Ashmore, Ernest Thomas (Ernie)

Ernie, ‘when home on leave in June 1915, gave the reporter of the Coventry Herald  a glimpse into the work of the torpedo boat destroyers which were constantly conveying troops to the shores of France. He said he would prefer a ‘scrap’ now and again just to enliven the monotony and added that they never expected to see a German ship now, although if one did come they would be prepared to give it a warm welcome. He had previously been in the submarine service and was expecting to be recalled to that branch of the Navy very soon.

He was later transferred to the submarine service and drowned in HM Submarine H5 in the Irish Sea on 2nd March 1918. The submarine was based at Donegal Bay and was patrolling the Irish Sea when she was rammed by the British merchantman Rutherglen, mistaken for a German U-boat.  All on board perished including  US Navy Lt. Earle Wayne Freed Childs from the American submarine AL-2 who was acting as an observer. He became the first US submariner to lose his life in the First World War.  None of the relatives were told the fate of the H-5.  There was never a commemoration service for any of the crew, the only recorded commemoration of the crew of H5 was on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent. Relatives were eventually told in 2001 that it was the Rutherglen  who had rammed the vessel, and a commemoration service was held on 2nd March 2002, (eighty-four years to the day H-5 was lost) in Holyhead, Anglesey, North Wales, some ten miles from the wreck site, which is now designated as a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act.  A plaque commemorating the 26 who died was dedicated on Armed Forces Day 2010. It is located in the Holyhead Maritime Museum.‘ (courtesy of Susan Tall and Michael Beck)