Talk:Frederick Thornton Peters

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[edit] Which cruiser?

The VC citation refers to "point blank fire from shore batteries, a destroyer and a cruiser". Which cruiser was this? The following French vessels were captured or destroyed at Oran harbour on 8 November 1942, according to [1]:

  • submarines Actéon, Argonaute, Ariane, Cérès, Danaë, Diane, and Pallas
  • destroyers Tornade, Tramontane, Typhon, and Epervier
  • sloop La Surprise
  • patrol boats L'Ajaccienne, La Bônoise, La Sétoise, La Toulonnaise

No cruiser here, unless it escaped. So maybe the sloop La Surprise was mistaken for a destroyer and the destroyer Typhon for a cruiser? Gdr 21:59, 2004 Dec 13 (UTC)

"The French Navy on World War II" by R.Adm. Paul Auphan & Jacques Mordal (Annapolis, Md. : US Naval Institute, 1959) gives the following details at p. 225-226: "At once the patrol vessel on duty and the batteries on the breakwater opened fire. Under fire from the batteries as well as from the vessels getting under way, the venture of the Walney and Hartland became not a disaster, but a slaughter. Swept by fire everywhere from cannon and machine guns at pointblank range, the Walney went down under the impact of more than fifty shells while trying to grapple with the Epervier, which was blazing away at her from a distance of 100 feet. The Hartland, following her wake, suffered a similar fate." The Epervier is being described as a 'super-destroyer', which will be the explanation for the description as cruiser.

"Engage the enemy more closely : the Royal Navy in the Second World War" by Correlli Barnett (London : Norton, 1991) states (p. 567): "At 0310 Walney broke through the boom into the harbour, only to be reduced to a flaming hulk by the French sloop La Surprise and cross fire from submarines and the destroyer Epervier. Walney later sank. The Hartland fared no better, for the destroyer Typhon shattered her at point-blank range, leaving her to blaze from stem to stern in the middle of the harbour until she blew up after daylight."

My conclusion would be: cruiser = super-destroyer Epervier, destroyer = sloop La Surprise.

For more 'bare' details on life & career of Peters you can look at my website World War II Unit Histories & Officers (direct linking is not allowed by the server, so just paste in your address line http://jnh.nce.buttobi.net/RN_officersP.html#Peters) J.N. Houterman 08:39, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)

That makes sense. I added Epervier to the article. Thank you. Gdr 21:59, 2004 Dec 27 (UTC)