Under fire: Capt Carpenter kept HMS Vindictive close to the Zeebrugge Mole for almost two hours while under fierce bombardment. Painting in the Royal Naval College collection at Greenwich
CROYDON CHRONICLES: As we approach the season of Remembrance, DAVID MORGAN has found articles and documents in the Minster archive which tell of the conspicuous gallantry of Captain Alfred Carpenter
On April 27 1918, the Croydon Times hailed Captain Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter of the Royal Navy as “Croydon’s naval hero” after the exploits of him, his crew and Royal Marines aboard HMS Vindictive in the Zeebrugge Raid led to him being awarded the Victoria Cross.
Carpenter came from a line of navy officers, with his father, also Captain Alfred Carpenter, living in retirement in the Red House, Sanderstead.
For his homecoming a month later, locals came out in force to welcome Croydon’s conquering hero.
The Zeebrugge Raid was a daring operation by allied forces in an effort to break the deadly stalemate of the western front in World War I as it dragged on towards its fourth year.
Zeebrugge, in occupied Belgium, was being used by the Germans as a base for their lethal U-boat submarines and large cruiser battleships that were menacing allied shipping and disrupting supply lines to the front. The Royal Navy’s plan was to blockade the port to prevent the German navy from attacking shipping in the North Sea and the English Channel.
Capt Alfred Carpenter VC: by Sir Arthur Stockdale Cope. The painting is in the National Portrait Gallery.
Bombardment of the docks from the sea and attacks by air throughout the war had failed to stop the Germans. Bombing raids from the air was a new, deadly method of warfare. One air raid on Zeebrugge in February 1915 involved 34 British aircraft and eight French aeroplanes.
A newspaper report from March 1916 stated that a great fire was seen raging from Zeebrugge port after another allied attack. The correspondent went on to say that the Germans had greatly strengthened their defences, with additional artillery, and using observation balloons set to a great height to deter air attacks.
The damage from the fires did not prevent the German U-boat fleet from being serviced or taking to sea.
The need for a more effective plan was clear to the Admiralty. The idea of a direct raid on the port had always been rejected because of the high risk of many casualties. But by early 1918, there seemed no alternative.
The officer commanding the operation was Commander Frank Brock, from the family who had established the Brock fireworks brand. Brock used his family expertise and invented a chemical smokescreen – “artificial fog” – which was to be used in the raid to screen the approach of allied vessels.
Mapped out: how contemporary newspapers explained the objectives of the raid
Carpenter was in command of the British cruiser, HMS Vindictive.
The ship was specially adapted for the mission. Flame throwers, Stokes batteries – a form of mortar that fired explosives – and special gangways were added so that she could pull up against the Mole, Zeebrugge’s outer harbour wall, where the plan was for the ship’s force of marines and sailors would land and attack the German defences.
Because of the high risk of casualties, everyone who took part in the Zeebrugge Raid was a volunteer.
Six old cruisers were to be used in the raid, with five of them being scuppered at the harbour entrance to block the channel. This was to be an amphibious operation. Two former Liverpool ferries, Daffodil and Iris, were used as troop ships and carried marines to land on the Mole. The plan was for the German garrison to be distracted by the attack on the Mole, while the other vessels could sail in and be scuppered in the correct position.
The raid was planned for April 2, but had to be postponed because of unfavourable weather, with winds liable to blow away Brock’s smokescreen.
Longtime objective: as this 1916 report shows, the British had been trying to shutdown U-boat operations out of Zeebrugge for years
The navy’s fleet and troops were stood down until the night of April 22, when they set off to make make the raid in the early hours of April 23, St George’s Day. Everything had to run to a precise timetable, despite the ships sailing through the night without visible lights, and taking a circuitous route to avoid U-boats and minefields. Setting sail from Dover for a voyage of about 100 miles, Carpenter in the Vindictive arrived at Zeebrugge just one minute late.
A shot fired from the Vindictive to take out the Mole’s lighthouse beam was the signal for the raid to begin.
From that point on, nothing went according to plan. Carpenter, with clear and calm decision-making while in the middle of a fierce battle, helped to make the best of a situation which might easily have ended in total disaster.
The Vindictive came under withering fire as it approached the Mole. Machine guns and artillery fire burst on the ship. There were a large number of casualties when a German shell exploded on the Mole just as the Royal Marines were leaping on to the concrete breakwater. Large fragments of concrete flew through the air, causing many injuries – and worse.
For an hour and 50 minutes, while the other parts of the raid were being undertaken, Carpenter kept the Vindictive up against the Mole while it was being badly battered under enemy fire, the ship suffering serious damage, in a scene reimagined for a famous painting in the Royal Naval College at Greenwich.
There were around 200 men in the Vindictive’s force of marines. While they were fighting their way along the Mole, a British submarine loaded with explosives crashed into the breakwater. The marines fought tenaciously along the Mole, taking out as many German guns and defenders as they could.
When Carpenter received a signal to withdraw, he refused to sail away from the Mole until he had assurances that all who could get back on board had done so.
Newspaper reports about the raid spoke of a “necessarily high rate of casualties” (our italics).
Some sailors lying wounded on the deck of the Vindictive as it made its way under its own steam back to Dover wanted to know “if we had won, just as if it had been a football match”.
Carpenter said: “Every man and every officer behaved so splendidly that really even now, when it is all over, the whole thing seems a dream to me.”
He remembered passing a severely wounded soldier on the deck, who had had his arm blown off. “Good luck to you sir,” he said to the ship’s captain.
Homeward bound: despite the damage sustained in Zeebrugge, HMS Vindictive made it back to Dover
One sailor on another craft recollected seeing flames coming out of Vindictive’s funnels as she steamed away from Zeebrugge. “She came past us with a rush, with flames 12-foot high from her funnels, giving her best impression of a battle cruiser. They must have been stoking her like blazes.”
Once back in the safety of a home port, Carpenter began to take stock of the raid. Not only was he a popular officer, he was a lucky one, too. Commander Brock, the officer in charge of the raid, had gone ashore on the Mole to check on the German defences and was killed. He was 34 years old.
Carpenter was wounded, too, shot in the left arm which was dressed and placed in a sling. He led a charmed life. Five bullets passed through his cap – no steel helmets for Royal Navy officers then – and his cap’s peak was shot away, without hitting his scalp.
His crew was amazed at his coolness and courage. “He put the Vindictive next to the Mole like he was mooring up beside a pier in his own harbour.”
Carpenter sent a telegram to his father from Dover, saying that he was safe but very busy, more than a touch of British understatement.
Carpenter’s father was the first recipient from naval services to be awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the DSO, for his part in the Anglo-Burmese war of the 1880s when he piloted a flotilla to Mandalay under fire. He now received many hearty congratulations on the prominent part played by his son in the Zeebrugge Raid.
As a result of his part in the action, 37-year-old Carpenter was immediately promoted to captain by the Board of Admiralty.
Carpenter was asked to nominate officers and ratings for the award of a Victoria Cross but he refused, saying it was impossible to single out any individual. As a result, a ballot was held and Carpenter was awarded the Victoria Cross himself, chosen by the other officers.
In an almost unprecedented move, seven other officers and ratings were awarded Victoria Crosses for their part in the Zeebrugge Raid.
Carpenter’s investiture took place at Buckingham Palace in July 1918, when he received his VC from King George V.
Carpenter’s VC citation says:
For most conspicuous gallantry
This officer was in command of Vindictive. He set a magnificent example to all those under his command by his calm composure when navigating mined waters, bringing his ship alongside the Mole in darkness. When Vindictive was within a few yards of the Mole the enemy started and maintained a heavy fire from batteries, machine guns and rifles on to the bridge.
He showed most conspicuous bravery, and did much to encourage similar behaviour on the part of the crew, supervising the landing from the Vindictive on to the Mole, and walking round the decks directing operations and encouraging the men in the most dangerous and exposed positions. By his encouragement to those under him, his power of command and personal bearing, he undoubtedly contributed greatly to the success of the operation.
Captain Carpenter also received the Légion d’honneur and Croix de Guerre from a grateful French government.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Imperial War Museum at Kennington.
The Zeebrugge Raid was portrayed in the wartime press as a spectacular victory for the British. The King and Queen even visited a cinema in the West End to see a newsreel of the action.
High casualty rate: more than 200 British servicemen were killed in Zeebrugge. This mass grave funeral in Dover was for two officers and 64 men
In reality, the hype surrounding the victory was misplaced. Certainly, the troops who landed on the Mole fought with incredible bravery. Two ships were scuttled in the harbour and caused some disruption, but according to John Keegan’s history The First World War, the Zeebrugge Raid made no difference at all to U-boat attacks on merchant shipping, which had been the raid’s prime objective.
British troops paid a high price for the raid. More than 220 were killed in action, with another 350, including Captain Carpenter, wounded.
‘Five bullets through his cap’: how the Croydon Times reported on Capt Carpenter’s bravery in April 1918
Later that year, in July, a “Vindictive Week” was held in Croydon and east Surrey, in which officers of the ship spoke. Around £600,000 – the equivalent today of more than £44million – was raised and invested in the war loan scheme as a contribution from the district towards a new Vindictive.
Carpenter had certainly made his mark in the town and the locals rallied to the cause, inspired by his coolness and bravery under the most difficult of circumstances.
He retired from the Royal Navy in 1934, when 53, having reached the rank of Vice Admiral (a “three-star” rank, the equivalent of a lieutenant-general or air marshal), although he came back into service during World War II.
Admiral Carpenter VC died in 1955. He was 74.
His portrait, painted in 1918 by Sir Arthur Stockdale Cope, is now in the National Portrait Gallery.
David Morgan, pictured right, has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for more than a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- How Croydon got its first shopping centre, 750 years ago
- Minster’s ornate altar artwork that still retains its mysteries
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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