Stoker 1st Class Robert Ayre

Stoker 1st Class Robert Ayre, Royal Navy. He was lost at sea aboard H.M.S. ” Torrent ” on 23rd December 1917, aged 19. He was the son of Robert and Eleanor Ayre of 45 Low Greens, Berwick and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. ” Torrent ” was one of the 62 ” R” Class destroyers built for the Royal Navy and was launched at Swan Hunter’s of Wallsend in 1916. On the day she was one of eight destroyers from the Harwich Force sent to escort a convoy from the Dutch coast. Near the Maas light buoy the force ran into a newly laid minefield. Four destroyers were mined and three sank including the ” Torrent ” who was manoeuvering to pick up men in the water when she struck a mine. She broke in two and sank rapidly. only 7 men were saved from a crew of 105.

 

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