Malcolm David Wanklyn

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Malcolm David Wanklyn VC, DSO & Two Bars (June 28, 1911-April 14, 1942) was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Born in Kolkata, India, he joined the Royal Navy in 1925. Trained at Dartmough Naval College, he was assigned as a midshipman in 1930 to the battleship HMS Marlborough, part of the Third Battle Squadron; and the following year to the battlecruiser HMS Renown. After attending promotion courses in 1932 he joined the navy's submarine arm. From August 1933 he served on the submarine HMS Oberon which was part of the Mediterranean Fleet, and in October 1934 transferred to HMS L56 based with the rest of the 6th Submarine Flotilla at Portsmouth. In 1936 he was promoted to First Lieutenant (i.e. second in command) of the boat. In January 1937 he moved to HMS Shark. He became second in command of HMS Otway, part of the 5th Submarine Flotilla in August 1939 but was shortly afterwards promoted to be commander of HMS H32. He was given command HMS Upholder, which was then under construction, in August 1940.^[1]

He was 29 years old, and a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Navy during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 24 May 1941 in the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, Lieutenant-Commander Wanklyn, commanding HM Submarine Upholder on her seventh patrol, torpedoed an Italian troopship (the 18,000 ton former liner Conte Rosso) which was with a strongly protected convoy. As the submarine's listening equipment was broken the approach to the attack was made entirely using the periscope without going deep and approaching the convoy by navigating towards the sounds of the propellers. ^[2] The troopship sank and Upholder then endured a strong counter-attack in which 37 depth charges were dropped in 20 minutes, before she got clear. By the end of 1941 Lieutenant-Commander Wanklyn had sunk nearly 140,000 tons of enemy shipping, including a destroyer and troopships, tankers, supply and store ships.

Wanklyn was killed along with his crew when the submarine was lost on her 25th patrol, becoming overdue on 14 April 1942. The most likely explanation is that she fell victim to depth charges dropped by the Italian torpedo boat Pegaso North East of Tripoli on 14 April 1942 although no debris was seen on the surface. The attack was 100 miles away from Wanklyn's patrol area it is thought that he may have changed position to find more targets. It is also possible that the submarine was sunk by a mine on 11 April 1942 near Tripoli, when a submarine was reported as approaching a minefield.^[3]

[edit] References

• British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)
• Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

[edit] References