Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. GVI 1st type (J.104754 H. A. Collins. A/L.S. H.M.S. Courageous.)

Medal verification: Acting Leading Seaman Herbert Alfred Collins, was awarded his Naval Long Service Good Conduct Medal in March 1938 (ref ADM 171/151), the medal being sent to him at H.M.S. Courageous (Aircraft Carrier) during his 'third' posting to that Aircraft-Carrier, where he was a crew-member between 2 June 1936 to 2 September 1938. His service sheet records the medal as 'Traced' 27 March 1938

H.M.S. Courageous: The 'Courageous class', were the first multi-ship class of aircraft carriers to serve with the Royal Navy. The class comprised three ships—Furious, Courageous and Glorious—all of which were originally laid down as Courageous-class battlecruisers during the Great War. Post war all three ships of the class were converted to Aircraft-Carriers. Courageous was recommissioned on 21 February 1928 and assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet from May 1928 to June 1930. She was relieved by Glorious and refitted from June to August 1930. The ship was assigned to the Atlantic and Home Fleets from 12 August 1930 to December 1938 aside from a temporary attachment to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1936. In the early 1930s, transverse arresting gear was installed and she received two hydraulic catapults on the upper flight deck before March 1934. Courageous was refitted again between October 1935 and June 1936 and received her pom-pom mounts. She was also present at the 1937 Coronation Fleet Review. She became a training carrier in December 1938 when Ark Royal joined the Home Fleet and continued on that duty until the start of the Second World War

Courageous served with the Home Fleet at the start of World War II with 811 and 822 Squadrons aboard, each squadron equipped with a dozen Fairey Swordfish. In the early days of the war, hunter-killer groups were formed around the fleet's aircraft carriers to find and destroy U-boats. On 31 August 1939 she went to her war station at Portland and embarked the two squadrons of Swordfish. Courageous departed Plymouth on the evening of 3 September 1939 for an anti-submarine patrol in the Western Approaches, escorted by four destroyers. On the evening of 17 September 1939, she was on one such patrol off the coast of Ireland. Two of her four escorting destroyers had been sent to help a merchant ship under attack and all her aircraft had returned from patrols. U-29, commanded by Captain-Lieutenant Otto Schuhart, stalked Courageous for more than two hours. The carrier then turned into the wind to launch her aircraft. This put the ship right across the bow of the submarine, which fired three torpedoes. Two of the torpedoes struck the ship on her port side before any aircraft took off, knocking out all electrical power, and she capsized and sank in 20 minutes with the loss of 519 of her crew, including her captain. The US cargo ship Collingsworth, Ellerman Lines cargo ship Dido, and Dutch ocean liner Veendam rescued survivors. The two escorting destroyers counterattacked U-29 for four hours, but the submarine escaped

Herbert Alfred Collins was a native of Fulham, London, England, where he was born on, 29 March 1905. By trade a 'Machinist', Herbert joined the Royal Navy on, 2 November 1921, at which time he was given the rate 'Boy II'. Unusually, Herbert was posted to H.M.S. Courageous on three separate periods during the inter-war years. By the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, in September 1939, he was holding the appointment Acting Petty Officer, and served on the 'Destroyer's' H.M.S. Faulknor (17 January 1939 - 15 January 1940) and H.M.S. Winchester (14 March 1940 - 31 May 1940). On Winchester, he was present when his ship reinforced Naval AA defence at Dunkirk (Operation FA), and shortly after assisted in the evacuation from Flushing in the Netherlands where the Winchester was damaged by enemy aircraft off the Scheldt on 13 May 1940 but was able to return under her own power to Dover. Herbert was promoted Petty Officer in September 1940, and was appointed Acting Gunner (Temporary) in 1942. Herbert Alfred Collins died at, Portsmouth, England, sometime during the second quarter of 1979

The recipients naval service sheets are extant, and are held & accessible at The National Archives

Condition: GVF

Code: 23598