WWI British War Medal - Royal Navy - Lonergan - Submariner E20 - KIA

WWI British War Medal named to: 271886 A. LONERGAN. E.R.A. 3 R.N.

Arthur Lonergan was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire. He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Articifer in 1907 and served on various ships until the outbreak of the First World War. He joined the ill-fated submarine HMS E20 in July 1915 and was killed when the boat was sunk by the German submarine UB-14. A brief description of the action:

Operating in the eastern Mediterranean, E20 was scheduled to rendez-vous with the French submarine Turquoise on 6 November 1915. However, on 30 October, Turkish forces sank the Turquoise off Nagara Point in the Dardanelles, refloating her shortly afterwards, her confidential papers retrieved intact. Unaware of her plight, E20 attempted to keep the rendez-vous. The Imperial German Navy submarine UB-14, which was at Constantinople, was duly sent to intercept E20,[4] reportedly going so far as to radio messages in the latest British code. Upon arriving at the designated location, UB-14 surfaced and fired a torpedo at E20 from a distance of 500 metres (550 yd). E20's crew saw the torpedo, but it was too late to avoid the weapon. The torpedo hit E20's conning tower and sank her with the loss of 21 men. UB-14 rescued nine, including E20's captain who, reportedly, had been brushing his teeth at the time of the attack.

A very rare WWI submarine vs submarine casualty.