Ordinary Seaman Ian Hastie

Ordinary Seaman Ian Hastie, Royal Navy. He was lost at sea aboard H.M.S. “Prince of Wales”, aged 21, on the 10th December 1941. He had been born in Ayton and was the son of Alexander and Jane Hastie of Ravelston, Chirnside. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. Before being called up in May 1941 he had been employed by the Caledonian Insurance Company in Edinburgh. He was posted to the “Prince of Wales” in October 1941 and were in Singapore when the Japanese attacks started on the 7th December. The Ship and the Battlecruiser H.M.S.” Repulse” sortied to attack Japanese troop transports but without air cover they were overwhelmed and sunk by enemy aircraft off the coast of Malaya. The ship was a “King George V” class battleship of 43,000 tons and had been launched in 1939 commissioning in January 1941.  She carried ten 14 inch guns and had a complement of 1,521. 327 crew were lost in the sinking including Admiral Phillips and Captain Leach. The day of the Capital Ship without air cover was over.

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