Alexander (Alec) Marr Jones

• Death Notes
  • Name: JONES, ALEXANDER MARK
    Initials: A M
    Nationality: United Kingdom
    Rank: Able Seaman
    Regiment/Service: Royal Navy
    Unit Text: H.M.S. Eskimo
    Age: 21
    Date of Death: 09/12/1939
    Service No: C/SSX 16903
    Additional information: Son of Albert and Mary Jones, of Aberdeen.
    Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
    Grave/Memorial Reference: 33, 1.
    Memorial: CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL
    
    
    HMS ESKIMO'S journeys around the world ranged from the Arctic Circle to the Indian Ocean. In January 1939, a month after her commissioning, she took part in the combined Home and Mediterranean Fleet Exercises off Gibraltar. On 17th May, a 2 pounder gun was being cleaned when a blank charge in the breech suddenly went off. No one in the immediate vicinity was injured but nearby, two men were lowering the motor-boat and two more were working on a hawser. One person was killed and the other three injured.
    Like the other Tribals, ESKIMO had trouble with her turbines and was sent for refit in September 1939. Soon she was back at Scapa Flow and while in company with HMS ASHANTI, the German air force attacked for the first time on 17th October. ESKIMO shot down one aircraft and later came to the assistance of the damaged battleship HMS IRON DUKE. The winter of 1939/40 consisted of patrols, convoy duty and high speed steaming in rough weather. After a refit was completed in March 1940, ESKIMO was ready to participate in the impending operations in Norwegian waters. During the Second Battle of Narvik, ESKIMO had her bows blown off by a torpedo. She limped back to Skilfiord, Norway for temporary repairs. Surviving aerial bomb attacks, she was finally made ready for sea on 31st May 1940. The destroyer proceeded without incident, to the Vickers-Armstrong yard at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England for a rebuild.