Allied Warship Commanders


Michael Beauchamp St. John DSC, RN

Birth details unknown


If you can help with photo or any information on this Officer please contact us at gummi@uboat.net.

Ranks

1 Jan 1936S.Lt.
1 Apr 1937Lt.
1 Nov 1944A/Lt.Cdr.
1 Apr 1945Lt.Cdr.
30 Jun 1952Cdr.


Retired: 14 May 1955

Decorations

7 Sep 1943DSC

Warship Commands listed for Michael Beauchamp St. John, RN


ShipRankTypeFromTo
HMS Oberon (N 21)Submarine3 Nov 1941
HMS L 26 (N 26)Lt.Submarine24 Apr 19411 Oct 1941
HMS Tuna (N 94)Lt.Submarine3 Nov 194121 Apr 1942
HMS Traveller (N 48)Lt.Submarine21 Apr 194226 Nov 1942
HMS Parthian (N 75)Lt.Submarine3 Dec 194215 Jun 1943
HMS Otway (N 51)Lt.Submarine23 Mar 1944???
HMS Totem (P 352)Lt.Submarine23 Aug 19448 Apr 1946

Career information

We currently have no career / biographical information on this officer.


Events related to this officer

Submarine HMS Oberon (N 21)


11 Oct 1935
Damaged in collision with the destroyer HMS Thanet at Devonport.


Submarine HMS Tuna (N 94)


12 Nov 1941
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Holy Loch for her 10th war patrol. She is to patrol off the Norwegian Coast.

No logs are available for this period so no map of this patrol can be displayed.

2 Dec 1941
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) ends her 10th war patrol at Holy Loch.

13 Dec 1941
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Holy Loch for her 11th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol off the Norwegian Coast. She is part of a special mission. For this she has to proceed to Scapa Flow first before departing for patrol from that base on 23 December. The special mission in question was part of Operation Archery, a commando raid on Vaagso. Tuna was to act as navigational beacon for the surface ships involved in this operation.

30 Dec 1941
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) ends her 11th war patrol at Holy Loch.

14 Jan 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Holy Loch for her 12th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the Bay of Biscay.

No logs are available for this period so no map of this patrol can be displayed.

18 Jan 1942
While on patrol in the Bay of Biscay HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) intercepts the French fishing vessel Juliette / Lorient 3476. The Skipper is taken on board for interrogation. Some of the papers are copied or confiscated.

21 Jan 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) ends her 12th war patrol at Falmouth. She departs for Holy Loch later that same day.

23 Jan 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Holy Loch.

6 Feb 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Holy Loch for her 13th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol off the Norwegian Coast.

No logs are available for this period so no map of this patrol can be displayed.

25 Feb 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) ends her 13th war patrol at Lerwick.

27 Feb 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Lerwick bound for Holy Loch.

1 Mar 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Holy Loch.

9 Mar 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Holy Loch bound for Lerwick.

11 Mar 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Lerwick.

16 Mar 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Lerwick for her 14th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol off the Norwegian Coast.

No logs are available for this period so no map of this patrol can be displayed.

3 Apr 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) ends her 14th war patrol at Lerwick. She departs later that day for Holy Loch.

5 Apr 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Holy Loch.

7 Apr 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Holy Loch for Blyth. She is to refit at the yard of Swan Hunters at Wallsend. This refit starts on 2 May 1942.


Submarine HMS Traveller (N 48)


28 Jul 1942
HMS Traveller (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) attacks the Italian merchant Ezilda Croce (1230 GRT) in the Otranto Strait. The torpedoes fired however miss their target.

30 Jul 1942
While operating in the Adriatic HMS Traveller (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) fires 6 torpedoes at the Italian 'small light cruiser' Cattaro (former Yugoslavian Dalmacija) off Pola. The torpedoes however missed their target.

5 Aug 1942
HMS Traveller (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) claims to have attacked (so far unknown) submarine in the Adriatic Sea in position 42º48'N, 14º31'E.

7 Aug 1942
HMS Traveller (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) claims to have attacked (so far unknown) submarine in the Otranto Strait.

5 Sep 1942
HMS Traveller (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant Albachiara (1245 GRT) 24 nautical miles bearing 15 from Ras el Tin, Libya.

9 Oct 1942
HMS Traveller (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) attacks the Italian tanker Proserpina (4870 GRT, former French Beauce) and the Italian torpedo boats Castore and Ciclone with three torpedoes west of Crete in position 35º45'N, 23º13E. None of the targets was hit.


Submarine HMS Parthian (N 75)


28 Mar 1943
HMS Parthian (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) sinks the Greek sailing vessel Archangelos (120 GRT) with gunfire and ramming in the Aegean Sea west of Lesbos Island, Greece in position 39º19'N, 25º18'E.

29 Mar 1943
HMS Parthian (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) sinks the Greek sailing vessel Angela Mitylene (120 GRT) off Mitylene, Greece.

4 May 1943
HMS Parthian (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) sinks the Italian sailing vessels Despina II and Spina Secundo (both 13 GRT) with gunfire off Kos, Greece.

5 May 1943
HMS Parthian (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) attacks the German auxiliary minelayer Drache with gunfire about 7 nautical miles north-east of Doro in position 38º20'N, 24º46'E.

7 May 1943
HMS Parthian (Lt. M.B. St. John, RN) sinks the Italian sailing vessel Barbara about 10 nautical miles north of Cape Stavros, Naxos, Greece


Submarine HMS Totem (P 352)


2 Jan 1945
HMS Totem (A/Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs her builders yards, Devonport Dockyard at Plymouth, for Holy Loch.

4 Jan 1945
HMS Totem (A/Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Holy Loch for a period of trials and training on the Scottish West coast.

22 Mar 1945
HMS Totem (A/Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is docked at Holy Loch.

25 Mar 1945
HMS Totem (A/Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is undocked.

1 Apr 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Holy Loch for Lerwick.

4 Apr 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Lerwick.

8 Apr 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Lerwick for her 1st war patrol. She is ordered to patrol off the Norwegian coast, off the Kors Fjord near Bergen.

For the daily positions of HMS Totem during this patrol see the map below.


HMS Totem 1st war patrol click here for bigger map

19 Apr 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) ends her 1st war patrol at Lerwick.

22 Apr 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Lerwick for Holy Loch.

24 Apr 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Holy Loch.

28 Apr 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is docked at Holy Loch.

30 Apr 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is undocked.

6 May 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Holy Loch for Gibraltar. This is the first leg of the trip to the Far East.

For the daily positions of HMS Totem during this passage see the map below.


HMS Totem passage Holy Loch - Fremantle click here for bigger map

15 May 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) makes a short call at Gibraltar. She departed for Malta after a few hours.

19 May 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Malta.

28 May 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is docked at Malta.

1 Jun 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is undocked.

8 Jun 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is docked again at Malta.

13 Jun 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is undocked.

15 Jun 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Malta for Port Said.

19 Jun 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Port Said.

21 Jun 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Port Said, transits the Suez Canal, and sets course towards Aden.

26 Jun 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Aden. After a few hours she departs for Trincomalee.

5 Jul 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Trincomalee.

13 Jul 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Trincomalee for Fremantle.

26 Jul 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Fremantle.

1 Aug 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is put on the slip at Fremantle.

3 Aug 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is put back in the water.

13 Aug 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Fremantle for her 2nd war patrol (1st in the Far East). She is to patrol in the Java Sea.

For the daily positions of HMS Totem during this patrol see the map below.


HMS Totem 2nd war patrol click here for bigger map

15 Aug 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) is ordered to return to Fremantle. (Signal was received at 2330 hours).

18 Aug 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) returns to Fremantle.

7 Sep 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Fremantle to visit ports in Southern Australia. The ship will be open to visitors during this goodwill tour.

13 Sep 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) arrives at Geelong.

17 Sep 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) moves from Geelong to Melbourne.

24 Sep 1945
HMS Totem (Lt.Cdr. M.B. St. John, RN) departs Melbourne to return to Fremantle.

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