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75Th Anniversary of the Sinking of HMS Gloucester 1941 Canon Chancellor Celia Thomson

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75Th Anniversary of the Sinking of HMS Gloucester 1941 Canon Chancellor Celia Thomson Sermon: Trinity Sunday 22 May - 75th anniversary of the sinking of HMS Gloucester 1941 Canon Chancellor Celia Thomson 75 years ago today, HMS Gloucester was sunk off the north coast of Crete with the loss of 723 lives out of the total crew of 809. It was one of the worst naval disasters of the second World War and there are very few left now of those who survived to tell the tale. We have a window in the Memorial Chapel dedicated to the memory of those who died, and each year there is a gathering there to remember them. We also have the shield of the last of the ships named HMS Gloucester in the north transept. It is only right that today we honour those who gave their lives in the service of their country. When the German forces overran the Greek mainland in April 1941, almost all the Allied troops, about 50,000, were evacuated to Crete. But they had had to leave behind most of their heavy armoured vehicles, tools and ammunition, and were therefore ill-equipped to defend the island. The Battle for Crete was one of the most dramatic battles of the Second World War. Over 12 days in May 1941 a mixed force of British, Australian, New Zealand and Greek troops desperately tried to fight off a huge German airborne assault. Despite the appalling casualties amongst the Germans themselves, those who led the invasion by parachute and the glider-borne troops managed to secure a foothold on the island and eventually take it over. The battle ended with the evacuation to Egypt of the bulk of the Allied force. HMS Gloucester had only been launched in 1937 and commissioned on 31st January 1939. Nicknamed “the Fighting G”, HMS Gloucester was sent first to the Indian Ocean and then to South Africa, before joining the Mediterranean Fleet in May 1940 and there being involved in many different actions. A year later, HMS Gloucester was deployed in the seas north of Crete as part of a naval force sent to prevent German military transports to the island. Desperately short of ammunition and with little back-up from the RAF who were deployed elsewhere, the ship fell victim to the relentless bombardment of the Luftwaffe and sustained at least four heavy bomb blasts before sinking with such a terrible loss of life. The battle lasted another ten days but the majority of the Allied soldiers managed to make their way over the inhospitable mountains to the south of the island and were evacuated under cover of darkness over four consecutive nights. The remainder, about 6500, surrendered and spent the rest of the war as prisoners of war. In a few minutes’ time we will sing the Naval hymn, Eternal Father, strong to save... .If you study the words, you will see how appropriate they are for Trinity Sunday and how this links us with generations of naval servicemen and women. The words were written in about 1860 by William Whiting, master of the choristers at Winchester College Chorister School. Within a year the poem had been set by one of the great Victorian hymn composers, J.B. Dykes, who named the tune Melita, which we still sing today. It very soon became used by sea-farers around the world, and unofficially adopted as the naval hymn within 10 years. It is still sung at all major Naval occasions, sometimes with the insertion of additional verses to suit particular occasions or circumstances, for instance for those who serve in submarines or in the Fleet Air arm, or for the decommissioning of ships. It will have been sung today at the service at Plymouth Hoe to remember HMS Gloucester. It is a strong statement of Christian faith and hope, exploring the doctrine of the Trinity in the context of the sea. The first verse refers to God the Creator, who in Psalm 104 forbids the waters to flood the earth, and with echoes of the Book of Job, God holding back the waters. Verse 2 refers to Jesus stilling the storm on the Sea of Galilee, thus demonstrating who he was, God’s son, walking on the water and sleeping through another storm. The third verse speaks of the presence of the Holy Spirit at creation, moving over the face of the water and enabling light and life to emerge from chaos. Each of the first three verses ends with a plea for protection; and that is incorporated into the body of verse 4, addressed to the “Trinity of love and power”. And like so many of the psalms, even in the midst of fear, danger and despair, it ends with a plea to praise God. For we are people of hope: “God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.” All those who died 75 years ago as HMS Gloucester sank beneath the waves would have sung this hymn many times during their years of service; and as we remember them here today, we give thanks for their courage and sacrifice and offer up our prayers for them and for all who risk peril on the seas in our own time. Eternal Father, strong to save, whose arm hath bound the restless wave, who bidst the mighty ocean deep its own appointed limits keep: O hear us when we cry to thee For those in peril on the sea. O Christ, whose voice the waters heard And hushed their raging at thy word, Who walkedst on the foaming deep, And calm amid the storm didst sleep: O hear us when we cry to thee For those in peril on the sea. O Holy Spirit, who didst brood upon the waters dark and rude, and bid their angry tumult cease, and give, for wild confusion, peace: O hear us when we cry to thee For those in peril on the sea. O Trinity of love and power, Our brethren shield in danger’s hour; From rock and tempest, fire and foe, Protect them wheresoe’er they go: Thus evermore shall rise to thee Glad hymns of praise from land and sea. William Whiting 1825-1878 .
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