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HMS FIREDRAKE (December 16, 1942)
Destroyer of 1,410 tons, launched in June 1934 at the Vickers-Armstrong Shipyard on the Tyne and sunk by torpedo from a German U-boat U-211 in the North Atlantic, about 400 nautical miles west of Mizen Head, Galway, Ireland. The Firedrake was escorting the forty-three ship Convoy ON-153 to Canada when the torpedo struck breaking the vessel in two. The bow section, including the bridge, sank immediately leaving thirty-five men stranded on the stern section. Another escort, HMS Sunflower ploughed through 60 foot waves to rescue the men who had jumped into the water. Twenty-seven crewmembers (6 officers and 20 ratings) were thus saved, one died later. In all, Commander Tilden and 167 of the Firedrake's crew were lost, plus three survivors who had been picked up earlier from another ship sunk that same night.
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On weald of Kent I watched once more
Again I heard that grumbling roar
Of fighter planes; yet none were near
And all around the sky was clear
Borne on the wind a whisper came
'Though men grow old, they stay the same'
And then I knew, unseen to eye
The ageless Few were sweeping by
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