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Blue Plaque Unveiled for Sub Lt Brian Lloyd
On 9 November, 2023 a blue plaque was unveiled in Bridgend, Wales in honour of Sub Lt Brian Lloyd RN of HMS Urge, by his nephew Chris Lloyd. Brian Lloyd, born and raised in Bridgend, was killed while on a special mission from the submarine to collect an agent from an enemy coast in October, 1941. HMS Urge was affiliated with Bridgend, and Madam Mayor Freya Bletsoe led a welcome to Urge families which included relatives of Lt Cdr Edward Tomkinson DSO RN and Leading Signalman Eric Law (MiD), both of whom were on the submarine’s bridge on the night of the action when Brian was killed by enemy fire. Relatives of CERA Ronald Rutter represented the 11 RN passengers/base staff who lost their lives on 27 April, 1942 when HMS Urge struck a mine and was lost with no survivors when leaving Malta. Chris Lloyd and Francis Dickinson (grandson of Lt Cdr Tomkinson) gave a number of talks to several schools in the Bridgend area on submarine remembrance and heritage, and further projects are planned. Madam Mayor Bletsoe and her husband past Mayor Cllr Steve Bletsoe attended the HMS Urge commemoration events in Malta in 2022, and the Brian Lloyd blue plaque uses the same HMS Urge silhouette as the Malta memorial to the submarine.
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One comment on “Blue Plaque Unveiled for Sub Lt Brian Lloyd”
Lloyd’s death showed the dangers for submarines of landing or embarking agents on enemy coasts. Captain Simpson’s aim in using a naval officer was to allow surer folbot navigation and thereby lessen the risks by allowing HMS Urge to lie further to seaward. In the event, the capture of the agent and Lloyd’s death led Admiral Horton to direct that commandos should be used for these operations in future, as he could ill afford to lose submarine officers on such missions. As it was Tomkinson narrowly guided HMS Urge out of an ambush in the bay shortly after Lloyd’s death.(Note The books Periscope View by Rear Admiral G W G Simpson and The Fighting Tenth by Lieutenant John Wingate unfortunately conflate special missions from two different patrols by HMS Urge.) Resurgam.