John Baker "U-Boat Sinking"

Lieutenant JOHN CECIL BAKER

Royal Navy H.M. Submarine Seahorse

Died 12 January 1940, Age 28 years old

Commemorated at Royal Naval Memorial, Portsmouth Panel 36, Column 3.

Son of John James and Kathleen Maud Baker, of 42 Pine Grove, Totteridge, Hertfordshire.

HM Submarine Seahorse

Lieutenant John Cecil Baker was among the first Royal Navy submarine officers to perish during World War II. His service aboard HMS Seahorse ended in tragedy during the early months of the conflict, marking one of Britain's first submarine losses to enemy action. The circumstances surrounding the sinking remain somewhat mysterious, with multiple theories about the vessel's fate persisting to this day.

Although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists his date of death as January 12, 1940, there are some discrepancies in the historical record. Other sources indicate the submarine was lost on January 7, 1940. This discrepancy likely reflects the difference between when the submarine was actually sunk and when the officers and crew were officially declared deceased for administrative purposes.

HMS Seahorse was part of the first batch of S-class submarines (sometimes referred to as the Swordfish-class) built for the Royal Navy during the early 1930s.

During her service before the war, Seahorse was involved in an accidental collision with the F-class destroyer HMS Foxhound in September 1938, which required repairs to both vessels. (see entry for Kenneth Byrne)

Seahorse departed for her sixth and final war patrol on December 26, 1939, from Blyth.  Her orders were to patrol initially off Heligoland and then move to the mouth of the Elbe River on December 30, with an expected return date of January 9, 1940. However, the submarine never returned to port and was never heard from again after leaving Blyth.

The exact circumstances of HMS Seahorse's sinking remain somewhat uncertain, though post-war examination of German records has provided several theories.

The most widely accepted explanation is that HMS Seahorse was sunk after being attacked and depth-charged by ships from the German 1st Minesweeping Flotilla on January 7, 1940. This engagement reportedly took place about 15 nautical miles northwest of Heligoland at position 54°19'N, 07°30'E.

According to German records examined after the war, the German minesweeper M-5, commanded by KL Dierksen, detected a submarine at 1435 hours on January 6, 1940, and carried out depth charge attacks until 0947 hours the following morning. The minesweeper then abandoned the search to assist in sinking another British submarine, HMS Undine. When M-5 returned to the area on January 11, it conducted seven more depth charge attacks and observed an oil slick.

Tragically, HMS Seahorse was also the first submarine loss of the war, with no survivors. All 39 crew members, including Lieutenant John Cecil Baker, perished with the vessel.

Source: National Archives ADM/358/8