| HMS GROVE (June 12, 1942)
British destroyer, captained by Cdr.J.W. Rylands, was escorting supply convoy MW-11 from Alexandria to the island of Malta when the convoy was spotted by enemy aircraft and soon an intensive attack developed by bombers, submarines and units of the Italian Navy. The Grove was hit by two torpedoes from the U-77 (Kptlt. Heinrich Schonder) which blew off the bow of the ship which floated perpendicular in the water behind the main structure. With a list strongly to port and with her stern down, the Grove took only minutes to sink leaving an enormous oil slick on the surface. Two officers and 108 ratings went down with the ship. There were 65 survivors.
The enemy attack by submarine and aircraft was so severe that part of the convoy was compelled to return to Alexandria. Also sunk in this engagement was the light cruiser HMS Hermione which went down with eight officers and 79 ratings. Names of those lost on the Grove are engraved on the Naval Memorial overlooking the town of Chatham in Kent.
The U-77 was sunk by British aircraft off the coast of Spain on March 28, 1943. Thirty-eight crewmen were killed, only nine survived.
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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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