Thomas Askern Beard

 The Polish ship ORP Jastrzab

ORP Jastrzab

ORP Jastrzab was a S-Class submarine, was laid in October 1918, and was originally named USS S-25, and launched in 1922.

In 1940 she was set aside as a training vessel, and then earmarked for transfer to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease 

She was decommissioned from the U.S. Navy on 4 November 1941, and simultaneously transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS P-551; shortly thereafter she was loaned to the exiled Polish government, and entered service with the Polish Navy, this due to the lack of trained submarine crews in the Royal Navy at the time

ORP Jastrząb entered the history of the Polish Navy as its only submarine ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean from the West to the East, as she came from the US to Europe.

During the passage of convoy PQ-15 to Murmansk, ORP Jastrząb on the 2^nd of May 1942 was mistakenly engaged by the destroyer HMS St. Albans and the minesweeper HMS Seagull. ORP Jastrząb was attacked with depth charges and made to surface, there she was strafed with the loss of five crew and six injured, including the commander. The ship was irreparably damaged and had to be scuttled.

One of the crew members who were killed was Leading Signalman Thomas Askern Beard.

Thomas was born in 1912, to Thomas Beard and Lucy Rix, who were married in 1911 at St. Thomas church.

At the time of the 1921 Census, Thomas was the eldest child, and the family was residing at 4 St. Illtyds Crescent.

1921 Census

Thomas, 42, was a Stevedore employed by Burgess & Co. Ltd.  Lucy was 30 years old.  Their children were.

Thomas, 8; Elizabeth, 7; John, 5, and Margaret, 3, who all attended school, and 1-year-old Leah.

For a couple of months during 1928, Thomas enlisted and joined the Royal Navy, where he served on Impregnable and Ganges, ranked as Boy

Royal Navy Register of Seamen's Records 1848-1939
Thomas Askern Beard

During the war, Thomas, who had served in the Royal Navy and spent 2 and a half years on H.M.S. Trident and nearly 3 and a half years at a Chinese Station.

Herald of Wales

Following his death, the Herald of Wales published an article in the following September, that the Admiralty had written to Thomas’ parents, that Thomas had been mentioned in dispatches.

Thomas Askern Beard
Plymouth Naval Memorial
credit - findagrave

Thomas is commemorated at the Plymouth Naval Memorial