Gordon Arthur Peck

An Able Seaman with H.M. Submarine P.39, Gordon died on 8th of May 1942 aged 29. 

Gordon was born at Lowestoft on 25 March 1913, a son of William Samuel and Matilda Susan Peck. He was baptised at Saint Margaret’s Church on 25 April 1913 and his family lived at 54 Kent Road, which would be Gordon’s home address for the rest of his life. 

Gordon joined the Royal Navy on 25 March 1931. By 1934 he was a trained operator of torpedoes. Gordon joined the submarine service on 5 October 1936 and was drafted to H.M.S. Dolphin. Subsequently he served with H.M.S. Oxley and H.M.S. Spearfish. On 10 July 1937 he joined H.M.S. Proteus and was at Hong Kong in 1940 and in 1941 at Malta. In May 1941 Gordon attended a course at H.M.S. Vernon and was advanced to Leading Torpedo Operator before being drafted to H.M. Submarine P.39. The P.39 was badly damaged in an air raid on 26 March 1942. 

Many of the crew, including Gordon, returned to Malta and were being transported to Gibraltar, from Valetta, Malta, on H.M.S. Olympus when the submarine struck a mine. The crew made their way on deck. Attempts to signal their position failed and the submarine sank about seven miles off Malta. Eighty-nine men, including Gordon, died, but nine did survive. The loss of the Olympus has been described as the biggest British submarine tragedy of World War Two.