*C7 & E27 SUBMARINES* WW1 ROYAL NAVY SUBMARINE MEDALS 229427 TEDDIE ANDREWS

Set of four medals to Able Seaman Teddie Andrews, Royal Navy, later Royal Fleet Reserve, who saw service in H.M. Submarine E27 during the Great War

1914 – 15 Star, impressed named 229427, T. ANDREWS. A.B. R.N.; British War and Victory Medals (1914 – 18), impressed named 229427 T. ANDREWS. A.B. R.N.; Royal Navy Fleet Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (G.V. 1^st issue), impressed named 229427 CH. B. 14605. T. ANDREWS. A.B. R.F.R. Court mounted for display and comes with copies of his service record, medal roll, marriage certificate, postal employee extract and 1939 census.

Teddie Andrews was born on the 15/8/1887, at Brightlingsea, Essex. A small man at 5’4”, he enlisted into the Royal Navy straight from school on the 2/1/1904 as a Boy 2^nd Class. His height may have been a factor in his long submarine service.

He served on a variety of H.M. ship and shore bases including Ganges, Boscawen II, Pembroke, Ramillies, Africa, Actaeon, Tyne, Thames (submarine depot ship Sheerness) 15/10/1909 – 14/10/1912

During WW1 he served aboard Bonaventure (submarine depot ship Humber 6th Flotilla) 15/10/1912 – 10/9/1916, serving in the C7 under Lt. George F. Bradshaw. His marriage certificate (7/8/1916) gives his residence as H.M.S. C7 at sea. C7 was built by Armstrong Vickers and launched on the 15th February 1907, with limited endurance and only a ten percent reserve of buoyancy over their surface displacement, they were poor surface vessels, but their spindle shaped hull made for good underwater performance compared to their contemporaries.

H.M.S. Dolphine (submarine depot ship Sixth Submarine Flotilla) 11/9/1916 – 20/10/1916 (unknown which sub as there were three coastal submarines and K 3), Lucia (submarine depot ship, 10^th submarine flotilla two destroyers and ten (or thirteen) submarines but unknown which he was serving on) 21/10/1916 – 17/11/1917, Vulcan (submarine tender but still 10^th Submarine Flotilla) served on submarine E27. 18/11/1917 – 2/5/1918. Lucia 3/5/1918 – 13/1/1919. Dolphine 14/1/1919 – 14/2/1919 and demobilised to shore.

He joined the Royal Fleet Reserve 17/1/1920 - 6/6/1921 and demobilised after being awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in April 1921. In civilian life he became a postman, a job he was still working in this capacity in the 1939 census. He died 5/1/1953 at Essex.