ABLE SEAMAN JOHN THOMAS WORKMAN
Service Number P/JX 164175
11 February 1923 – 30 December 1942
Aged 19

 John Thomas Workman was the son of Henry and Clara Workman, of Burntwood, Staffordshire. His father, Henry was born on 14 September 1890 and worked as a miner below ground; Henry’s wife Clara was born on 20 September 1891 and was a housewife. 

John Thomas Workman was serving aboard Royal Navy ship H.M.S. Fidelity and is commemorated on the PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL: memorial reference Panel 76, Column 1.

Picture 1

H.M.S. Fidelity (D57) was a Special Service Vessel of the British Royal Navy during World War II, but had originally been the French merchant vessel La Rhin. The 2,456 ton ship La Rhin was built by H. & C. Grayson Ltd. of Garston, Liverpool, and was completed in 1920 for Compagnie de Navigation Paquet, Marseilles. In 1940, Le Rhin was taken over by Britain and was converted into a special service vessel (SSV). She was commissioned on 24 September 1940 as H.M.S. Fidelity (D57) under the command of Lieutenant Peri, serving as “Lieutenant Commander Jack Langlais RNVR”. Her officers included Lieutenant Commander Albert Guérisse serving as “Patrick Albert O'Leary RNVR” and First Officer “Madeleine Barclay WRNS”. Because they had families in occupied Europe, a number of crew members were serving under pseudonyms. First Officer Barclay (née Madeleine Victorine Bayard) was Lieutenant Peri's mistress and one of very few women to be a commissioned officer on a Royal Navy ship. 

Picture 2

In 1941, H.M.S. Fidelity operated off the coast of Southern France under the direction of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), landing agents and picking up escaped prisoners, disguised as Spanish or Portuguese freight workers.  She also took part in small-scale sabotage operations. In 1942, H.M.S. Fidelity was refitted to operate as a commando carrier for operations in south-east Asia. She was armed with four 4-inch guns, four 21-inch torpedo tubes, and carried two OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes, the motor torpedo boat MTB-105, and the landing crafts HMS LCV-752 and LCV-754. 

Picture 3

In December 1942, H.M.S. Fidelity – with T Company, 40 Commando aboard – joined Convoy ON 154. The convoy was attacked by U-boats from 27 December while north of the Azores. On 28 December 1942, HMS Fidelity, suffering from engine problems, was left behind by convoy ON 154 and streamed its torpedo nets, which brought down her speed to 2-3 knots. The next day, its commander decided to head for the Azores and launched her motor torpedo boat HMS MTB-105 and a Kingfisher floatplane for anti-submarine patrol. The aircraft spotted two lifeboats of SS Empire Shackleton which were towed by the two landing crafts to HMS Fidelity. 43 survivors were picked up and the aircraft and the landing crafts were lifted aboard again. 

At 21.38 hours on 29 December, the German U-boat U-225 (Leimkühler) fired the stern torpedo at H.M.S. Fidelity, but missed. U-boat U-615 (Kapitzky) shadowed her cautiously during the day and attacked her with five single torpedoes between 22.00 and 23.00 hours, but they either missed or were caught by the torpedo nets. At 16.38 hours on 30 December, the vessel was finally hit by two torpedoes from U-boat U-435 at position 43°23′N, 27°07′W and sank immediately after heavy detonations. The U-boat reported a surprisingly high number of survivors swimming in the water and on overcrowded rafts; none of them were rescued and all drowned as the weather worsened. 274 crew members, 51 Royal Marines and the 44 survivors from SS Empire Shackleton were lost; the Empire Shackleton had been sunk earlier, at 10 55 p.m. on 28 December. The landing crafts HMS LCV-752 and HMS LCV-754 were lost with the ship. The engines of the motor torpedo boat MTB-105 broke down and the crew of eight men was later rescued by HMCS Woodstock (K 238), which then scuttled the disabled vessel. They were the only survivors from the Fidelity apart from two men that had been picked up by HMCS St. Laurent (H 83) after the other Kingfisher floatplane from the vessel crashed on take-off on 28 December. 

Albert Guérisse was not aboard the Fidelity when it sank, having earlier been stranded in France. His surname became the code name for the Pat O'Leary escape line which helped allied soldiers and downed airmen escape occupied France.