Ordinary Seaman William Albert Williams
Royal Navy, HMS Lagan P/JX 514690
Date of Birth: 1st of August 1925
Place of Birth: Bideford, Devon
Date of Death: 20th of September 1943, aged 18
Buried: Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 76, Column 3
Awarded the 1939-45 Star and the War Medal 1939-1945
Son of Albert and Mary Jane Williams (née Stacey) of Teignmouth, Devon.
At 04.57 hours on the 20th of September 1943, U-270 fired a Gnat, a newly developed acoustic torpedo, at HMS Lagan (K 259) (LtCdr A. Ayre, RNR) near convoy ON-202 and struck her in the stern.
One of the Navy's new frigates - HMS Lagan, 4th of February 1943 © IWM A 14733
The U-boat was then chased away by depth charges from HMCS Gatineau (H 61) (Cdr P.W. Burnett, RN) and the badly damaged frigate was taken in tow by HMS Destiny (W 115) to the Mersey, arriving on 24 September.
The vessel was declared a constructive total loss and the wreck sold to be broken up for scrap on the 21st of May 1946.
