Tom volunteered for the Royal Navy in the early days of the war and saw active service in many places. On gaining his commission he volunteered for the Mine Sweeping Service and was soon promoted to the rank of Lieutenant gaining his own command.

On 13^th January 1942 HMT Rosemonde left Milford Haven en route to Gibraltar, together with HMS Rosalind and HMS Lord Grey but lost sight of them in stormy weather on 15^th January. While the other vessels arrived at Gibraltar on 22^nd January, the Admiralty reported HMT Rosemonde as missing and considered lost after the limit of her endurance was reached on 27^th January.

At about 23:00 hrs on 19^th January 1942 U-581 attacked what was believed to be a British corvette of some 800 tons steering towards Gibraltar during an extremely dark night with limited visibility due to rain, about 400 miles east of the Azores. A first torpedo missed, but then one of spread of two torpedoes struck the vessel amidships and caused it to break in two and sink within one minute, followed by an underwater explosion presumably caused by depth charges.

The U-boat searched the vicinity of the sinking for some considerable period but found no survivors or wreckage. It is very likely that HMT Rosemonde was sunk in this attack. Tom's death, at the age of 21 is recorded as being Thursday 22^nd January 1942. He is commemorated on the Lowestoft Naval Memorial, Suffolk.

Younger son of Edwin Sims-Hilditch & Ada Cyrilla Sims-Hilditch of Nantwich, Cheshire.

A copy of this story is available for download here.

See also the Commonwealth War Graves Commission permanent digital memorial, ‘Evermore: Stories of the fallen’ relating to:- Lieutenant Tom SIMS-HILDITCH