Stanley Hubert Randall

 

H.M.S. Mahratta 
credit - wrecksite

25^th February 1944, the H.M.S. Mahratta, was sunk off the coast of Norway, by two T5 Gnat torpedoes fired from U-990.

H.M.S. Mahratta was originally to have been named Marksman. She was laid down on 21^st January 1940, but the incomplete ship was blown off the slipway during an air raid in May 1941. H.M.S. Marksman was to have been the lead ship of the M-class destroyers, and the class was sometimes known as the Marksman class. Damage sustained by Marksman was so bad that she had to be dismantled and transferred to an alternative site. The new ship was laid down on 18^th August 1941, but she was renamed H.M.S. Mahratta at her launch in July 1942, after the Maratha Empire of India, as a recognition of the financial support given by India to the war effort. H.M.S. Mahratta was adopted by the people of Walsall, who held a “Warship Week” from 7^th – 14^th February 1942, aiming to raise £700,000 – the cost of a warship. She was completed on 8^th April 1943 and entered service on that date. During trials in May 1943 H.M.S. Mahratta escorted R.M.S. Queen Mary part way across the Atlantic.

At 20.55 hours on 25^th February 1944, the H.M.S. Mahratta (Lieutenant Commander E.A.F. Drought) was hit by a Gnat from U-990 about 280 miles from the North Cape, while escorting the stern sector of convoy JW-57. The destroyer exploded and sank within minutes. Despite of the fact, that the H.M.S. Impulsive and H.M.S Wanderer were quickly on the scene to pick up survivors, only 16 survivors could be recovered from the freezing waters. The commander, ten officers and 209 ratings lost their lives.

H.M.S. Mahratta 
Plymouth Naval Memorial
credit - findagrave

One of those 220 crew members who were killed was Able Seaman Stanley Hubert Randall.

Stanley was born in 1923, was the son of Frank Durham Randall and Margaret Ethel Griffiths.

Stanley wasn’t recorded on the 1939 Register.

Stanley is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.