Rawalpindi’s Fight Epic of Heroism

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 303, 23 December 1939, Page 3

Rawalpindi’s Fight Epic of Heroism

LONDON, Dec. 1. Whenever the name of Rawalpindi is mentioned the world will think of Captain E. C. Kennedy, who, when a warship was sighted, calmly looked through his glasses and said: “It’s the Deutschland all right,” and who then pitted his lone armed merchant cruiser, with its crew of reservists and pensioners, against the might of Germany’s crack pocket battleship. The ship went down with flying colours off Iceland after a 40-minute fight with two German warships. The gallant captain went down with her. Eleven surviviors were landed at a Scottish port, having been rescued by the armed merchant cruiser ChitraJ, after having been in the sea for 22 hours. Their ship, they said, suddenly sighted the Deutschland and another battleship. The Deutschland immediately opened fire. They were six miles apart. The first shell blew away the bridge and the wireless cabin. The Rawalpindi replied, and had a direct hit. She followed this up with two more direct hits although shells were bursting on all sides of her. A British cruiser arrived on the scene of action too late to change the issue of the fight; and it was significant that the enemy ships hurriedly slipped away under cover of the approaching darkness. One survivor, a first class petty officer, said his job was in the aft magazine well below water mark. After one hit the lights in the magazine went out, and they knew that a fire had broken out amidships. It was an inferno. He realised that there was nothing else to do but to flood the magazine to prevent the ammunition from exploding. “I called for eight men to come up with me to ‘B’ deck,” he said. “Live shells and cordite were in the path of sparks and flames shooting from the fire amidships. We began throwing shells overboard. I cannot remember bow we reached the deck. The ship was ablaze all over and was being abandoned. “About 30 to 40 of us went over the side. We saw a waterlogged boat floating past. It was a thousand to one chance of being able to reach it. Some of us did.’’ Mrs. Kennedy, wife of Captain Kennedy, has been staying at Crieff, Perthshire, with her two daughters for the past month. It was there that sho received the news that her husband’s ship had gone down after its gallant light, and that lie was missing and believed lost. Her only comment when approached was: “He was only doing his duty. ’ ’ For 3.0 years before the war Captain Kennedy was Conservative Party Agent in High Wycombe. Previous to that he was Conservative Agent for Mid-Beds. Ho had a distinguished naval sareer. He became a naval cadet in 1892 and three years later was a midshipman. Ho became a lieutenant in 1900, lieutenantcommander in 1908 and commander four years later. He attained captain ’s rank in 193 7. During the last war he served with the Grand Fleet in the North Sea. From December, 1916, to March, 1918, he served in H.M.S. New Zealand, and from April to May, 1918, he was in command of H.M.S. Angora, which was employed in this period in laying mines in the Heligoland Bight. Ho was in command of H.M.S. Cassandra when she was sunk by a miqo in the Baltic on December 5, 1918. A destroyer rescued the Cassandra’s crew. He married in 191 S Rosalind Grant, daughter ot‘ Sir Ludovic Grant, Professor of Public and International Law in Edinburgh University. Ho leaves a family of three—two daughters and a son. The son is 20 years of age and a midshipman in the R.N.V.R. “He was a typical naval captain,” a friend said. “He was full of energy, but although he had had an adventurous career he was reserved about the part he played.’’ Another friend said: “Captain Kennedy was a typical naval otiTcer of the old school. I can well imagine him looking through Ids glasses and calmly remarking, ‘lt's the Deutschland all right,’ before ordering the crew to their battle stations. “A man determined, almost grim

features, he was known as a strict disciplinarian. He took a leading part in local affairs at High Wycombe and the countryside around.”