First Air Raid of WWII – 33

15:25 – the attack on HMS Mohawk

At Kincraig Point, near Earlsferry, signals officer Captain Lamb had been watching a convoy including escorts Jervis, Mohawk and Furious moving up the Forth towards the boom defence.

A few minutes later at 15.20 hours an enemy aircraft was spotted overhead. This was probably part of a fourth section which had initially made landfall further north than the other aircraft, having been visible from RAF Leuchars.

In order to reach the target the three bombers had flown southwest towards the Forth. En route they spotted the convoy and one of the pilots chose a military target to attack while the other two maintained course tor the naval vessels east of the Forth Bridge (it is possible that they also noticed that the ‘Hood’ was already in dock thus it was decided that one aircraft should take the opportunity to attack an alternate military target at sea).

The other two Ju88s were the last to be seen over the target area and one of them subsequently flew low over Turnhouse at 16.00 hours and was chased over the Scottish capital by Robbie Robertson and Black Morton.

At 15.25 hours, 30 minutes after Pohle’s initial attack, it proceeded to dive-bomb HMS Mohawk which was between Kincraig Point on the north shore of the Forth and Gullane on the south shore.

The two 500kg bombs exploded within 50 feet of Mohawk peppering the vessel and crew members with lethal shards of shrapnel.  The blasts and subsequent machine-gun fire resulted in 25 casualties with 13 ratings and two officers killed. John Keer was serving on board at the time:

I ran to my action station which was ‘A’ Gun on the fo’csle, a 4.7 inch gun (Twin). I arrived there with Petty Officer Buffer. We saw something like a barrel land in the water right next to the ship. It exploded and both Petty Officer Buffer and I fell to the ground wounded by flying shrapnel. The next thing I knew I was being picked up off the deck with a bit of shrapnel sticking out of my head. One minute we were all laughing and joking; the next many were dead and injured.

On the bridge of HMS Mohawk was the ship’s captain, Commander Richard Jolly, an oppressive disciplinarian who was very unpopular with his crew. During the attack by the Ju88, shrapnel penetrated the bridge hitting him in the stomach. The wound was very serious but he refused repeated requests to go below deck for treatment uttering the now immortal words: ‘Leave me, go and look after the others.’ 15 officers and other ranks were killed. The list of dead would rise by one more. The attack on the Mohawk caused by far the greatest loss of life during the raid on 16 October.

Commander Richard Jolly brought his ship with its many casualties on board, including himself, at full speed the 25 miles to Rosyth.  A passage which lasted over one and a quarter hours, during which time his voice had become so weak that he could not make himself heard and his orders had to be repeated by the navigation officer, who was himself wounded. Mohawk tied up safely alongside Y berth, Richard Jolly rang off the main engines and immediately collapsed. Just under five hours later, he died. His had been an exceptional display of courage and devotion to duty. Royal Navy fatalities as a result of the air-raids over the Forth thereby increased to 16 killed and forty-four wounded, almost all on board Mohawk.