A fine Second War Coastal Forces D.S.M. group of four awarded to Acting Leading Stoker R....

A fine Second War Coastal Forces D.S.M. group of four awarded to Acting Leading Stoker R. W. Muir, Royal Navy, who sustained severe wounds when his Steam Gun Boat (S.G.B.) was sunk in a fire fight in the Baie de la Seine in June 1942 Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (A./Ldg. Sto. R. W. Muir D/KX. 92804) officially engraved naming; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, 1 clasp, France and Germany; War Medal 1939-45, extremely fine (4) £1,200-£1,600 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Spink, April 1999. D.S.M. London Gazette 11 September 1945: ‘For courage and skill in H.M. S.G.B. No. 7 in a daring attack on a heavily screened enemy merchant vessel carried out on the night of 18-19 June 1942, in company with H.M.S. Albrighton and H.M. S.G.B. No. 8.’ The original recommendation states: ‘Acting Leading Stoker Muir was in charge of the Boiler Room during the action, replied calmly to all my questions when I went down to see the extent of the damage and carried out his duties until the end. He never mentioned the fact that he had from the beginning of the action a severe wound in his stomach, a fact I only learnt later when I was told he had been sent to a German hospital, where he stayed for many weeks.’ Robert Watt Muir was born in Cape Town, South Africa and joined the Royal Navy in December 1937. One of three crew members from H.M. Steam Gun Boat No. 7 to receive the D.S.M. for this action in the Baie De La Seine, his C.O., Lieutenant R. L. Barnet, being mentioned in despatches but as a French national his award was never gazetted. In his official post-war report describing the loss of S.G.B. No. 7, Barnet describes how he carried out a successful torpedo strike on an enemy merchantman - ‘which sank the following morning’ - prior to setting course for home waters: ‘On the way back S.G.B. No. 7 met two German escort vessels with whom a hot engagement took place at very close range. In the course of this engagement one of the escort vessels was hit repeatedly by S.G.B. No. 7’s after gun and left in a sinking condition. The second German escort vessel was seen to be damaged but escaped and unfortunately managed to damage so heavily S.G.B. No. 7’s boiler that further steaming was then impossible. When dawn broke and no further hope of being rescued by our own forces could be entertained, I ordered the ship to be scuttled as German ships were approaching to make an attempt at boarding. By that time none of our weapons were in working condition. The crew was ordered to abandon ship and was shortly after rescued and taken prisoner by German R-boats’ (TNA ADM1/30420 refers). Muir was admitted to hospital in Cherbourg and thence, in July 1942, to Stalag 133 at Rennes, where he was interrogated by six German officers with rapid-fire questions; his P.O.W. debrief further reveals that he was subsequently held in solitary confinement in Wilhelmshaven, where he was again interrogated. Finally, in September 1942, he was transferred to Marlag und Milag Nord at Westmertimke (Tarnstedt), from which he was liberated by the Allies in April 1945. The Steam Gun Boats Built as an experiment to maximise fire-power in the violent encounters that became Coastal Forces’ brief, Steam Gun Boats quickly won fame for pressing home the attack whatever the odds, Lieutenant Barnet’s and Muir’s encounter on the night of 18-19 June 1942 being a case in point. Just seven S.G.B.s were completed, between February and July 1942, further production being halted in favour of freeing up the slipways for destroyers. The boats were heavily armed much respected by enemy E- and R-boats: by 1944, S.G.B.s boasted a 6-pounder, power-mounted gun forward, a 3-inch hand operated gun aft, four sets of 20mm. twin-Oerlikon guns (either side of the bridge and aft), six sets of twin-Vickers .303 machine-guns (pairs on the bridge, below the bridge and by the torpedo tubes), two 21-inch torpedoes, and four depth-charges for good measure – and were still capable of a maximum speed of 30 knots. As Leonard Reynolds concludes in his Dog Boats at War, S.G.B.s were involved in numerous actions that indicated ‘an enormous amount of gallantry and of attacks pressed home whatever the odds.’ Casualties in the Flotilla were indeed high, as were the number of decorations awarded to the 30-strong crews. The Flotilla’s first C.O. was Lieutenant-Commander Peter Scott, M.B.E., D.S.C., son of the famous Antarctic explorer, who was instrumental in getting Admiralty approval for the boats to be named rather than numbered. S.G.B. No. 7, however, did not survive long enough to receive the accolade, and her loss led to additional armour plating being installed in the boats to protect their boilers. Sold with related King’s ‘Loyal Service’ Badge and campaign award forwarding slip, together with copied research including Admiralty reports referred to above.