Doncaster WW2 warship sunk with loss of 45 lives to be remembered on tragedy's 80th anniversary

Royal Navy warship HMS Lightning was hit by German torpedo boats in the Mediterranean on March 12, 1943 – and a church service to commemorate those who lost their lives on that fateful day will be held at Doncaster Minster exactly 80 years on.

The destroyer was adopted by the borough of Doncaster in 1942 as the Second World War raged across the globe.

The ship was adopted by Doncaster as part of a Nationwide Savings initiative – known as ‘Warship Week’ with Doncaster people and the surrounding urban areas raising over £800,000 to effectively pay for the ship.

As a result, a Sea Cadet Corps was created in Doncaster in 1942, known as Training Ship (TS) Lightning and continues to thrive to this day.

But tragedy struck a year later when the ship was blasted, killing dozens on board.

During late February and March 1943, Lightning was escorting troop and supply ships between Algiers and Bône in Algeria in the day and attacking enemy convoys at night.

When in harbour, she was attacked every day by enemy aircraft and acted as an anti-aircraft ship.

On her last voyage, Lightning left Bône alone at 5.45pm on the evening of Friday 12 March 1943 and provided screening cover to the cruisers Aurora and Sirius.

The plan was to attack a German convoy out of Sicily bound for Tunisia. But when the convoy heard Lightning had left port, they returned to harbour.

At 6.51pm, Lightning was attacked by twelve German torpedo bombers. Lightning shot down one of the bombers and the attack itself failed to do any damage.

At about 10pm, interpreters on board Lightning intercepted a radio message in German, stating that they were about to attack Lightning.

At about 10.15pm, the German motor torpedo boat Schnellboot S-158 of the 7th S-Boat Flotilla fired the first torpedo, disabling Lightning.

The ship's company had no time to return fire: they were not at full fighting condition due to heavy fighting that had been almost continuous during the past few days.

The captain turned the ship hard to port to comb the track of the torpedo, but Lightning was too slow and was hit on the port bow, blowing it clean off.

Then a second E-boat, S-55 of the 3rd S-boat flotilla, circled the ship and moved round to the starboard side.

The German torpedo boat fired a second torpedo that hit beneath the funnel, destroying both boiler rooms, the pom pom and forward torpedo tubes on the upper deck.

Moments later Lightning was abandoned – she had begun sinking almost immediately after the second torpedo hit.

One survivor was picked up by S-158 and the remaining 180 survivors – including the captain, Commander Hugh Greaves Walters DSC - were picked up some hours later by sister ship Loyal.

The Reverend Canon David Stevens will conduct the service at 2pm on March 12, with the Right Reverend Sophie Jelley, Bishop of Doncaster at Doncaster Minster to an invited congregation of officers and serving Sea Cadets, including Ben Parkinson MBE, Sea Cadets Unit President, Commodore Phil Waterhouse Naval Regional Commander for Northern England, together with regional dignitaries, including John Holt, Deputy Lord-Lieutenant South Yorkshire, Ros Jones, City Mayor of Doncaster, Ian Pearson Civic Mayor of Doncaster, Mark Holbrook, Councillor for Armed Forces, Lt Colonel R A McPherson MBE High Sherriff of South Yorkshire, Adrian Hunt, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association – SSAFA, together with invited guests.

There will be a marching parade of Officers and Sea Cadets through the city prior to the service.

In March 1993, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of her sinking, a small group of the remaining survivors, were invited to a civic reception at the Mansion House by Charles Verrill, the then mayor and Cadets from TS Lightning proudly formed the guard of honour.

A plaque marking Lightning still hangs in Doncaster’s Mansion House.

The last known ship’s survivor, signalman Jack Dunn, who took an interest in the Doncaster cadet force, died in June 2022 aged 103. It is anticipated his niece Sue

Coley will be in attendance.

A book about the ship’s short history (and association with Doncaster) was published in 2019 with first hand testaments and experiences, including many images together

with full of technical details, titled: Struck by Lightning: The Story of HMS Lightning 1941-1943, John Dann, the book is available from Amazon and https://www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk/