The Second War group of four awarded to Sub-Lieutenant M. P. N. Neel-Wall, Royal Navy, who...

The Second War group of four awarded to Sub-Lieutenant M. P. N. Neel-Wall, Royal Navy, who was killed in action when H.M. submarine Tempest was heavily depth charged and sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Circe in February 1942 Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1936-1939 (Mid. M. P. Neel-Wall. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, nearly extremely fine (4) £800-£1,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Michael Patrick Neel Neel-Wall was born on 29 November 1920, the son of an ex-Royal Flying Corps pilot, Liam Wall, and his wife Gwendoline; she served as a 2nd Officer in the W.R.N.S. in the Second World War. Michael entered the Royal Navy as a Midshipman in May 1938, in which rank he gained seagoing experience in H.M.S. Repulse and Barham, prior to volunteering for the submarine service as a Sub-Lieutenant in November 1940. Duly qualified, he joined the newly commissioned submarine Tempest in October 1941, under Lieutenant-Commander W. A. K. N. Cavaye, R.N., and sailed for the Mediterranean in the new year. Whilst on patrol in the Gulf of Taranto on 13 February 1942, Tempest was detected by the Italian torpedo boat Circe, which attacked with a devastating salvo of depth-charges. In fact, over the course of six and a half hours, the Italians dropped a total of 45 depth-charges with great accuracy. In the last attack the battery boards of No. 3 Battery burst open, releasing clouds of chlorine gas and, realising their position was now hopeless, Lieutenant-Commander Cavaye was forced to surface under a heavy fire from the Circe. Two casualties were inflicted on those who first reached her conning tower, most likely Cavaye and Neel-Wall, for neither survived her eventual sinking. The latter was however later credited with ditching the submarine’s confidential books before his demise. The surviving crew members, 24 men from the submarine’s original complement of 63, were picked up by the Circe, some of them after two hours in the water, but Italian attempts to take the Tempest in tow ended in failure. A lengthy and dramatic account of the action is to be found in the pages of A. S. Evans’s Beneath the Waves. Neel-Wall, who was just 21, has no known grave and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. Sold with copied research.