William Kirby and Brenda McMahon have submitted the following:-
Jonathan was born October 25th 1920 at Harton, Co Durham to James and Mary Ellen (nee Carmichael). Jonathan was born two years before the couple married on November 18th 1922 at Seaham Harbour. The couple went on to have 9 children including Norah, James, Mary.
1939 register shows Jonathan’s parents were living at 5 Doctor Street, Seaham. James was registered as a disabled miner. There is no mention of Jonathan on this register.
Jonathan joined the Royal Navy and became Leading Cook on HMS LImbourne which was a Hunt class destroyer. The Limbourne was commissioned only one year before it was sunk in 1942. She achieved good work in escort duties all over the world.
HMS Charybdis and HMS Limbourne were sunk as a result of enemy action at sea on October 23rd 1943 taking part in ‘Operation Tunnel’ 80 miles off the north coast of Brittany near Les Sept Isle which lies south of the Channel Islands.
Intelligence had indicated that German forces were intending to dispatch an important convoy and that it would keep close to the coast of Brittany and Normandy thus avoiding the open seas of the English Channel. A number of Royal Navy ships including Charybdis and Limbourne were dispatched from Plymouth to search and disrupt the convoy.
In the event, the German convoy was protected by a force of ships and had the benefit offered by an excellent radar system along the Brittany coast. Charybdis and Limbourne were hit by torpedo fire and sank in the early hours of the morning.
107 men from the crew of Charybdis were rescued, 464 lost their lives. A further 40 crew from the Limbourne were also lost.
Information from Royal Court of Guernsey.
Another report from Wikipedia Website states:-
On 23 October Limbourne was sailing with the light cruiser HMS Charybdisand five other destroyers, when they were engaged by a number of large GermanType 39 torpedo boats. Both ships were hit by torpedoes.T22 scored a hit on Limbourne exploding the forward magazine. 40 crewmembers of Limbourne were killed. Attempts were made to tow her back to port, for repairs. The tow attempts had to be abandoned, and she was scuttled.
Portsmouth Naval Memorial lists 24660 names of those sailors who were lost at sea and have no known grave. It stands on Southsea Common overlooking the promenade in Portsmouth, Hampshire. It commemorates nearly 10,000 naval personnel of the First World War and almost 15,000 of the Second World War who were lost or buried at sea.
Jonathan Carmichael Bullmore is remembered at Seaham Harbour on S117.04
