In Memory Of

GABBETT, CECIL PULTENEY

Service Details
Age:
 28
Date of Birth:
 1912-09-17
Service No:
 P/JX 223832
Rank:
 Ordinary Seaman
Unit:
 H.M.S. Hood
Regiment:
 Royal Navy
Date of Death:
 1941-05-24
Cause of Death:
 Killed in action, sunk by the German battleship Bismarck commanded by Admiral Lutjens and captained by Captain Ernest Lindemann. In an early morning action in the Denmark Strait, between Iceland and Greenland, the Bismarck, accompanied by the cruiser Prince Eugen (Captain Helmuth Brinkmann), were en route from Bergen in Norway to the Atlantic when they intercepted the Hood, the Prince of Wales and six escorting destroyers. From 26, 000 yards, the Bismarck opened fire and at 16, 500 yards scored a direct hit on the Hood's magazine causing the 112 tons of explosives to blow up. The battleship, commanded by Vice Admiral Sir Lancelot Holland, went down in about four minutes. Of a crew of 1,417 (94 officers and 1,323 ratings and Royal Marines) there were only three survivors, a death toll of 1,414.
Commemoration
Grave Reference:
 Panel 50, Column 2.
Cemetery:
 PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL
Localitly:
 Hampshire
Country:
 United Kingdom
Additional Information
Son of Alexander Cecil and Charlotte Cecllia Gabbett; husband of Adeline Betty Gabbek, of Durban, Natal, South Africa.