Trafford

Chief Motor Mechanic.

A Fairmile D class motor torpedo boat.   Undertook clandestine missions.  
Sunk by mine off Glavotok Point, Kirk Island, Croatia.

See also - http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?96804 gives a report from
Dennis Booth, LIEUTENANT, R.N.V.R. Commanding Officer, H.M.M.T.B.697.

"M.T.B.697 sailed from Rab at 2030 for patrol in company with M.G.B.658
(V,59 embarked) and M.T.B.633.    At 0234 unit was in order one, M.T.B.697
fleet No,2. in position 1 cable north of Glavotok Point, Kirk Island.    An
explosîon was felt and the ship stopped.  From abaft the bridge the ship
had disintegrated into several small sections, some of which were on fire;
the for’d part remained afloat but also caught fire at once and began to
settle.  The petrol in the tanks under the bridge was burning and orders
were given to abandon ship.  M.G.B.633 came alongside and the survivors
remaining on board were transferred.   Two seriously wounded men in the
water were rescued, one by M.G.B.658's dinghy manned by Lieut. Commander
Montgomerie and the lst Lieutenant, and the other by Sub-Lieut. Herd of
M.T.B.697 who after throwing the C.B. chest over the side, then threw a
Denton raft overboard and dived in after it, accompanied by A.B. Walker.
M.T.B.697 was abandoned in an orderly manner and the rescue of the
survivors was carried out coolly and efficiently in the face of
considerable danger from exploding ammunition of M.T.B.697 which was
blazing furiousiy from burning petrol on the water, from floating mines,
three of which had been sighted in the vicinity by the lights of the
flames, and from shore batteries which were only 3 miles distant but which
did not open fire.   A section of the mine was found on the fo’c’sle of
M.G.B.658, the leading ship."   10 men were missing, believed killed.

Commemorated on the Coastal Forces Veteran's Web-site - http://cfv.org.uk/