HMS/M Sidon

Memorial Service

Written by Godfrey Dykes

©RN Communications Branch Museum/Library

Hello and a warm welcome to this special page.

To those who were present at Portland for the unveiling of the Memorial Stone for those men lost in Her Majestys Submarine SIDON in June 1955, you will know that there will be a CD available which will have all the photographs of the day taken by the official photographer. Quite naturally, this would be the preferred method of viewing professional photographs all of which can be viewed in a leisurely manner on any CD reader, television, local or computer. Therefore, this page is not intended to compete with the CD medium, and I would encourage you to make enquiries about obtaining your own copy by sending a request to Brian Hodder whose address appears on the HMS SIDON MEMORIAL INVITATION which is displayed in the photographs below.

This page is designed to show those who were not present at the Ceremony the main events of the day, and to explain what you will see in the photographs which my wife took.

However before I start, please look at my first picture which shows Brian Hodder explaining to the Royal Marine Bugler (who sounded The Last Post and The Reveille) where he would stand to carry out his duty, and what would be happening in the harbour for the Wreath Laying Ceremony. I am sure that Brian will be embarrassed when I say that much of the credit for a moving, dignified and wonderful ceremonial event (albeit a casual one) was down to his sterling efforts and management skills. Brian is an Officer and Member of the Dorsetshire Submariners Association, and we submariners owe a great debt to them for fielding this event so successfully. I am sure that the families and friends of those who perished were grateful to all involved from the Dorsetshire Branch for their many kindnesses, expressed in great measure both formal and informal.

The story of the loss of Sidon is well known to submariners and to other royal sailors, but for others I offer this very brief account. HMS Sidon was one of many submarines stationed in Portland Naval Base in the 1950's. She was an 'S' Class submarine (known in the navy as a Boat) and unlike the smaller surface vessels stationed in the Base (destroyers, frigates, patrol vessels, tugs etc) who were always berthed alongside shore jetties, submarines shared the same fate as the aircraft carriers who were also based at Portland and with visiting large ships, of being berthed in the middle of the harbour, having to use small vessels to ferry their crew's to and from shore. The submarines had a Depot Ship, a mother-ship and a very large ship too, called HMS Maidstone which arrived at Portland in 1946 and left in 1958, and Sidon shared that ship with other sister 'S' boats, 'T' boats and 'U' class boats (the latter put that way so as not to confuse you with 'U' boats, as in German submarines). During the Suez War of 1956 I was in the Flagship HMS Tyne which had been the Home Fleet's Flagship based on Portsmouth before sailing for the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. From September 1956, Maidstone took over that duty, and remaining at Portland, she had two extremely important roles in the Fleet for the next eighteen months. HMS Maidstone berthed submarines on both sides of the ship, port and starboard, and the pre-ordained positions were called 'trots'. As in naval practice, 'trots' to port were even numbers and those to starboard, odd numbers. I remember well that Maidstone (and other "Mum's" like the Adamant and the Forth) often had many boats on each side, and Portland was an extremely busy base in the 1950's. The destroyers and frigates based at the base were all part of the 2nd T.S. (Second Training Squadron) and were led by Captain TS (or Captain 'F' or even 'D') embarked in the senior destroyer/frigate. The Captain of HMS Maidstone was known as SM2 and all his boats belonged to the Second Submarine Flotilla. Submarines were based at Portland for several reasons, but the two main reasons were to carry out experiments with the Portland based AUWE (Admiralty Under Water Establishment) and to provide realistic training in ASW (Anti Submarine Warfare) for the many officers and ratings of the TAS (Torpedo Anti Submarine) Branch taken to sea daily in the ships mentioned above from their shore base which was HMS Osprey.

On the 16th June 1955, very early in the forenoon, HM Submarine Sidon was alongside the Maidstone loading an experimental type torpedo which on completion of loading, would be taken to sea to be fired and assessed by personnel in the submarine (from AUWE) and those ashore at the AUWE Range. Much of the pre-sailing checks had been completed and the boat was within half an hour or so from slipping from its trot. It was at that point that the disaster occurred. The experimental torpedo exploded inside its assigned tube allowing the sea into the TSC (Torpedo Stowage Compartment) forward, and through open watertight doors, into the accommodation spaces forward of the control room whilst she was still secured to her trot. What followed was horrendous but thank God that the torpedo did not have a warhead fitted. Twelve men were to lose their lives, and the number rose to thirteen when a very brave national serviceman doctor (a Surgeon Lieutenant) entered the boat subsequent to the explosion to try and save lives. His name as Surgeon Lieutenant Charles RHODES, a young husband and father, and for his outstanding bravery and disregard for his own safety, was awarded the Albert Medal posthumously. Everybody was delighted when yesterday his daughter (a toddler in 1955) was present and with great pride she was wearing her fathers Albert Medal. Those who survived, including her Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander Hugh Verry Royal Navy Rtd and are still alive in 2005 have been traumatised ever since, and the profound tragedy was to result in loss of the boat as an operational unit. After the sinking of the Sidon whilst still alongside Maidstone, she was taken to Chesil Beach and beached for internal examination and when all the formalities were over, many months later, she was taken out into Lyme Bay, just a few miles away, and sunk to the bottom of the deep bay. Since those times, she has often been a target for underwater detection exercises.

Two thirds of the way up the long climb to the top of Portland and just below the Verne Prison is the Royal Naval Cemetery which is the final resting place for the men of Sidon as a group. The cemetery, unlike the place where the Memorial Stone lies, does overlook the harbour, and from it one can imagine looking across to the huge mass of HMS Maidstone and her relatively tiny charges nestling alongside her for warmth and comfort: indeed, since writing these words, I have added a photograph which does it all for you. I can remember well the many hundreds of people who climbed this hill for a good view of Maidstone and the salvaging operation of bringing Sidon to the surface in the days following the tragedy. On several occasions the authorities asked these people (or perhaps they were ghouls) not to go to the hill and to give some thought for the families of the men who perished (nay, for the whole crew of Sidon) and respect their need for privacy in their profound grief. It didn't work, and at one point, on a lovely sunny evening, the whole hill side was covered. Looking back, many, I am sure, wanted to join ranks with those who grieved and wanted only the very best out of what there were witnessing and praying for loved ones.

A warship in the 1950's had three official names (it had others but some of them were rude) namely its literal name e.g., SIDON; its pennant number e.g., P259 when it was first commissioned and later S59, and its radio (and thus v/s) international callsign, which for sidon was MKKS (Mike Kilo Kilo Sierra today in 2005) but in 1955 MIKE KING KING SUGAR. On the 16th June 1955, Sidon would have set watch with the depot ship HMS Maidstone on the submarine exercise and safety net one hour before sailing at approximately 0800. The frequency of this net was 4340 kc/s (then, kHz today) and the net was listened to by Portland W/T (ashore) and all ships exercising in the area as a safety measure. Ships talked to Portland W/T on a different circuit. What follows is a Morse code signal sent at a slow speed of 15wpm. It is almost certainly the first time Sidon's callsign has been heard on the air waves (the Internet) since the morning of the 16th June 1955. In the signal we hear the Sidon's callsign calling her depot ship maidstone whose callsign is GXZZ (GOLF XRAY ZEBRA ZEBRA), strong at first and then getting progressively weaker until it disappears from our ears. Charles Clayton, a Telegraphist who perished in Sidon would have made this callsign many times. Charles Rhodes is not buried with Sidon's dead as a group of twelve men, but on his own in a separate part of the cemetery simply because his religion, his church, the roman catholic church, demanded that he should be buried in a catholic spot and not an anglican spot, and all this despite his parent's wishes for wanting him buried as a "Sidon". ((A personal comment - I wonder why so many churches are empty?)).

HMS/M Sidon calling her depot ship Maidstone
Click on image to play

HMS/M Sidon Invitation

The ceremonies started on the Wednesday evening, when SIDON'S, as they warmly refer to families and friends of those who perished and ex crew members, all of whom wore a pink colour name plate endorsed with their name etc., gathered at the Portland Heights Hotel for dinner before going on to a venue where much bonding was to take place. My wife and I plus others attending the Memorial Unveiling also had dinner at the Hotel and then enjoyed a quiet evening in new surroundings. The next day, after a hearty breakfast, the Sidon's plus invited guests (my wife Beryl and I for example) were bussed from the Hotel to Portland Dockyard to witness the laying of a wreath on the sea in the approximate position of where the Sidon was when she sank alongside Maidstone. I don't have to hand a full and clear picture of Maidstone with her boats, but I do have a picture of HMS Adamant, a Plymouth based mother ship with her boats in Falmouth Bay in 1962. The picture gives one an excellent idea of what Maidstone would have looked like from the air in 1955 in Portland Harbour. Also, I have a couple of plans of what Portland Harbour looked like when it was a naval base in 1955 and on these plans I can mark out where the Maidstone lay and roughly where Sidon 's trot was. I can also shown you where we assembled to watch the Wreath Laying Ceremony.

Portland Dockyard Berthing & Anchorage Plans


Victim's Graves			Depot Ship		HMS/M Sidon Alongside

The visibility was very poor, perhaps no more than 100 yards only which could have wrecked the plans made so diligently by the Dorsetshire Submariners Association. What they had planned for this phase was executed to the full with timely grace and dignity, and set a high standard for the rest of the Ceremony. Out of the mist at about 1045, an orange colour vessel approached our viewing point shortly after followed by the proverbial sound of a low flying big helicopter, in this case a SeaKing of the Dorset Search and Rescue Team. The vessel was the Weymouth Life Boat. As the vessel approached in full view of our position, a winchman was lowered from the helicopter down onto the lifeboat with a wreath and immediately after, the chopper flew away. After a few circular manoeuvres by the vessel, the chopper returned to collect the winchman and departed with two prominent lowerings of the nose of the chopper in a clear salute and farewell: those assembled clapped enthusiastically which whilst not heard in the chopper, would certainly have been seen on the flight-deck. Soon afterwards, the crew of the lifeboat lowered the Wreath into the sea supported by a large red round buoy and then stood-off again clearly in a saluting posture. Then came the blessing given by Paul Gordon, an ex Chief Petty Officer Royal Canadian Navy and cousin to Verne Mcleod who lost his life on the Sidon. Finally the lifeboat approached the jetty on which we were standing, waved goodbye and then disappeared back into the thick fog, back to Weymouth. Here are some pictures which will help you to understand the text.


Chopper and vessel in the distance			Chopper and boat with Bugler		Winchman approaches		Lifeboat
Seaking and Boat			Preparing to lay the wreath		Chopper saying goodbye		Chopper saying goodbye
Dropping the wreath			The wreath on the water		The boat leaves the wreath area		Royal Marine Bugler
Fort Victoria			Weymouth Lifeboat		On the Jetty		An Old Sailor
Waiting for Wreath Laying					Royal Marine Bugler

Portland Memorial Stone Location

Portland Memorial Stone Location

War Memorial

In my last three pictures above, I mention the siting of the Sidon Stone and graffiti. It is fitting therefore to tell you how the stone's site was chosen, and to do it, I will use Brian Hodder's words:

"Four sites were looked at and the committee had reached a deadlock. The obvious place for the memorial was adjacent to the RN cemetery, but it was felt that no one would see it there and unfortunately the path to it is well used by dog walkers. Two of the other sites were not on Portland. In the end, two of us took our wives out independently and showed them all of the sites without comment, and they both plumped for the site where the stone now stands. We wanted a site that was PROMINENT, EASY TO GET TO, WELL IN THE PUBLIC EYE in the hope to keep down vandalism, and one which OVERLOOKED THE SITE OF THE DISASTER, and of these four requirements, only the last one is not possible from the chosen site. Since the chosen site is in close proximity with the Portland War Memorial, it will at least get acknowledgement at each Remembrance Sunday ceremony. The Portland RNA (Royal Naval Association) have promised to go to the Sidon Stone on completion of each Remembrance Day Service. The Dorset SA (Submariners Association) intends to have a wreath laid at the Sidon Stone on the 16th of June each year".

The weather changed demonstrably on our return to the vicinity of the Portland Heights Hotel, for here it was blowing a sharp cold wind and the visibility allowed us all to see one another but nothing beyond our relatively little group. Top coats were certainly the order of the day, although it did remain dry. The next stage of the Ceremony was the unveiling and the blessing of the Memorial Stone. The PDF file which follows gives the order of the ceremony. The cleric who officiated at the unveiling was Canon David Henley, a former submariner before taking the cloth. His performance was a match for anything else that happened that day. Also I will point out that the unveiling of the Stone was undertaken by Rear Admiral Paul Lambert assisted by Admiral Sir James Perowne. Apart from the VIP's listed in the Order of Service, there were several others, mainly family members, the Surgeon Lieutenant's daughter for example, who chose to stand in with those outside the barrier, but those especially invited who were not Sidon's and were inside the barrier included Lady Fieldhouse widow of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fieldhouse and the Borough Mayor and Mayoress of Weymouth: the Mayor and Mayoress of Portland stood behind the barrier. Here then is the Order of Service HMS/M SIDON Memorial Stone Dedication. The photograph which go with this stage of the ceremony are as follows.


New Ground early on Thursday morning		White Ensign covering stone		Standard Bearers		The Service
The Service		The Unveiling		Folding the Ensign		Laying a wreath
Presenting the Ensign to the Skipper		Sidons with the Memorial Stone		Standard Bearers

Then a very welcome break from the cold and the blustery wind as we entered the Portland Heights Hotel for an official reception luncheon. The buffet luncheon was excellent with generous amounts of pre poured white and red wine to chose from. After lunch, Sidon's and others were ferried down to the R.N. Cemetery by the Portland Community minibus, but we chose to say our goodbyes and drove in our own car to the cemetery to pay our respects. Over the years we have done this on a couple of occasions, but on this visit the graves and the cemetery looked at their vest best. It is a beautiful and peaceful place with sailors from all periods and all kinds of ships and submarines buried there. This was the view we said our good bye to.