Eight: Commander E. W. Salisbury, Royal Navy, who was killed in action in Suda Bay, Crete...

Eight: Commander E. W. Salisbury, Royal Navy, who was killed in action in Suda Bay, Crete in May 1941 Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Persian Gulf 1909-1914 (Lieut. E. W. Salisbury, R.N., H.M.S. Miner); 1914-15 Star (Lieut. E. W. Salisbury. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Lt. Commr. E. W. Salisbury. R.N.) with their card boxes of issue; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45; Italy, Messina Earthquake Medal 1908, silver, with its fitted leather case of issue, extremely fine (8) £600-£800 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Edward Woodville Salisbury was born at Hinton Abbey, near Bath, on 15 September 1885, and entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in Britannia in January 1901. Confirmed in the ranks of Sub-Lieutenant in September 1905 and Lieutenant in April 1908, he was awarded the Messina Earthquake Medal whilst serving H.M.S. Euryalus in the latter year. Appointed to the cruiser Fox in the East Indies in December 1909, Salisbury was detached for services in the armed launch Miner in the Persian Gulf operations, prior to returning to the U.K. in the summer of 1911; just 27 Medals and clasps were awarded to Miner. He then returned to sea in the cruiser Newcastle on the China station in November 1912 and participated in operations during the Shanghai Rebellion in the following year. He was likewise employed on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, soon after which the Newcastle bombarded Yap and took part in the search for the raider Prinz Eitel Friedrich. She had no luck in finding the latter, but she did capture the German ship Mazatlan in January 1916. Returning home as a recently promoted Lieutenant-Commander towards the end of the same year, Salisbury next joined the Implacable, in which he served until August 1917, followed by his final wartime appointment in the destroyer depot ship Greenwich. Placed on the Retired List in January 1921, he was recalled for duty in the rank of Commander (Retd.) on the renewal of hostilities, when he was appointed to the Dover base Lynx as a defence officer; his service record reveals that he suffered scalp and face wounds in May 1940, which may well have been the result of enemy action. On his recovery, his earlier application for a more ‘active appointment’ was duly met when, in January 1941, he was embarked for the Middle East for services as a disembarkation officer at the shore base Nile. And it was in this capacity that he was deployed to the evacuation of Crete, where he was killed in action during an air raid on Suda Bay on 25 May 1941. He was 55, has no known grave and is commemorated by name on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.