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Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Clive Montgomery in WW2
Back to the Royal Navy Front Sheet
Clive Alexander Craig Montgomery
Born in Exeter on 3rd May 1908.
Father Robert Montgomery, Mother Berthe Craig.
Elder siblings: James Robert, and Kate Sophia.
Clive enlisted as a Royal Navy cadet in January 1922.
Having attended Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, he left with the rank of Sub Lieutenant in 1930.
His first ship was HMS Harrier, a minesweeper.
Clive married: Joan Stephanie Mildred Simpson in Newton Abbot Registration District in 1933.
Lieutenant Commander Montgomery served on various ships, including the ill-fated HMS Glorious for a short period in 1933. In 1939 the family home was listed as Spitchwick Manor, Poundsgate, Devon.
In 1939 Lieutenant Commander Montgomery was reassigned to the Royal Australian Navy as a Navigation Officer. He was posted to HMAS Sydney and sailed on SS Orantes from London on 20th May 1939 to join his new ship in Australia.
In July 1940 HMAS Sydney, whilst on deployment in the Mediterranean, sank the Italian Cruiser Barolomeo Colleoni. For his actions during the attack, Clive Alexander Craig Montgomery was “Mentioned in Dispatches”.
In November 1941 HMAS Sydney was patrolling the Indian Ocean off the coast of Freemantle in Western Australia when she engaged with a German surface raider Kormoran. In the battle that ensued, both vessels received so much damage that they sank.
The 675 crew of HMAS Sydney all perished.
Of the 675 crew lost, 8 were Royal Naval personnel: 4 Officers and 4 Ratings.
Approximately half the crew of the German vessel were rescued and taken Prisoners Of War.
Lt Commander Clive Alexander Craig Montgomery is commemorated on Plymouth Naval War Memorial, Exmouth War Memorial, and at St John’s Church Leusdon.
Watch the Video of The Battle between the HMAS Sydney and Kormoran
Fate of Two Other British Officers Serving on HMAS Sydney in 1941
Cmdr John Norman Hilken was posted away from Sydney and left on 18th July 1941, almost exactly four months before HMAS Sydney was lost.
Lt Cmdr Jack Cawston Bacon had been posted away from Sydney but had not left the ship when she was lost. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval War Memorial.
Clive Montgomery in Pictures
Click on an image for a larger view
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments are shown alongside each photograph above.
The information on this page was last modified on February 01 2024 12:06:01.