Salisbury Hamilton Simpson

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Captain (retired) Salisbury Hamilton Simpson, D.S.O. (24 September, 1884 – ) was an officer in the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Simpson was appointed in command of the first-class torpedo boat T.B. 50 on 28 August, 1906.[1]

Simpson was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 1 April, 1907.[2]

He was appointed in command of the first-class torpedo boat T.B. 042 on 15 May, 1909.[3]

In April, 1912, Simpson was appointed in command of the gunboat Peterel.[4]

Great War

Simpson was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 1 April, 1915.[5]

Simpson was appointed to H.M.S. Westphalia, a Q-ship, on 19 March, 1917, to assume command upon her commissioning. Simpson was credited with sinking a U-boat by gunfire on 13 July, 1917 and was awarded a D.S.O. for it, gazetted and invested by the King on 29 August, 1917. He was also credited with possibly slightly damaging a submarine by gunfire on 20 August.[6] However, I am unable to find a plausible match for the Uboat reported sunk.[7]

Simpson received a bar to his D.S.O for action against a submarine on 28 September, 1917, this being gazetted on 22 February, 1918. It was further noted that "his ship being cooly and ably worked, and showed that excellent discipline and organization prevail" in yet anouther action on 17 November, 1917.[8]

Simpson's good fortune would run out, as the heyday of Q-ship tactics was already past. Renamed Cullist, his command was lost to U 97 on 11 February, 1918 in the Irish Sea. Five officers, twenty-seven ratings, two R.M.L.I., and nine Mercantile Marine Reservists were lost.[9] Simpson survived with a badly dislocated shoulder. He would become an Auxiliary Patrol officer at Plymouth with some shore-based duty spelled out as "P.M.S.O.", but he was spending much time convalescing, spending 82 days of full pay sick leave on the books of Victory that had to be extended another month before he was finally surveyed as fit "for shore duty only, preferably in neighbourhood of London to to enable him to continue the necessary treatment."[10]

On 17 May, 1918, Simpson was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the President of the French Republique.[11]

Post-War

Simpson was promoted to the rank of Commander on 30 June, 1919.[12]

He was loaned to the Royal Australian Navy to take up command of H.M.A.S. Anzac. The tenure in command may have been brief, but his service on the books of Australia continued to mid April 1923, when he returned to England and Royal Naval service.[13]

He spent a year in command of destroyers in Reserve, being borne in Hecla from 29 August, 1923. On 26 December, 1924, he was appointed to the shallow draught steamer Widgeon, in service on the Yangtze, to take command vice Montague Legge in January 1925. His services in the roiled waters of the Yangtze prompted the Admiralty to thank him in 1926 for "his good service in difficult situations during the disturbances in China."[14]

On 5 July, 1927, he was appointed to Columbine for command of a reserve group of destroyers, but after just three months he was appointed to the Admiralty for just ten days duty in the Naval Intelligence Division.[15]

18 October 1927 saw him supersede Cecil Crocker in command of Emergency destroyers. He left this posting when he was appointed in command of the light cruiser Cambrian on 10 December, 1929, being superseded there on 11 June, 1930.[16]

Retirement

Simpson was placed on the Retired List at his own request with the rank of Captain on 16 December, 1930.[17]

He was called back for service in World War II, serving as D.S.T.O., Plymouth from 4 September, 1939 and as D.S.T.O., Plymouth from 14 April, 1941, and then from Glasgow for the latter half of 1945.[18]

See Also

Naval Appointments
Preceded by
Arthur G. Harrington 		Captain of H.M. T.B. 50
28 Aug, 1906[19] – c. Mar, 1907 		Succeeded by
Herbert A. Forster
as Captain of H.M.T.B. 050
Preceded by
Clive N. Rolfe 		Captain of H.M. T.B. 042
15 May, 1909[20] 		Succeeded by
George Collins
Preceded by
Edmond A. T. de P. de la Poer 		Captain of H.M. T.B. 108
26 May, 1910[21] 		Succeeded by
John Daly
Preceded by
Mark G. Newton 		Captain of H.M.S. Peterel
Apr, 1912[22] – 6 May, 1913[23] 		Succeeded by
Salisbury H. Simpson
Preceded by
Colin E. M. Law 		Captain of H.M.S. Opossum
26 Mar, 1913[24] – Mar, 1912[25] 		Succeeded by
Alfred Reep
Preceded by
Salisbury H. Simpson 		Captain of H.M.S. Peterel
4 Dec, 1913 – 17 Mar, 1914[26] 		Succeeded by
George F. Hole
Preceded by
New Command 		Captain of H.M.S. Jessamine
7 Oct, 1915[27] – 19 Mar, 1917[28] 		Succeeded by
Sidney A. Geary Hill
Preceded by
William J. Whitworth 		Captain of H.M.A.S. Anzac
22 Sep, 1919[29] 		Succeeded by
Alan F. W. Howard
Preceded by
Ivan W. Whitehorn 		Captain of H.M.S. Cockchafer
Aug, 1925[30] – 28 Nov, 1926[31] 		Succeeded by
?
Preceded by
Richard H. O. Lane-Poole 		Captain of H.M.S. Cambrian
10 Dec, 1929[32] – 11 Jun, 1930[33] 		Succeeded by
Cecil N. Reyne

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The Navy List. (January, 1907). p. 400.
  2. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  3. ↑ The Navy List. (April, 1910). p. 401.
  4. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1913). p. 356.
  5. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  6. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  7. ↑ List of lost U-boats on UBoat.net.
  8. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  9. ↑ Kindell. Royal Navy Roll of Honour Part 2. pp. 461-2.
  10. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  11. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  12. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  13. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  14. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  15. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  16. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  17. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  18. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  19. ↑ The Navy List. (January, 1907). p. 400.
  20. ↑ The Navy List. (April, 1910). p. 401.
  21. ↑ The Monthly Navy List. (March, 1911). p. 401a.
  22. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1913). p. 356.
  23. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  24. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  25. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  26. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  27. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  28. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  29. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  30. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  31. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  32. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.
  33. ↑ Simpson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/49. f. 151.


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