Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry 38


A Great War D.S.M. group of five awarded to Chief Petty Officer T. Hoban, Royal Navy, who, having been mentioned in despatches for his services in the Dardanelles, was decorated for his part in H.M.S. Vanessa’s sinking of UB-107 in July 1918


Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (192417. T. Hoban, C.P.O. “Vanessa” North Sea 27, July 1918); 1914-15 Star (192417, T. Hoban, P.O.1., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (192417 T. Hoban. C.P.O. R. N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C. (192417. Thomas Hoban, C.P.O. H.M.S. Tobago) nearly very fine (5)


£800-£1,200


D.S.M. London Gazette 24 May 1919: ‘For services in action with enemy submarines’


M.I.D. London Gazette 11 April 1917: ‘In recognition of services in the Eastern Mediterranean up to 30 June 1916’


Thomas Hoban was born on 28 April 1881 in Lackan, County Mayo, Ireland. He entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on 3 February 1897. He was Rated Ordinary Seaman while serving in H.M.S. Rodney in April 1898 and Able Seaman while in H.M.S. Juno in May 1900 and continued to serve in a large number of ships and shore establishments. Joining the depot ship H.M.S. Egmont, in Malta, while still an Able Seaman in May 1906, he was rapidly advanced to Petty Officer 1st Class within the following six months. Hoban joined the cruiser H.M.S. Blenheim on 23 June 1914, serving in her during the Great War in the Mediterranean. Blenheim was sent to Mudros in March 1915 in support of the British Expeditionary Force at the Dardanelles, Hoban receiving a mention in despatches for his service in Blenheim during this period. Remaining in the Eastern Mediterranean after the final evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula, Hobart joined the destroyer H.M.S. Wolverine in the Aegean on 11 June 1916, patrolling the Dodecanese and the Turkish coast. At this time Wolverine also carried parties of Greek and Cretan irregular troops, commanded by the courageous classical scholar, Professor Lieutenant-Commander John Myres, which carried out cattle raids on the Turkish coast. Taffrail’s Endless Story gives an indication of the unconventional nature of these operations:


‘A minor base was established at Port Laiki, in Leros Island, and a force of 2 destroyers - Scorpion and Wolverine - 3 trawlers, and 11 drifters was sent to work from there. Though still under the orders of Captain Dent, the operations of this detached group were directed by the Commanding Officer of the Scorpion, Commander A. B. Cunningham, D.S.O. Very briefly, his orders were to patrol the scattered islands and the mainland, from Samos on the North to Rhodes on the south, a distance of 120 miles, to search for hostile submarines. The mainland harbours were also to be investigated, and any boats or native craft found which might be used for communicating with the outside world were to be destroyed. Villages firing on the searching vessels were to be shelled and destroyed, though this, as a rule, was rather beyond the capability of destroyers, with their comparatively small outfits of ammunition. An intelligence system was in force under Professor J. L. Myres, then, as now, Wykeham Professor of Ancient History and Fellow and Librarian of New College, Oxford. He had been given the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, R.N.V.R., and had an excellent lot of workers among the Greek fishermen. His Greek sympathies, however, made him by no means popular with the Italian governors of the Dodecanese Islands. As time went on, Lieutenant-Commander Myres, who was very keen on carrying the war into the enemy’s own territory, raised a force of Greek and Cretan irregulars - most people called them brigands - which was used for raiding the mainland covered by destroyers... The war certainly produced some strange situations. One of the strangest, however, must surely have been that of the Wykeham Professor of Ancient History at New College, Oxford, an M.A., Hon. D.Sc., Fellow of the British Academy, and F.S.A., on the bridge of a destroyer in action, and leading a band of bloodthirsty freebooters on cattle-forays in Asia Minor.’


Returning to H.M.S. Vernon II at Portsmouth on 1 October 1917, Hoban was advanced Chief Petty Officer later the same month. He joined the newly commissioned torpedo boat destroyer H.M.S. Vanessa on 16 April 1918 and was awarded the D.S.M. for his part in the sinking of UB-107 in the North Sea on 27 July 1918. On this occasion, Vanessa dropped three depth charges in the vicinity of where a U-boat had dived, resulting in wreckage and oil coming to the surface. UB-107 had been commissioned in February 1918 and had already sunk 11 merchant ships between 10 May 1918 and 27 July 1918, before her own loss. After the war Hoban served in H.M.S. Tobago from 22 February 1919 and was awarded the L.S. & G.C. Medal on 29 July 1919. He next joined H.M.S. Somme on 1 January 1921 but was discharged to a pension on 22 July 1921.


Sold with copied research including service papers and naval reports on the sinking of UB-107.


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