Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

During the war there were a number of Naval Accidents which we have isolated because of their shocking caualties and the corresponding impact on members of the craft. There were a number of vessels destroyed in port by explosions which we would today categorise as 'Health & Safety' failures.

Detail :

HAMMOND, Jno. W, Gunner, HM Submarine K4 K4 was lost on 31 January 1918 during the night time fleet exercises later known as the Battle of May Island (Operation E.C.1) when she was attached to the 13th Submarine flotilla, and in which a number of submarines were lost. While attempting to avoid a collision with HMS K3, she became the victim of collisions with HMS K6 and HMS K7. So great was the collision that K4 was cut almost in two and sank immediately with the loss of all onboard. The incidents of the Battle of May Island showed that operating with the fleet was an unsound idea, and the idea of steam power for a submarine (albeit oil-fired not coal) made the design one of the worst warship designs ever. Two of them altered course to avoid a surface vessel; one then ran into the Battlecruiser Inflexible, and the rest basically all ran into one another. She was lost with all hands. The wreck is designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. It was not the first time this situation had arisen. On 17 November 1917, K4 collided with sister ship HMS K1 during an accident off the Danish coast. The light cruiser HMS Blonde operating with K1 had to make a sharp turn to avoid 3 units from the 4th cruiser squadron. And in the confusion, K4 collided with K1. The crew of K1 were rescued and K1 sunk by the Blonde. 2 Freemasons were lost in Submarine K4: HAMMOND Jno. W. Gunner WATTERSON Thomas Arthur Lieutenant Sources; Submarines, war beneath the waves, from 1776 to the present day, Robert Hutchinson. SI 2008/0950 Designation under the Protection of Military Remains Act

Masonic :

Register shows "Lost in Submarine on Active Service Feby 1918"

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley