A ‘Q-Ship’ group of four awarded to Stoker Petty Officer W. J. Birch, Royal Navy, who was serving in H.M.S. Farnborough, ‘Q5’, when she sank the German submarine U-83 on 17 February 1917, an action for which her captain, Gordon Campbell, was awarded the Victoria Cross

1914-15 Star (135711, W. J. Birch, S.P.O., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (135711 W. J. Birch S.P.O. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (135711. W. J. Birch, Sto. H.M.S. Colleen.) official correction to ‘M’ on LSGC, very fine (4) £500-£700

William James Birch was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, on 5 November 1865 and attested for the Royal Navy on 1 December 1885. Advanced Stoker Petty Officer on 1 July 1906, he was shore pensioned on 10 September 1908 and joined the Royal Fleet Reserve the following day. Recalled for service during the Great War, he was borne on the books of the Irish depot ship H.M.S. Colleen when he was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 26 October 1916, having joined H.M.S. Farnborough, the converted Q-Ship ‘Q5’, on 9 November 1915, under her Captain Gordon Campbell. He was present in Q5 on 17 February 1917 when off the west coast of Ireland at 9:45 a.m., Campbell, following proscribed Q-ship tactics, turned into the track of an enemy torpedo so as to allow it to hit Q5 aft by the engine-room bulkhead. The ‘panic party’ made a convincing departure in boats as the ship began to settle by the stern. Campbell and the guns’ crews, meanwhile, lay prone in their hiding places on the upper deck as the barely submerged U-boat, U-83 commanded by Hoppe, closed to within twenty yards. At 10:05 the submarine broke surface 300 yards off the port bow, but in a position where none of Q5’s guns could bear. Gradually, however, the submarine passed down the port side with the intention of securing the ship’s papers from the ‘crew’ in the boats. As U-83 motored abeam of Q5, Campbell could see that she was fully surfaced, with the conning tower open and Hoppe on the bridge. At 10:10 he gave the order to open fire. The guns’ crews got off forty five rounds at point blank range, nearly all of which hit. U-83 sank with the loss of all hands save for one officer and a seaman. Q5 in sinking condition was taken in tow by the destroyer H.M.S. Narwhal and the sloop H.M.S. Buttercup and eventually beached.

Birch was one of the few crew members to leave Q5 on 24 February 1917, when he did not elect to follow Gordon Campbell to his next command, another Q-Ship, H.M.S. Pargust, which later sank UC-29, leading to the award of two Victoria Crosses under Rule Thirteen, with Lieutenant Stuart being selected by ballot as the representative officer and Seaman William Williams as the representative rating. Serving ashore for the rest of war, he was invalided from the service on 20 November 1918.

Sold with copied service records, medal roll extracts and research.