Ian Edward Fraser | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1920-12-18)18 December 1920 |
| Died | 1 September 2008(2008-09-01) (aged 87) Wirral,Merseyside, England |
| Buried | Landican, Merseyside, England |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1939–1966 |
| Rank | Lieutenant commander |
| Commands | XE-3 |
| Awards | Victoria Cross Distinguished Service Cross Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve Officer of the Legion of Merit (United States) |
| Other work | Scuba Diving pioneer |
Ian Edward Fraser,VC, DSC, RD, JP (18 December 1920 – 1 September 2008) was an Englishdiving pioneer, sailor and recipient of theVictoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British andCommonwealth forces. Fraser was born inEaling inMiddlesex and went to school inHigh Wycombe. After initially working on merchant ships and serving in theRoyal Naval Reserve, he joined theRoyal Navy at the start of theSecond World War. After being awarded theDistinguished Service Cross for actions while serving on submarines, he was placed in command of a midget submarine during an attack in Singapore codenamedOperation Struggle. For his bravery in navigating the mined waters, and successfully placing mines on a Japanese cruiser, Fraser was awarded the Victoria Cross.
After retiring from the Royal Navy, Fraser set up a commercial diving organisation after realising the ease of use of newfrogman-type diving equipment. After serving in several honorary positions on theWirral, Fraser retired from the Royal Naval Reserve as alieutenant commander in 1965. He died on 1 September 2008, on the Wirral, Merseyside.
Fraser was born inEaling in 1920. He was the elder son of Sydney Fraser, amarine engineer. He attended theRoyal Grammar School, High Wycombe, and the school shipHMS Conway.[1] He worked onmerchant ships from 1938 to 1939.[2]
Fraser joined theRoyal Naval Reserve in 1939, initially with the rank ofmidshipman, serving on several destroyers.[2] In 1943, he joined thesubmarineHMS Sahib. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1943 for "bravery and skill in successful submarine patrols."[3] In 1944, at age 24, he became alieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve, and volunteered to serve on the'X' craft midget submarine depot shipHMS Bonaventure from 7 November 1944 to July 1945.
Ian Fraser was played by actorMartin Delaney in a TV show entitled,Victoria Cross Heroes. The show was narrated in part byCharles, Prince of Wales. It tells the story of Fraser's attempt to sink theTakao on a secret mission aboard a midget submarine.
On 31 July 1945 in theStraits of Johor betweenSingapore andMalaya, Lieutenant Fraser, in command of an improvedX-boat, HMSXE-3, attacked the Japaneseheavy cruiserTakao, after making a long and hazardous journey throughmined waters. Fraser slid the submarine under theTakao, which lay over a depression in the sea bed, and his diver Acting Leading SeamanJames Joseph Magennis went out to fix thelimpet mines to the bottom of the ship. The two side-charges then had to be released fromXE-3, but the starboard charge stuck and Magennis climbed out again and after a nerve-wracking seven minutes released the charge.XE-3 then made for home. Magennis was also awarded aVictoria Cross, and Fraser became alieutenant commander.[4]
The citation was published in a supplement to theLondon Gazette of 9 November 1945 (dated 13 November 1945) and read:[4]
ADMIRALTY
Whitehall, 13th November, 1945.
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the VICTORIA CROSS for valour to: —
[...]
Lieutenant Ian Edward FRASER, D.S.C., R.N.R.
Lieutenant Fraser commanded His Majesty's Midget Submarine XE-3 in a successful attack on a Japanese heavy cruiser of the Atago class at her moorings in Johore Strait, Singapore, on 31st July, 1945. During the long approach up the Singapore Straits XE-3 deliberately left the believed safe channel and entered mined waters to avoid suspected hydrophone posts. The target was aground, or nearly aground, both fore and aft, and only under the midship portion was there just sufficient water for XE-3 to place herself under the cruiser. For forty minutes XE-3 pushed her way along the seabed until finally Lieutenant Fraser managed to force her right under the centre of the cruiser.
Here he placed the limpets and dropped his main side charge. Great difficulty was experienced in extricating the craft after the attack had been completed, but finally XE-3 was clear, and commenced her long return journey out to sea. The courage and determination of Lieutenant Fraser are beyond all praise. Any man not possessed of his relentless determination to achieve his object in full, regardless of all consequences, would have dropped his side charge alongside the target instead of persisting until he had forced his submarine right under the cruiser. The approach and withdrawal entailed a passage of 80 miles through water which had been mined by both the enemy and ourselves, pasthydrophone positions, over loops and controlled minefields, and through an anti-submarine boom.
His VC is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at theImperial War Museum, London.
Realising thatfrogman-type diving (i.e. what is now calledscuba diving) could do many sorts of underwater work unsuitable for the old-type heavystandard diving gear, he and some associates got hold of war-surplus frogman's kit and set up a popular public show displaying frogman techniques in a bigaquarium tank inBelle Vue Zoo inManchester inEngland. One of his early calls to underwater work was from thepolice to recover the body of a little girl who had drowned in a pond inDenton, Greater Manchester.
Using the show's takings, and with his younger brother Brian Fraser, he set up a commercial diving organisation called Universal Divers Ltd,[1] of which he wasmanaging director from 1947 to 1965 and, since 1983 (as formerchairman).
In January 1961 Universal Divers Ltd was involved in underwater survey on damage caused to theSevern Railway Bridge by collision by twobarges.[12]
