HMS CRESSY

[kadear]

With all the publicity about the Titanic centenary this year, I wonder how much thought has been given to the great loss of life when HMS CRESSY and her sister ships were sunk causing just as much loss of life. The anniversary of the sinking will be in September 2014; are any commemorations planned for this? There must be several descendants who feel this tragedy should not be fotgotten.

[GrahamSimons]

Yes it's interesting the way that Titanic has grabbed attention and emotion. Just today I was reading about the loss of HMT Lancastrian in 1940; and I have been privileged to know a member of the HMS Hood Association (he was transferred out of Hood before she was lost).

I have read about Cressy, perhaps prompted by discovering a casualty from HMS Aboukir, also sunk in the same action; and then I have also read about the loss of HMS Monmouth, lost with all hands at Coronel. I found the service record of the man lost with Monmouth poignant: just two words, "Promising, active," and then the Naval abbreviation DD [discharged dead] to describe his entire career. And I discovered another tragedy, this time not the result of enemy action: HMS Vanguard exploded in Scapa Flow in 1917, killing over 800; there were two survivors.

And how will the Lusitania's loss be viewed on that centenary in five years' time?