 1918 the twins Harold and Frederick had arrived.
Father, William, was a coal miner/hewer by trade.
Harold enlisted for the Royal Navy his last ship on which he served was the destroyer, HMS Dainty.
The following information has detailed the events leading up to Harold’s death. It has been taken from some documents of the Royal Navy:-
In the late afternoon of 24 February 1941 HMS Dainty (Commander Mervyn Somerset Thomas D.S.O., R.N.), belonging to the 10th destroyer flotilla, allocated to the Inshore Squadron, sailed from Tobruk for a patrol, together with HMS Hasty. Suddenly, in the twilight, Dainty was attacked by a low-flying He.111 of 11/KG.26 aircraft from Comiso, Sicily. 5 He.111’s had taken off singly from 15.33 hours, but 2 had been forced to return, while the other 3 attacked, between 18.55-1930 hours, Dainty and some other targets in Tobruk harbour. The destroyer targeted by the plane flying at 100m altitude, was hit by a 250-kg bomb which detonated in the Captain’s cabin. A serious fire broke out immediately and spread rapidly, causing the ammunition of the stern gun to explode. Cmdr. Thomas gave the abandon ship right away. While abandonment was in progress, torpedo warheads began detonating and scattering fragment all around, sinking the motorboat which hasty had lowered to collect men in the water. HMS Hasty herself, with skilful handling came alongside before Dainty sank. The death toll amounted to 33. Rescue operations also involved the goelette Mari Giovanni, a former Italian sailing vessel which had been captured by Dainty on New Year’s Day 1941 east of Tobruk.
Harold was one of the 33 men lost in the action that day. He was buried at sea.
