Lieutenant Commander John William Tone
HMS Registan, Royal Naval Reserve
Date of Birth: 2nd quarter 1909
Place of Birth: Woolwich, London
Date of Death: 28th of May 1941
Buried: Chatham Naval Memorial, Grave Reference 49, 3.
Awarded the 1939-45 Star, and the War Medal 1939-1945
Son of Charles William and Alice Jane Tone, of Teignmouth, Devon.
In the 1911 census, the Tone family are living at 2, Rhea Street, North Woolwich, London. Parents Charles William Tone, born 1866, a Mariner Engineer, and Alice Jane Tone, born 1868.
HMS Registan
On the 13th of September 1940, the Steam Merchant Ship, Registan (5886 tons) of F.C. Strick & Co Ltd, London was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and converted to the ocean boarding vessel (OBV) HMS Registan, pennant F 106.
HMS Registan - http://www.undyingmemory.net/Burwell/charles%20douglas.html
On the 27th of May 1941, the ship was bombed by German aircraft off Cape Cornwall. The ship caught fire and 63 crew members were lost.
The survivors were rescued by HMS Wivern (D 66), HMS Vansittart (D 64) and HMS Wild Swan (D 62) and landed at Milford Haven.
The badly damaged ship was towed to Falmouth by the British tug Goliath, where she was rebuilt to a merchant and was returned to the owner in November 1941.
At 01.12 hours on the 29th of September 1942, the unescorted SS Registan was torpedoed and sunk by U-332, Johannes Liebe, about 140 miles east of Barbados. Eleven crew members and five gunners were lost.
The master, 34 crew members and 3 gunners were picked up on the 30th of September 1942 by the Argentinian merchantman 'Rio Neuqueen' and landed at Pernambuco.
Lieutenant Commander John William Tone, Royal Naval Reserve
John's probate was awarded to Charles William Tone, retired Marine Engineer, of Yannon Lea, Yannon Terrace, Exeter Road, Teignmouth, Devon.
