Gazette Information: VICTORIA CROSS,: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37346/supplement/5529. Acting Leading Seaman James Joseph Magennis, Royal Navy. On 31st July 1945 in the Johore Straits, Leading Seaman Magennis, a diver in the midget submarine XE.3, attached limpet mines to the Japanese cruiser Takao under particularly difficult circumstances. He had to squeeze through a narrow space in the partly-open diving hatch, and then scrape barnacles off the bottom of the cruiser before attaching the limpets. During this time his breathing apparatus was leaking and he returned to the submarine after completion of his task very exhausted. On withdrawing, his commander found that one of the limpet carriers which was being jettisoned, would not release itself and Magennis immediately volunteered to free it. This he did, after five minutes of nerve-racking work with a heavy spanner. MENTIONED IN DESPATCHES,: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36295/supplement/5545.
Fold3_Team · Oct 31, 2023
Gazette Information: VICTORIA CROSS,: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37346/supplement/5529. Acting Leading Seaman James Joseph Magennis, Royal Navy. On 31st July 1945 in the Johore Straits, Leading Seaman Magennis, a diver in the midget submarine XE.3, attached limpet mines to the Japanese cruiser Takao under particularly difficult circumstances. He had to squeeze through a narrow space in the partly-open diving hatch, and then scrape barnacles off the bottom of the cruiser before attaching the limpets. During this time his breathing apparatus was leaking and he returned to the submarine after completion of his task very exhausted. On withdrawing, his commander found that one of the limpet carriers which was being jettisoned, would not release itself and Magennis immediately volunteered to free it. This he did, after five minutes of nerve-racking work with a heavy spanner. MENTIONED IN DESPATCHES,: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36295/supplement/5545.