1914/15 Trio and Medaille Militaire To Royal Navy For Jutland

1914/15 Trio J2865 A TRUE AB RN France Medaille Militaire unnamed

Together with large original bestowal certificate for Medaille Militaire which has been glued to a card backing


Albert True From Streatham joined the Royal navy 1i 1908 and was discharged in 1922 , he served aboard HMS Moresby at Jutland and was awarded the Medaille Militaire for his services there

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 15 SEPTEMBER, 1916 ( The Jutland Gazette )

The President of the French Republic has
bestowed the " Medaille Militaire," with the
approval of His Majesty the King, on the
undermentioned
Commissioned
Warrant
Officers, Warrant Officers, Petty Officers and
Men in recognition of their services during the
war: —

Able Seaman Albert True, O.N. J.2865.

HMS MORESBY

HMS Moresby was a Admiralty M-class destroyer which served with the Royal Navy during the First World War.

On 30 May 1916, HMS Moresby sailed with the Grand Fleet to confront the German High Seas Fleet in the Battle of Jutland. Moresby was one of fourteen M-class destroyers that were allocated to form part of the screen to protect the battlecruisers of the fleet. However, along with sistership Onslow, the destroyer was detached to cover the seaplane tender Engadine. The tender had launched a Short Type 184 to observe the German fleet movements and was stationary waiting for it to return.After the reconnaissance seaplane had been recovered, Lieutenant commander Jack Tovey, who commanded Onslow, led the two destroyers back into the action.

Moresby rejoined the flotilla and, led by the light cruiser Champion, steamed towards the German High Seas Fleet. The two fleets met and Moresby was soon in the centre of the action. The destroyer attacked the German battlecruisers, and shortly after 17:10 on 31 May, launched a torpedo at the dreadnought battleship Markgraf.The destroyer also narrowly escaped an attack from the light cruiser Wiesbaden, two torpedoes streaking past, one ahead and the other astern.23 As the battlesfleets broke apart, Champion sped away in pursuit of the German fleet, leaving the majority of the destroyers behind, with only Moresby and Obdurate able to keep up.

The small flotilla sought for the main German fleet, and at 02:15 the following day turned westwards towards gunfire.25 They saw four German cruisers with their attendant destroyers. However, through the mist, Moresby saw what were initially taken to be four pre-dreadnought battleships. The destroyer sped off and launched a torpedo at a range of 3,700 yards (3,400 m) at the third ship in the line. The destroyer reported a hit and then withdrew. In fact, two of the vessels were German battlecruisers, and the torpedo narrowly missed Von der Tann. Instead, the torpedo hit the torpedo boat V4. Returning to the British lines, the three ships were spotted by the German torpedo boats G40 and V45, which launched torpedoes, but both sides escaped without recording a hit

HMS Moresby was transferred to Buncrana, Ireland, with the Second Destroyer Flotilla during the latter part of 1917. The vessel served as a convoy escort, and on 2 October 1917, was also involved in the ultimately unsuccessful efforts to save the armoured cruiser Drake.On 15 March the following year, the destroyer was patrolling with sistership Michael when they surprised U-110 shortly after the submarine had sunk the ocean liner Amazon. The submarine dived but was brought back to the surface when the destroyers attacked with depth charges and was finished by gunfire. Six of the crew were rescued


Medals in NVF condition , with some enamel damage to the Medaille Militaire

Code: 51142