Marine PO/X 4761, Royal Marines, HMS Barham Died 25/11/1941.

 

Born in Mendlesham in 1921 the youngest of four sons of George Teager and Agnes Ellen Kate nee Brundish. George & Agnes were running the Royal Oak in Mendlesham in 1911. In 1939 George and Agnes were living at 6 Cavendish Road, Felixstowe.

 

HMS Barham had been part of a fleet sent to prevent German warships reaching the Atlantic when she was torpedoed by German submarine U-30 on 28th December 1939, four were killed & two wounded, she then went for repairs. In September 1941 during the Battle of Dakar she was again hit, this time by a 24 cm shell which penetrated through the superstructure but had little impact, she was repaired in Gibralter in the October.

 

On 24th November 1941, the Queen Elizabeth, Barham and Valiant, with an escort of eight destroyers, sailed from Alexandria to cover operations against two enemy convoys reported to be making for Benghazi. On the following day, at 16.25 hours, Barham was torpedoed by the German submarine U-331, which, undetected, had penetrated the destroyer screen. The submarine fired four torpedoes, three of which detonated on Barham's port side, between the funnel and 'Y' turret. She quickly listed to port and, after a pause of a few seconds, at an angle of 40 degrees, turned onto her beam ends. Four minutes after the torpedoes had struck, the after 15inch magazines exploded and vented through the upperdeck and the starboard side. 879 Officers and Ratings were lost, although a further 395 were rescued. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.