A Second War Coastal Forces D.S.C. and Second Award Bar group of five attributed to...

‘Perhaps the most gallant story was that of Lieutenant Gould, Royal Navy, and his audacious voyage right up to the East coast of Tunisia round Cape Bon and into the Bay of Tunis in broad daylight, wearing German colours until he had successfully deceived the enemy. This fruitful expedition caused panic and alarm all up that coast, but the cost was heavy as Gould was mortally wounded.’ Extract from R.U.S.I. lecture, “The Navy’s part in the North African campaign,” 22 March 1944 A Second War Coastal Forces D.S.C. and Second Award Bar group of five attributed to Lieutenant P. F. S. Gould, Royal Navy, the legendary Motor Gun Boat skipper who was decorated for his actions in the English Channel in M.G.B. 43, including the daylight ‘Channel Dash’ attacks on the German ships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen in February 1942; his final action in April 1943 off Cap Bon in the Mediterranean was thought worthy of a V.C. but resulted in the award of a Posthumous ‘mention’ Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross officially dated 1941, hallmarks for London 1940, and additionally engraved ‘Lt. P. F. S. Gould’, the reverse of the Bar officially dated 1942; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, North Africa 1942-43; War Medal 1939-45, with small M.I.D. oak leaf, these unnamed and mounted for display, extremely fine (5) £1,400-£1,800 --- D.S.C. London Gazette 21 October 1941: ‘M.G.B. 43 - For an attack on an enemy convoy in the Channel on 8 September 1941’ (Seedie’s Coastal Forces List refers). D.S.C. Second Award Bar London Gazette 31 March 1942: ‘M.G.B. 43 - For daylight attacks on the German ships SCHARNHORST, GNEISENAU and PRINZ EUGEN in the Dover Strait on 12 February 1942’ (Seedie’s Coastal Forces List refers). M.I.D. London Gazette 5 July 1940: ‘M.T.B. 16 - For good service off the Dutch Coast’ (Seedie’s Coastal Forces List refers). M.I.D. London Gazette 6 January 1942: ‘M.G.B. 43 - For an attack on an enemy convoy in the Dover Strait on 3 November 1941’ (Seedie’s Coastal Forces List refers). M.I.D. Posthumous London Gazette 11 January 1944: ‘32nd M.T.B. Flotilla - For an action off Kelibia and Cap Bon on 28 April 1943’ (Seedie’s Coastal Forces List refers). Accompanying Admiralty letter states: ‘For his distinguished services in a daylight sweep against an escorted Enemy Convoy in the Mediterranean in April 1943. Lieutenant Gould was Senior Officer of the 32nd Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla and showed outstanding gallantry in deliberately drawing on to his own light craft the fire of a much more heavily armed ship and so enabling the rest of his Flotilla to carry out a successful Torpedo attack on the Enemy. In the course of this gallant action Lieutenant Gould was killed.’ Philip Francis Stewart Gould was born on 29 May 1916 at Eastbourne, Sussex, eldest son of Colonel Philip Gould, D.S.O. He entered the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, in January 1930; passed as a Cadet in September 1933; and went afloat for the training cruise in the Frobisher, and from May 1934 was a midshipman in the Neptune, Home Fleet. On completion of his courses for Lieutenant, in 1937 he was appointed to the minesweeper Hazard, but in July 1938 was selected for service with motor torpedo boats. In command of M.T.B. 16 he was Mentioned in Despatches for services off the Dutch Coast when he was the last boat to leave the Hook of Holland as the Germans invaded, and did good work during the evacuation from Dunkirk. Gould later took part in the blocking of Zeebrugge and Ostend, taking off the crews of the blockships under fire. Following the loss of M.T.B. 16 to a mine in the Thames Estuary on 31 October 1940, he transferred to Motor Gun Boats and took command of M.G.B. 43. Of the action fought on the night of 8-9 September 1941, in the Straits of Dover off Blanc Nez, when M.G.B. 43 operated alongside M.G.B. 52, and a flotilla of M.T.Bs, Bryan Cooper in his history The Battle of the Torpedo Boats, states: ‘Fifteen miles away, the gunfire was seen by Lieutenant Stewart Gould from the bridge of M.G.B. 43. Together with M.G.B. 52, commanded by Lieutenant Barry Leith, R.N.V.R., this boat was racing towards the interception, having received a bearing from Dover Command headquarters. The boats altered course slightly to head directly for the lights flashing over the distant horizon ... As Gould headed for the distant gunfire, he too was wondering if now, at last, they were to have their chance. It would be galling for the M.T.Bs to have it all their own way; at this time there existed a friendly rivalry between the crews serving in the two types of craft ...The first to actually sight the convoy was Gould, in M.G.B. 43. He signalled the information to Dover Command and also to Pumphrey [Flotilla C.O. of the M.T.Bs]. As far as Gould could make out, there was one merchant ship and about six escorts, two of them armed trawlers and the remainder E boats. He decided to shadow the convoy until the M.T.Bs had time to close for their attack, and took station on the port quarter, about three-quarters of a mile behind. But the minutes passed and there was still no sign that the M.T.Bs had seen the convoy. All Gould knew was that they were several miles to the west. At 01-40, he decided to make a depth charge attack with the dual purpose of inflicting as much damage to the enemy as he could and also guiding the M.T.Bs to the area. Just at that moment, however, he saw small craft coming up astern of the convoy at high speed. It wasn’t where he expected to see the M.T.Bs, but they could have changed their position. “Thinking they might be our M.T.Bs,” Gould later reported, “I challenged. This was answered by heavy and accurate fire from shell-firing machine-guns. I then saw they were German S boats, four of them, in line abreast.” Both of Gould’s Lewis gunners, Able Seamen S. J. Beckett and E. Fletcher, were severely wounded by fragments of cannon shell, so that they were unable to take any further part in the action. M.G.B. 52 following, increased speed to 30 knots and engaged the enemy S-boats with full armament. Turning north, he then raced across the bows of the leading German boat and dropped a depth charge, set to go off at 100 feet. There was a dull explosion and no more was seen of the S-boat. Meanwhile, the other German boats were being repeatedly hit with Oerlikon and Lewis gun fire, and after a couple of minutes they broke off the action and turned away to the south at high speed. Gould then set about the rest of the convoy, closing to within 600 yards and engaging with gunfire. The enemy were so demoralised by now that they were firing wildly in all directions, and at one point, as Gould later recalled, the trawlers were firing at their own S-boats ... the M.G.Bs broke off the engagement at 02.55 and set course for home ... On the way home, a Dornier 17 shadowed the two craft for about twenty minutes at a height of 500 feet. The plane was finally driven off by 43’s gunner, Able Seaman Lanfear. M.G.B. 43 finally arrived at Ramsgate at 09.20, after [the damaged] M.G.B. 52 had been taken in tow by a destroyer.’ Lanfear won a well deserved C.G.M. Gould won a bar to his D.S.C. for an extraordinarily gallant attempt to penetrate the enemy’s defensive screen during the famous “Channel Dash” of February 1942 - in the end, under a terrible fire, he engaged an enemy destroyer at 1000 yards range. From 23 November 1942, he was the commanding officer of the motor torpedo boat H.M.S. St Christopher, transferring in April 19...