Captain John Egerton Broome
DSC DSC may refer to:
Academia
* Doctor of Science (D.Sc.)
* District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India
* Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine
Educational institutions
* Dalton State Col ...
(23 February 1901 – 19 April 1985), also known as Jackie Broome, was a
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
officer who served in both World Wars. He commanded the escort group of the ill-fated Arctic
Convoy PQ 17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied Arctic convoy during the Second World War. On 27 June 1942, the ships sailed from Hvalfjörður, Iceland, for the port of Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union. The convoy was located by German forces on 1 July, aft ...
in 1942.
After the Second World War, he became a writer and illustrator.
Early career
He was born in 1901 in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
, to Louis Egerton Broome
[...son of ]Frederick Napier Broome
Sir Frederick Napier Broome (18 November 1842 – 26 November 1896) was a colonial administrator in the British Empire, serving in Natal, Mauritius, Western Australia, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. The Western Australian towns of Broom ...
and Mary Anne Barker
Mary Anne Barker, Lady Barker (29 January 1831 – 6 March 1911), later Mary Anne Broome, Lady Broome, was an English author. She wrote mainly about life in New Zealand.
Biography
Born Mary Anne Stewart in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she was the el ...
and Clara Kathleen (Aimée) Lake. His father was an English adventurer who had joined the gold rush to the
Klondike. He accompanied his parents to
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
in 1907, but returned to England, where he was raised largely by his mother's relatives. He attended Oakwood School, Surrey and in 1912, entered the
Royal Naval College at Osborne. From Osborne, he passed in 1915 to the senior College at
Dartmouth.
World War I and between the Wars
In 1917 he was posted as a
midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...
to the
battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
''Colossus'' in the
Grand Fleet
The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
History
Formed in August 1914 from the ...
.
Shortly after the end of the War, he was promoted
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces.
In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...
and served in the
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
HMS ''Clematis'' in the Red Sea and at Aden. From there he attended
Trinity Hall,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
["Convoy is to scatter", pp. 22–24] and after graduating in 1923, chose to serve in
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s. By this time, his talent as a
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
and wag was well established.
He served in several submarines from 1923 to 1938, except for two short spells on the capital ships
HMS ''Tiger'' and
HMS ''Royal Oak''. Much of this period was spent at the Hong Kong naval station. He married Sybil Nicholas in 1928, with whom he had a son and a daughter.
He reached the rank of
commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
in 1936, while commanding the submarine,
HMS ''Rainbow''. In 1938, he attended a staff course at the Royal Naval College at
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
.
Second World War
Broome was judged to be too old in 1939 to command a submarine in wartime. Instead, he was given command of the destroyer
HMS ''Veteran'' recommissioned from reserve. Characteristically, Broome applied for membership of the
Company of Veteran Motorists, who made the ship a life member.
HMS ''Veteran'' served in the
Norwegian campaign in 1940. While there, her bridge was adorned with a huge stuffed hippopotamus head, acquired by Broome from Formby Golf Club during a spree ashore. Broome also acquired a German torpedo, which had missed its target and run onto the shore of a fjord. Suitably covered in German graffiti, it was eventually handed to the authorities in Rosyth. After the end of the Norwegian campaign, ''Veteran'' was assigned to counter a threatened German invasion, and was damaged by an
acoustic mine An acoustic mine is a type of naval mine which monitors audio activity in its vicinity. Depending on its design, it will either passively listen to its environment, depending only on the noise that is made by passing ships or actively send out audi ...
.
With ''Veteran'' laid up for extensive repairs, Broome was then assigned as
Staff Officer
A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...
to Admiral
Sir Percy Noble, the Commander-in-Chief of the
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is an approximately rectangular area of the Atlantic Ocean lying immediately to the west of Ireland and parts of Great Britain. Its north and south boundaries are defined by the corresponding extremities of Britain. The c ...
Command. Broome's cartoons enlivened many drab briefing rooms and dreary routine reports.
After several months in this duty, he temporarily served as
Captain (D) at the base at
Londonderry Port
Londonderry Port, now operating as Foyle Port, is a port located on Lough Foyle in Northern Ireland. It is the United Kingdom’s most westerly port and an important northerly port on the island of Ireland. The current port is at Lisahally, Co ...
in Derry and then commanded the First
Escort Group, (EG1) in the destroyer . For most of 1941 and 1942, HMS ''Keppel'' was engaged in arduous convoy duties in the Atlantic. One brief stay at
Lisahally was enlivened by the capture of a German spy who was attempting to escape to the
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...
in a stolen motor boat.
PQ 17
Then in June 1942, EG1 was assigned to protect
Convoy PQ 17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied Arctic convoy during the Second World War. On 27 June 1942, the ships sailed from Hvalfjörður, Iceland, for the port of Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union. The convoy was located by German forces on 1 July, aft ...
, sailing from
Hvalfjord in Iceland to
Murmansk
Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...
in Russia. The Arctic convoys were reckoned to be very hazardous missions, as they faced not only U-Boats but also German aircraft and surface ships, including the powerful battleship
''Tirpitz''. A squadron of British and American
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
s was assigned to protect the convoy, and the
Home Fleet
The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet.
Before the First ...
, with its battleships and
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
s was at sea, but distant.
On 4 July 1942, PQ 17 was attacked several times by torpedo-carrying German aircraft. Three merchant ships were lost, but four aircraft were shot down, and several others damaged. At this point, Admiral Dudley Pound, the First Sea Lord, fearing that ''Tirpitz'' was about to attack, sent three fateful signals:
*''2111: Most Immediate. Cruiser Force withdraw to westward at high speed''
*''2123: Immediate. Owing to threat from surface ships convoy is to disperse and proceed to Russian ports''
*''2136: Most Immediate. My 2123. Convoy is to scatter''
The rising tone of panic in these messages convinced Broome and every other recipient that ''Tirpitz'' was approaching. Since the first of the messages was not directly addressed to Broome, he was not immediately aware that the cruisers were withdrawing. In fact, although they should have been out of sight of the convoy, because of navigational errors they were clearly visible as they worked up to full speed. Convinced that the cruisers were about to engage enemy ships, Broome collected the miscellany of destroyers in EG1 and attached them to the cruisers, while the convoy scattered.
A day later, it became clear that the threat from German surface ships did not exist, and that the scattered ships of the convoy were being picked off individually by U-boats and aircraft. It was by then too late to reform the convoy; Broome's destroyers were low on fuel after their high-speed dash in company with the cruisers, and the oilers which had accompanied the convoy had themselves been sunk.
Twenty-one of the convoy's thirty-five ships were sunk following the order to scatter. The Royal Navy felt themselves disgraced by the unhappy episode. Later that year, the
First Lord of the Admiralty
The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...
,
A. V. Alexander
Albert Victor Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough, (1 May 1885 – 11 January 1965), was a British Labour and Co-operative politician. He was three times First Lord of the Admiralty, including during the Second World War, and then Mi ...
paid a visit to HMS ''Keppel''. Broome asked the reason why PQ 17 was scattered but received no satisfactory answer.
Later naval career
After a brief spell in the Mediterranean, during which EG1 played a peripheral part in
Operation Pedestal
Operation Pedestal ( it, Battaglia di Mezzo Agosto, Battle of mid-August), known in Malta as (), was a British operation to carry supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War. Malta was a base from which British ...
, HMS ''Keppel'' was paid off late in 1942. Broome was surprised to be promoted to
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
, and also awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries.
*Distinguished Service Cross (Australia)
The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is a military decoration awarded to ...
in 1943. (Broome was aware that not only was anyone connected with PQ 17 liable to have that episode on their record, but also that his habit of drawing and circulating acerbic caricatures of senior officers had made him unpopular with some.)
He commanded the
escort carrier
The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft ...
HMS ''Begum'' in 1942–1944. ''Begum'' served with the Eastern Fleet. Her aircraft sank a particularly troublesome U-Boat in the Indian Ocean late in 1944, for which Broome was
Mentioned in Dispatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
. He was also awarded the
Burma Star
The Burma Star is a military campaign medal, instituted by the United Kingdom in May 1945 for award to British and Commonwealth forces who served in the Burma Campaign from 1941 to 1945, during the Second World War.
One clasp, Pacific, was ...
for his service in Indian waters.
He was commandant of a shore establishment at
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
,
HMS ''Vernon II'' in 1945 before being appointed captain of the aged battleship
HMS ''Ramillies'' in 1945–1946.
Writer and cartoonist
Broome retired from the Royal Navy in 1947. From 1947 to 1951, he busied himself as editor of the ''Sketch Magazine''. He wrote a number of books on naval subjects, and edited and illustrated several humorous collections of naval signals. He was also a founder member of the
Lord's Taverners
The Lord's Taverners is the UK's leading youth cricket and disability sports charity. Its charitable objective is to empower and positively impact the lives of young people facing the challenges of inequality.'.
It was founded in 1950 by a group ...
Cricket Club.
He was naval advisor for several films, including ''
The Cruel Sea''. Actor
Jack Hawkins
John Edward Hawkins, CBE (14 September 1910 – 18 July 1973) was an English actor who worked on stage and in film from the 1930s until the 1970s. One of the most popular British film stars of the 1950s, he was known for his portrayal of mili ...
apparently based his portrayal of the fictional Lieutenant Commander George Erickson on Broome. He also wrote television and film scripts.
He and his first wife divorced in 1954, and he subsequently married Joan Featherstonhaugh Crisp.
Towards the end of his life, he was able to see
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television.
Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in ''Marriage Lines'' (1961–66), but ...
play him in a TV play about PQ 17.
Libel case
In 1968,
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include ''The Destruction of Dresden'' (19 ...
published a controversial book about PQ 17. It concentrated on Allied blunders and shortcomings, alleging that Broome's decision to withdraw his destroyers was the primary cause of the disaster to the convoy. Broome mounted a
libel
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
action to defend his reputation. He was successful, winning £40,000 in damages and securing the withdrawal of all copies of the offending book from circulation (it has since been republished, with corrections.) The damages payment (donated by Broome to charity) was the highest paid in legal history until
Jeffrey Archer's controversial action against the
Daily Star newspaper.
Published works
*''Make a Signal'', Putnam, 1955
*''Make a Signal'', Putnam, 1961.
*''McTuff at the top'', Putnam, 1961.
*''Convoy is to Scatter'' (autobiographical work), William Kimber, 1972,
*''Make Another Signal'', William Kimber, 1973,
*''Services Wrendered'', William Kimber, 1974,
Footnotes
External links
The Papers of Jackie Broomeat
Churchill Archives Centre
The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers of ...
, Cambridge
The life & times of Captain Jack Broome DSC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broome, Jack
1901 births
1985 deaths
Military personnel from Seattle
Royal Navy officers of World War II
Royal Navy submarine commanders
Royal Navy officers
Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
Royal Navy officers of World War I