- Jack Broome
Captain John Egerton "Jack" (or Jackie) Broome DSC, RN, (
23 February 1901 -19 April 1985 ) was aRoyal Navy officer who served in both World Wars. He commanded the escort group of the ill-fated ArcticConvoy PQ-17 in 1942.cite web | title=The Papers of Jackie Broome | work=Janus | accessdate=2007-04-02 | url=http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FBRME] After the Second World War, he became a writer and illustrator.Early career
He was born in 1901 in
Seattle, Washington , to Louis Egerton Broome and Clara Kathleen (Aimée) Lake. His father was an English adventurer who had joined the gold rush to theKlondike . He accompanied his parents toPanama in 1907, but returned to England where he was raised largely by his mother's relatives. There, he attended Oakwood School, Surrey and in 1912, entered theRoyal Naval College atOsborne . From Osborne, he passed in 1915 to the senior College at Dartmouth.World War I and between the Wars
In 1917 was posted as a
midshipman to thebattleship , HMS "Colossus" atScapa Flow , commanded by the then CaptainDudley Pound . Coincidentally, Pound wasFirst Sea Lord at the time of the Convoy PQ-17 25 years later.Shortly after the end of the War, he was promoted
Sub-Lieutenant and served in thedestroyer HMS "Clematis" in the Red Sea and at Aden. From there he attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge"Convoy is to scatter", pp. 22-24] , and after graduating in 1923, chose to serve insubmarine s. By this time, his talent as acartoonist 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 in 1936, while commanding the submarine, HMS "Rainbow". In 1938, he attended a staff course at the Royal Naval College atGreenwich .World War II
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 .Broome was then assigned as
Staff Officer to Admiral Sir Percy Noble, the Commander-in-Chief of theWestern Approaches Command. His 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 atLondonderry Port inDerry and then commanded the FirstEscort Group , (EG1) in the destroyer HMS "Keppel". For most of 1941 and 1942, HMS "Keppel" was engaged in arduous convoy duties in the Atlantic. The brief stay at Lisahally was enlivened by the capture of a German spy who was attempting to escape to theIrish Free State in a stolen motor boat.PQ17
Then in June 1942, EG1 was assigned to protect
Convoy PQ-17 , sailing fromHvalfjord inIceland toMurmansk inRussia . 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 Americancruiser s was assigned to protect the convoy, and theHome Fleet , with its battleships andaircraft carrier s was at sea, but distant.On
July 4 1942 , PQ17 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 ,A. V. Alexander paid a visit to HMS "Keppel". Broome asked the reason why PQ17 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 Harpoon , HMS "Keppel" was paid off late in 1942. Broome was surprised to be promoted tocaptain , and also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1943. (Broome was aware that not only was anyone connected with PQ17 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 carriers HMS "Avalon" in 1942-1943 and HMS "Begum" in 1943-1944. "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 . He was also awarded theBurma Star for his service in Indian waters.He was commandant of a shore establishment at
Portsmouth , 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 Cricket Club.He was naval advisor for several films, including "The Cruel Sea". Actor
Jack Hawkins apparently based his portrayal of the fictional Lieutenant Commander George Erickson on Broome. He also wrote television and film scripts.
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