This was taken from the Devonshire Magazine Spring Cruise 1950.
Thanks to Jerry Judge RMB of this commission for loan of magazines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
H.M.S. “Devonshire,” At Sea.
22nd March, 1950.

Dear Sir,
May I call attention, through your Magazine, to the present poor Heraldic state of the ship?
As you may have observed, our badge is a lion rampant. Looking round the ship, it is apparent that here uniformity ends.

On the forebridge the lion is golden on a red ground. On whalers and pinnaces he is red on a silver ground. On tompions and bollards he is uncoloured.

His position also varies. On the bollards on the after screen he is often almost on all fours. On the boat’s life-buoys he faces his opposite number across the centre of the buoy.
All this, Sir, is very wrong. A badge is granted by a special Admiralty committee, on which is a representative of the Heralds’ College. It should no more be varied than should the White Ensign.

All H.M. ships, all regiments in the Army, and all R.A.F. squadrons have their own badge, and I submit that ours is a good one, and should be looked after accordingly.

What is our correct badge? The answer is in the Ship’s Book, kept by Captain’s Secretary, where the Admiralty have provided an official coloured drawing of the badge. In Herald’s language (blazoning) it would be described somewhat as follows:—
“Argent, a lion rampant gules, crowned or, and with tongue and claws azure.”

In other words, our lion is red on a silver ground. He is rampant, that is to say, prancing on hind legs with fore legs and tail in the air. And he faces towards our left as we look at him. He wears a gold crown, and—quite a touch—has a blue tongue and blue claws.

Various implications follow. Obviously the forebridge and lifebuoy lions are wrong in colour. Also rampant lions do not look towards each other, but to our left. On a lifebuoy, both must look the same way. On the bows of a boat, the port lion will look for’ard, and the starboard lion aft. On bollards and tompions the lion should definitely ramp, as opposed to slinking along on all fours.
So much is correct heraldry, and could be got right.

Looking into the private life of our lion, I think he is probably quite a distinguished fellow. In olden days lions were not given to every Tom, Dick and Harry for their coats of arms. Still less often did the Heralds award red lions rampant, and—especially——crowned lions.
The earliest lion is found on the seal of Phillip 1, Duke of Flanders, in 1164, and subsequently lions were usually a mark of royalty or of a powerful and noble person.
For instance, there are the lions of the King of England, which appear in two quarters of the Royal Standard. Lions also appear in the arms of the Kings of Scotland, Norway and Denmark; also in certain ancient families such as Bohun and Percy.

At a guess, I would say that our lion may once have belonged to the Earls of Devon; thence to Devonshire, and eventually to H.M.S. “Devonshire.”

Incidentally the carved wooden shield to be seen on the after screen in harbour is not a ship’s badge, but a coat of arms. It has a ship above, our lion below, and beneath that the motto: “ Auxilio Divino,” meaning “By God’s Help.” Again guessing, I should say that this shield probably shows the arms of Torquay, whose citizens have adopted this ship.

In conclusion, Sir, may I ask you to use your great influence, especially with Putty, to get all our lions into the correct rig; all fallen in in the right posture, and all facing the proper way?

I am, etc.,
Yours faithfully,
P.M.O.

The article on the ship’s crest written under the pseudonym P.M.O. was by the Surgeon Commander at the time (Principal Medical Officer) a real character by any standards, and a popular figure onboard. Every cruise he gave his famous lecture on the perils of V.D. Principally aimed at the Cadets but attended by anyone (officers and men alike) who could cram into the lecture room on account of his humourous and witty presentation.

One of the highlights of the cruise His opening words went something along the lines of : Some of you will be going ashore at (next port of call) and putting your private parts where I wouldn’t put the tip of my walking stick, etc., etc. Probably much more effective than a formal, dry lecture.

I served on the Devonshire twice. Firstly, from 29th. May, 1939, (my 17th birthday) to 30.11.1940. 1 left her at Freetown after the abortive attempt to take Dakar, and took passage home on the old ‘carrier Furious. Secondly from 2nd. May, 1950 to 17th Aug., 1952.

The captain when I first joined her in 1939 was J. Mansfield. He left her late 1940 to take up the appointment of Chief of Staff to Admiral Sir Percy Noble, C in C Western Approaches. Mansfield finished up as a Vice Admiral but died at the early age of 54 from cancer. Have corresponded with his son, Vice Admiral (Rtd) G.Mansfield who gave me the above information This calls for an amendment to your list of Captains where you show him as Captain in 1941

The captain when I joined her in 1950 was G.H.Stokes. She was not a happy ship. Although a man with a distinguished war record he was an obnoxious humourless pig, equally disliked by the officers and the lower deck.

He was followed by the renowned Captain R.G. Onslow, D.S.O and three bars, arguably one of the most popular and revered officers of his generationp What a transformation Within 48 hours she was a different ship. He went on to become Captain of B.R.N.C. Dartmouth and retired as a full Admiral, but worn out by his war service died at the early age of 71. He had been offered the Governor Generalship of one of the Australian States but had to decline on account of his heaalth.

Onslow was suceeded by Capt. W.G. Crawford. He could well have
been her last commanding officer as the cadet training ship, but I cannot be sure of this.

An incident that is probably long forgotten happened when we were patrolling the Denmark Straits in late 1939 or early 1940. We normally patrolled alone, but on this occasion another county class cruiser was in company and stationed about 1 mile on our beam. The torpedomen saw this as an opportunity for a dummy run. Unfortunately, someone pressed the button and a torpedo was fired. Whether it was armed or not I cannot say, but it missed its target. There was a board of inquiry on our return to Greenock but what the outcome was I cannot say. Someone obviously caught it in the neck- probably the Chief T.G.M or the Warrant Torpedo Gunner if we carried one.
I witnessed our Walrus aircraft being shot down at 0300 on the 18th May, 1940. At that latitude it was broad daylight. The ship was at anchor in Malangsfiord, near Tromso. I was the signalman in the ship’s motorboat patroling the fiord. We watched a large, 4 engined, Heinkel 111K levelling out for an attack on the ship. and clearly saw her release her full load of bombs They fell pretty close but there was no direct hit, but a couple of plates were sprung. The damaged was repaired by our tiffies.

At the time our Walrus was airborne and attacked the German but she was shot down after a 15 minute dog fight. The pilot. Lieut. Benson—Dare, was killed outright. The Observer, Midshipman Corkhill, though wounded himself managed somehow to get the more badly wounded T.A.G, Ldg. Airman Hill, ashore. Hill later died of his wounds. Corkhill was only 18 or 19 years old (certainly under 20) and was deservedly awarded the D.S.C. for his gallantry. Must have been one of the youngest ever recipients of this award. Lieut. Benson- Dare and Ldg. Airman Hill are buried in the British War Cemetery in Tromso.

According to Roskill’s official history of the war at sea we evacuated 435 personnel, including 26 women, for that last trip from Norway on 6th. June, 1940. The women, presumably, were part of the King’s entourage. The remainder were a mixture of British and Norwegain military personnel and members of the Norwegian Government.

On arrival in Greenock, the working party charged with offloading the royal baggage were tipped a shilling eaëh by one of the equerries. Not a bad little tip at a time when an ordianary seamans pay was 14 shillings a week, and a shilling would buy two pints !! I’ve still got a wallet that I bought in the ship’s shop (as opposed to the NAFFI) while we were on Northern Patrol , late 39 or early 40’s. Never having carried a wallet it is still as new.

Well, that’s about all for now. If I’m still about this time next next year I would be interested in attending your get-together at Pompey, but at my age I cannot plan too far ahead.

Kind Regards 

BY Nobby G, thanks for the person who donated this letter, sorry but I have no name.