Description
1914-15 Star, British War & Victory Medal, Stoker Dudley A. Foster, Royal Navy, a Submariner in “The Suicide Club” onboard the Sub K6, during the disastrous Battle of May Island where he sliced in half Sub K4. Emigrated to after the war to Australia and died there.
Trio officially impressed: “K 15771 D.A. Foster. Sto. 1. R.N.”
A splendid painting of the Sub K6 can be seen here, being held by the Scottish Maritime Museum:
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/submarine-k6-at-sea-208817
During World War 1, Dudley started off the war on HMS Cochrane, where he saw action at the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea on 31st May 1916.
He then spent February 1917 to July 1918 on board Submarine K6 as part of her original crew when commissioned for active service from May 1917.
The K Class submarines were nicknamed the “Kalamity Class” Submarines due to their involvement in various accidents and high chance of death amongst the crews, if they were lucky to have survived the horrific experiences of early submarines, the crews referred to themselves as “The Suicide Club”
One event was the “Battle of May Island” not actually a battle with the enemy but a series of accidents during Operation EC1 in 1918, named after the Isle of May close by.
Whilst onboard the ship, K6 rammed and sliced straight in half Submarine K4, killing the entire crew, in a disastrous 75 minutes, 2 submarines were sunk, 3 had been badly damaged and HMS Fearless the depot ship was also damaged, leaving 105 men killed.
Further can be read here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_May_Island
Dudley Arthur Foster, was born in Reading on 19th November 1892, joining the Royal navy on 14th August 192.
He soon after joined HMS Cochrane, on board from 9th April 1913 until 2nd February 1917.
During this time he took part in the Battle of Jutland.
He then joined the Submarine Service, first on HMS Dolphin, the Royal Navy’s Submarine School undergoing training from 1st December 1916 until 2nd February 1917.
After this he could then join HMS Fearless, the Submarine Depot Ship of the First Submarine Flotilla, and became a crew member of the newly Commissioned Submarine HMS K6 from 3rd February 1917 – 1st July 1918.
After this he joined HMS Victory II from July to August 1918, before finishing out the war on HMS Princess Royal from 28th August 1918 – 15th May 1919.
Seeing further service, he saw some time on another questionable Ship, The HMS Patrol Boat P46 from 13th January 1920 until 11th September 1920.
During this time he was involved in further accidents, the HM P46 being involved in a collision with HMS Turquoise on 13th April 1920 and then with the Motor Boat of RFA Slovol on 4th June 1920.
Soon after upon finishing out his contract, he was allowed “Free Discharge”, on 16th September 1920, joining the Royal FLeet Reserve.
Given his service on the divisive early submarines, he did not appear to want to continue on to re-sign for further service.
Having left the Navy, he chose to emigrated over to Australia at some point, and having enjoyed a long life, died in Western Australia, at Fremantle on 2nd May 1982.
