Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry


Colthurst (left) with Admiral Tovey on the deck of H.M.S. Avenger.


Intelligence had revealed that an aircraft-carrier would accompany the convoy and Goering insisted that ‘the attack against the aircraft- carrier must be so violent that this threat is removed.’ Despite this, German aircraft tended always to seek out merchant ships, knowing that in doing so they were aiming for the most significant targets. A victory over PQ-18, the young pilots were told, would help their comrades in the Wehrmacht, easing the conquest of the Caucasus and the capture of Stalingrad by depriving the Red Army of its sinews.’


On 14 September 1942, the Luftwaffe delivered no less than eight major assaults against PQ-18, large forces of Ju. 88s, He. 111s and He. 115s unleashing a torrent of bombs and torpedoes, many of the latter finding their mark. In fact so thick was the sky with enemy aircraft that the Commodore likened them to ‘a cloud of phantom locusts’, while a young Sub. Lieutenant recalled seeing them ‘rise up on the horizon, black and repulsive’, where ‘they extended far on either side of our view’ - a scene which shortly became even more memorable with the advent of the intense A.A. fire put up by the allied ships. Regarding the 14th, Michael G. Walling tells in Forgotten Sacrifice how successfully Colthurst marshalled Avenger’s defences to survive the day: ‘HMS Onslow, following a sighting by one of Avenger’s Swordfish, bagged U-589, which was stalking the convoy. At 1235 hours, the Luftwaffe again joined the battle with about twenty torpedo aircraft targeting Avenger and Scylla. The attack cost the Germans another eleven planes, but the losses didn’t deter them from further attacks.


As the initial wave of torpedo bombers in this attack disappeared over the horizon, a dozen Ju-88s appeared overhead and started dive- bombing. Several ships including Avenger, made narrow escapes while the Germans lost another aircraft. Almost immediately twenty- five torpedo aircraft came in from ahead, dividing as before into two groups, one of which made dead set for Avenger. Avenger had ten fighters in the air, and these together with the ship’s guns, shot down nine more enemy aircraft, but one ship, Mary Luckenbach in the starboard wing column, was torpedoed. She blew up with such force that Nathaniel Green right behind her in the column was covered with debris and several of her deck cargo crates burst.’


Notwithstanding such protracted attention from the enemy, and in no small part thanks to Colthurst’s ‘gallantry, skill and resolution’, PQ-18 reached the North Dvina in the afternoon of the 19th, with nearly three quarters of the convoy’s merchantmen.


Colthurst was awarded the D.S.O., having been Mentioned in Rear Admiral R. L. Burnett’s Report: ‘Great credit is due to the Commanding Officer H.M.S. “Avenger”, Commander A. P. Colthurst, R.N., for his skilful handling of his ship during torpedo attacks and for the invaluable work of his aircraft’.


H.M.S. Avenger November 1942 - Operation Torch – Sunk by U-115 – “Mentioned”


But there was to be little rest for Colthurst since Avenger was next tasked with providing air cover for one of the convoys carrying the British assault force for Operation Torch. Once off North Africa she would join the covering force for the landings, with H.M.S. Argus, three cruisers, and five destroyers. On arrival on 8 November 1942, the Supermarine Seafires from Argus and Avenger's Sea Hurricanes


provided air cover for the landings. Between 8–10 November Avenger flew 60 fighter missions. On 9 November, she had a near miss


by a torpedo from a He 111, and from 10–12 November she was laid up with engine problems before sailing for Gibraltar. HMS Avenger was sunk by U-155 during the early hours of 15 November 1942, while escorting convoy MKF 1(Y) just west of Gibraltar. A single torpedo hit the ship’s bomb room, igniting the munitions stored there and causing numerous secondary explosions, she sank in under five minutes, taking 68 officers, including Colthurst, and 446 ratings with her. Only twelve members of her crew were rescued. For his gallantry Colthurst was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches, and is commemorated in the Lee-on-Solent Memorial.


Sold with two photographs of Commander Colthurst with Admiral Tovey on the deck of H.M.S. Avenger, one photograph of Avenger in heavy seas during a 1942 arctic convoy, and one photograph taken from the deck of Avenger during an enemy air attack on convoy PQ-18, visible in the frame are around 10 enemy aircraft and 1 Sea Hurricane.


Note: The recipient’s original Mentioned in Despatches Certificate, together with a single unnamed D.S.O. purporting to be the one awarded to the recipient, but without any other original documentation, was sold at Glendining’s in September 1988.


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