Orders, Decorations and Medals

Nine: Captain E. W. B. Sim, Royal Navy, commanding the light cruiser Galatea and killed when she was sunk by German forces in the Mediterranean in December 1941

1914-15 Star (Mid., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (S. Lt., R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Defence & War Medals; Coronation 1937, named, together with a Great War period postcard portrait, generally very fine or better (9) £300-400

Captain Edward William Boyd Sim, R.N., was killed in action whilst in command of H.M.S. Galatea on 14 December 1941. He entered Osborne in January 1912, and was among the Cadets who went directly to sea from Dartmouth when the war broke out in 1914. He served as Midshipman and Sub-Lieutenant in the cruiser Amphitrite, the battleship Barham, and the destroyer Exe. Following courses during 1919, he was promoted Lieutenant, 15 January 1920, and for the next seven years was in Dauntless and the destroyers Veteran, Bruce and Venetia. From 1927-29 he was on the Staff at Dartmouth. He next commanded the destroyers Sterling in China, and Woolfhound in the Home Fleet, and was promoted Commander in June 1933. He was Drafting Commander at Devonport Barracks, and later in the Personal Services Department at the Admiralty, resuming sea service in 1937 as executive officer in the cruiser Arethusa in the Mediterranean. He was promoted Captain in June 1940 and subsequently appointed to Galatea.

The light cruiser Galatea was a unit of the 15th Cruiser Squadron. On the night of 14th December, 1941, the squadron was returning from Alexandria after an unsuccessful search for an enemy convoy when it was attacked by German dive bombers. The attacks persisted for about seven hours. Just before midnight Galatea became the target for a German submarine which hit her with two torpedoes in quick succession. The cruiser turned over and sank in three minutes. Captain Sim, 22 officers and 447 ratings were killed, and about 100 survivors were picked up by the destroyers Griffin and Hotspur.