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Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte The M.V.O. group of seven awarded to Commander G. Griffiths, Royal Navy, who served in the battleship Warspite at Jutland - hit by no less than 18 heavy calibre shells, with resultant casualties of 14 killed and 32 wounded, her Executive Officer found it impossible to “darken ship” due to the excessive number of holes in her sides and deck: in a spirited inter-war rescue operation, Griffiths added the S.G.M. to his accolades The Royal Victorian Order, M.V.O., Member’s 4th Class breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, the reverse officially numbered ‘1218’; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. G. Griffiths, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Lieut. G. Griffiths, R.N.); Sea Gallantry Medal, G.V.R., bronze (George Griffiths, R.N., “Faithful”, 22nd November 1921); Italian Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, 5th class breast badge, gold and enamel; French Croix de Guerre 1914-1917, bronze palm, mounted as worn, slight damage to reverse enamel on the sixth, generally very fine or better (7) £1800-2200 M.V.O. London Gazette 7 August 1927. Footnote George Griffiths was commissioned as a Mate, R.N., in August 1913 and joined the destroyer Amazon shortly before the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914. That October, with Admiral Hood aboard to direct operations off the Belgian coast, Amazon ‘was so badly holed that she was put out of action’, following her full speed rush inshore to engage the enemy batteries at Westende Bains. But Griffiths was to witness a good deal more damage being caused his next ship, the Warspite, at Jutland, in which engagement, as part of the 5th Battle Squadron, she was hit by no less than 18 ‘large projectiles’, several of them when her helm jammed and forced her out of line, right in the face of incoming enemy fire. Notwithstanding this heavy punishment, and the resultant 14 fatalities and 32 wounded, she managed to fire around 250 shells from her 15-inch guns, causing severe damage to the Von der Tann, among others. A very full account of her experiences, written by her Executive Officer, appears in The Fighting at Jutland - together with an impressive series of “battle-damage” photographs - from which the following extracts have been taken: ‘ ... Went on the upper deck and had a look round. Main derrick was shot through and lying across the picket boat, mainmast holed by a 6-inch, and boats all smashed to atoms. Compass platform was riddled by splinters. Big hole starboard side by 6-inch gun, which we covered over with a collision mat and nailed down. Tried to “darken ship” as best we could, but the holes everywhere made this rather hopeless; plugged them w0ith canvas and deck cloths. A 12-inch shell had hit the communication tube of the after director tower, sheared all rivets, and spun the tube through 180 degrees, but only one man was killed and two wounded in the tower above - rather miraculous. “X” turret had a direct hit, looked like an 8-inch, but no damage whatever inside; in fact, they did not know they had been hit. The boats were a comic sight; launch absolutely smashed to blazes, all Carley rafts except two small ones broken up, and no sound boat left. First picket boat had just been painted, too, and new brass rails round casings were all cut to pieces. Both ladders to quarter deck had gone, and both life buoys blown away by blast from “Y” turret. All mainstays had been shot through except one the starboard side. Searchlights had not suffered very badly, except those on the after-superstructure; they were like scrap iron. There were many holes on the quarter deck, rather death-traps. Where the shell hit the deck, planks and fastenings were removed as cleanly as if they were shovelled away, in several places over an area of 10 or 12 square feet ... We had not time before the action to strip the sick-bay, and a 12-inch had come clean through from port to starboard, completely wrecking sick-bay, which was in an awful state