Lt Cmdr Robert Crosbie Halahan RN

[jimmyjames]

Lieutenant Commander Robert Crosbie Halahan, RN, is commemorated on the Roll of Honour of Christ Church, in Cheltenham.

He joined the RN in September 1901 and became a submariner after training between 1906 and 1909. He lost his life along with all hands of HM Submarine E18 when it was lost in the Baltic on 24th May 1916.

It appears that he qualified as a pilot on 24th December 1913 in a Bristol aircraft, certificate number 718 issued at Salibury Plain.

I wonder, then, if he served with the RNAS whilst awaiting for his first command, Submarine D2, which was completed in the early days of the war at Barrow.

Regards

Jimmy

[Dolphin]

Jimmy

I haven't found mention of Lt Cdr Halahan's RNAS service so far, but mention of submarine D.2 did trigger a memory:

"On 23 November while the submarine was running on the surface in heavy seas, a wave washed her commanding officer Lt-Cdr Jameson, overboard. The traditional shout went up and Lt Oakeley, D.2’s second-in-command, dashed to the conning tower to take over. The submarine swung around and the men leaning over the conning tower combing stared out through the gale-driven rain for their captain. But they knew that it was impossible for anyone to survive in those wild seas and, after two hours, the search was called off. Oakeley brought the submarine back to Harwich and reported the sad news of Jameson’s loss to his Flotilla Commander on Maidstone.

The very next day D.2 left Harwich for another patrol and, as the submarine glided slowly past Maidstone her new commanding officer, Lt-Cdr Head, raised his hand in salute. D.2 was never seen again. She vanished somewhere in the North Sea and no evidence was found to indicate her fate”. (A Damned Un-English Weapon by Edwin Gray).

Lt Oakeley was England's pre-War Scrum-Half Francis Eckley Oakeley; 4 caps 1913-1914.

I digress from your topic, but I hope it's interesting.

[michaeldr]

Jimmy,

You and indeed other sites on the web, quote the date of the loss of E18 as 24 May 1916

However the CWGC give the date of death for Robert Crosby Halahan as 11 June 1916

There’s probably a simple explanation; have I missed something here?

Regards

Michael D.R.

[jimmyjames]

Thanks, Dolphin, your post was most intersting - particularly as I now know that Submarine D2 was lost in November 1914, and not therefore the sub that Lt Cmdr Halahan was waiting to be completed at Barrow!! I'll check my sources on this one.

Michael. Good point, and to substantiate this another crew member of E18, Lt Walter Luke Landale, RN, (a Cheltonian) is listed at the CWGC as dying on 11th June 1916.

It may well be that the official RN enquiry after the loss of the sub decided on 11th June as opposed to 24th May. I wonder if Terry Denham could explain? I'll email the CWGC anyway.

Regards

Jimmy

[michaeldr]

Jimmy,

Thank you for your offer to check-up on the date of death with the CWGC

I will be interested to hear their explanation

Regarding sub dispositions at the beginning of the war

this site

has the following for 4th August 1914

D2 commanded by Lt-Cdr Arthur G. Jameson with the Portsmouth [2nd Flotilla]

D6 commanded by Lt-Cdr Robert C. Halahan with the Harwich [8th Flotilla]

Regards

Michael D.R.

[jimmyjames]

Thanks for the info, Michael.

Received the following message from CWGC last Friday (19th):

"We will of course respond to your enquiry as soon as possible, however, we currently have a 3 - 4 week e-mail backlog which we are working to clear"

Clearly the commission are very busy at the moment!!

Regards

Jimmy

[michaeldr]

Jimmy,

Many thanks for the up-date

Regards

Michael D.R.

[jimmyjames]

I received the following e-mail from CWGC last Friday (19th):

"Thank you for your e mail of 24 March 2004 regarding the following:

Casualty: Lieut-Commander ROBERT CROSBY HALAHAN

Served With: H.M. S/M "E18" Royal Navy

Died: 11th June 1916

Commemorated: PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL

Hampshire

United Kingdom

11.

Additional Information: Son of the late Col. Halahan (5th Bn. Royal

Fusiliers); husband of Gwladwys Mabel Davenport (formerly Halahan), of

Stubbington, Hants.

I would explain that our records are based on information provided to the

Commission after the war by the relevant Service Authorities, and as such we

were avised of the date of death as seen above. As a point of interest, we

record a further 20 casualties who were serving on the H.M. S/M "E18", all

for whom the date of death of 11th June 1916 is recorded.

I hope that the above information is useful.

Yours sincerely,

Julie Somay (Mrs)

Enquiries Section"

So, it appears the Royal Navy decided upon the 11th June 1916 as the official day the E18 was lost.

I e-mailed the RN Submarine Museum and asked when the sub was lost, their reply, received this morining was:

"Thank you for your e mail.

As far as I am aware the submarine HMS E18 was lost on 24th May 1916 in the

Baltic.

I quote: "On 23 May Lt Cdr Robert Halahan fired a torpedo which found the

destroyer V100. The result was that the destroyer's bow was blown clean

away; nevertheless, good seamanship enabled her to limp back to harbour. The

next day E18 was lost without trace". It is presumed that she was lost to a

mine.

Yours sincerely,

George Malcolmson

Archivist"

I think I will contact the MoD (Royal Navy) with the above info and seek the definitive date.

Regards

Jimmy

[michaeldr]

Jimmy,

Once again many thanks for keeping us informed on this one.

I hesitate to make the suggestion, as I am safely out of reach of Kew by a couple of time zones, but perhaps the NA has a file on the loss of this ship which might throw some light on the unusually wide disparity in the dates 24th May & 11th June?

Best of luck with the MoD

Regards

Michael D.R.

[jimmyjames]

Well, two months have passed since I wrote to the Naval Historical Branch and they hav'nt bothered with a reply or even an acknowledgement of receipt.

I will write again and follow up Michael's advice and convince my brother that its time for him to visit NA/PRO (its difficult for me to visit living up here in the wilds of Aberdeenshire!!).

Regards

Jimmy

[kefoster56]

I thought this mightt be of interest.

[Airshipped]

I'd have to thumb through various WWI and WWII books by Norman Franks Christopher Shores but if I recall correctly, the various Crosby Halahan families turn up in the Irish and English censuses of 1901 and 1911. There were a few generations in the RN, but PJ 'Bull' Halahan was a Wing Commander in the RAF in WWII.

However, I suspect the chief suspect is Frederick Crosby Halahan, who reached the rank of Air Vice Marshal in the RAF in the inter-war years but served with the RNAS in WWI.

http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Halahan.htm

It mightn't therefore be too surprising if several members of the same clan obtained Royal Aero Club certs in the early years of aviation but without serving in an operational flying role.