Christopher Haynes Hutchinson DSO, RN
| Born | 13 Mar 1906 |
| Ranks
Retired: 27 Jan 1962 Decorations
|
Warship Commands listed for Christopher Haynes Hutchinson, RN
| Ship | Rank | Type | From | To |
| HMS Sealion (N 72) | Lt.Cdr. | Submarine | 31 Jan 1940 | Feb 1940 |
| HMS Truant (N 68) | Lt.Cdr. | Submarine | 11 Feb 1940 | 28 Apr 1940 |
Career information
We currently have no career / biographical information on this officer.
Events related to this officer
Submarine HMS Truant (N 68)
16 Feb 1940
HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) conducted exercises in the Firth of Forth together with HMS Triton (Lt.Cdr. E.F. Pizey, RN). These included gunnery exercises. (1)
17 Feb 1940
HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) conducted exercises in the Firth of Forth together with HMS Tribune (Lt.Cdr. G.P.S. Davies, RN) which last submarine was also conducting engine trials. Practice attacks are made by both submarines on HMS Electra (Lt.Cdr. S.A. Buss, MVO, RN). (1)
18 Feb 1940
Around 1130Z/18, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) departed from Rosyth for her 4th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off the south coast of Norway.
Around 1240Z/18, she had to evade destroyers hunting a supposed enemy submarine in the Firth of Forth. At 1038Z/18, an indicator loop detected a crossing and the destroyers HMS Griffin (Lt.Cdr. J. Lee-Barber, RN), HMS Intrepid (Cdr. R.C. Gordon, RN) and HMS Ivanhoe (Cdr. P.H. Hadow, RN) had been sent to hunt for the suspected enemy submarine. They were later reinforced by HMS Valorous (Lt.Cdr. E. Mack, RN). No enemy submarine was in the area though. (2)
18 Feb 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
For the daily positions of HMS Truant during her 4th war patrol see the map below.
1 Mar 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
At 2000A/1, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) left patrol to return to Rosyth. (2)
3 Mar 1940
Around 1145A/3, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) ended her 4th war patrol at Rosyth. (2)
5 Mar 1940
HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) is docked in the floating dock (AFD 3) at the Rosyth Dockyard. (3)
7 Mar 1940
HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) is undocked. (3)
12 Mar 1940
Around 2040A/12, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) departed from Rosyth for her 5th war patrol. She is ordered to a waiting position patrol in the Kattegat North Sea off the West coast of Denmark for Operation R 3. This is an intervention in Scandinavia to help the Finns in their war with the Soviet Union but with the occupation of the Swedish iron ore fields by an Anglo-French force as the true objective. Within a few hours the operation is cancelled following the Finnish armistice which deprives the Allies from their pretext.
For the daily and attack positions of HMS Truant during this patrol see the map below.
(2)
15 Mar 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
At 2125A/15, in position 56°35'N, 07°41'E, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) sighted a dimly illuminated ship. HMS Truant closed to investigate as it was first thought this vessel was a big one and thus unlikely to have sailed from a Danish west coast port. The ship was ordered to stop which she did not do. A blank round was then fired across her bow which gave the desired result. The ship was then illuminated and a boarding party was made ready. The ship signalled, in English, ' from Bremerhaven ' possibly thinking she had been stopped by a German U-boat.
The ship was identified as the Danish Skodsborg (1450 GRT, built 1919). She was properly marked as Danish. Sea conditions did not permit sending the boarding party.
At 2230A/15, it was decided to release the ship. (2)
20 Mar 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
At 2245A/20, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) sighted a dimly lit small merchant vessel 9 nautical miles to the south-west of Lynvig. Closed to investigate but the ship was faster than HMS Truant. She later disappeared to the south-east. It was thought to have been a German ship. (2)
23 Mar 1940 (position 56.24, 8.04)
HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) torpedoed and sank the German merchant vessel Edmund Hugo Stinnes 4 (2189 GRT, built 1921) off Jylland, Denmark in position 56°24'N, 08°04'E.
The Danes claimed that the ship had been sunk in position 56°23'N, 08°07'E, within Danish territorial waters and therefore the Danish Government instructed the Danish Minister in London to make representations to the British Government.
2200A/23 - Sighted a merchant ship steering 180°, speed 7 knots, 0.6 nautical miles from the Bovbjerg lighthouse. She was burning her navigation lights but was otherwise darkened. The ship was in territorial waters. Truant followed astern of this ship.
2300A/23 - The ship altered course and by doing so got outside territorial waters.
2330A/23 - After a careful fix had been taken the ship was found to be 0.5 mile outside territorial waters. She was now closed at speed.
When Truant was 2 cables of the contacts port quarter the stern of the contact was illuminated with an Aldis lamp. Edmund Hugo Stinnes 4 / Hamburg was read and the Nazi ensign was sighted. A signal was made in plain English " Stop - do not radio ". The enemy proceeded and did not answer. One blank round was now fired followed by a repetition of the initial signal followed by " Sent boat ". The enemy altered course towards the land, increased speed and was signalling an SOS. 2 Rounds of 4" were fired into her bridge superstructure resulting in the enemy to stop. She did however sent another SOS mentioning that she was being attacked by a submarine. 5 More rounds of 4" silenced her radio.
Meanwhile, due to the change of course towards the land, she was in territorial waters. 3 Minutes after Truant ceased firing the enemy was seen listing and settling while her crew abandoned ship in two boats. These boats were seen to make off for the land. The boats were closed and the master taken prisoner.
It was learnt that all crew had abandoned ship and as the ship was sinking very slowly two torpedoes were put in her resulting in the ship sinking much quicker. (2)
24 Mar 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
At 1949A/24, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) surfaced after a day of submerged patrol. She then set course to return to Rosyth as ordered in Capt. S 2's signal timed 0136A/24. (2)
26 Mar 1940
Around 1000A/26, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) ended her 5th war patrol at Rosyth. (2)
3 Apr 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) conducted compass adjustment trials at Rosyth. (4)
6 Apr 1940
Around 1130A/6, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) departed from Rosyth for her 6th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Kristiansand, Norway.
For the daily and attack positions of HMS Truant during this patrol see the map below.
(2)
8 Apr 1940
At 1653A/8, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) surfaced near Kristiansand in thick fog.
At 2023A/8, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) received an enemy report from HMS Triton (Lt.Cdr. E.F. Pizey, RN) timed 1800A/8. Due to the thick fog a good listening watch had been set to listen for the expected enemy.
At 2140A/8, HMS Truant dived so as to be able to keep a better listening watch.
At 2143A/8, HE was picked up which developed into five ships steering east and passing close to HMS Truant. They were not seen in the thick fog though.
At 2230A/8, HE was picked up to the north-east. This contact developed into at least seven ships steering westwards. Two of these ships appeared to have reciprocating engines. No ships could be seen due to the thick fog.
The HE picked up was most likely from the German 'Group IV' which were to land troops at Kristiansand. It was made up of the light cruiser Karlsruhe, torpedo boats Luchs, Greif, Seeadler, motor torpedo boat tender Tsingtau and the motor torpedo boats S 9, S 14, S 16, S 30, S 31, S 32, S 33. The transports Wiegand (5869 GRT, built 1922), Westsee (5911 GRT, built 1914), Kreta (2359 GRT, built 1923), August Leonhardt (2593 GRT, built 1922) were also part of the force that were to land at Kristiansand.
At 2312A/8, HMS Truant surfaced but found that the visibility had still not improved. HE was now heard on both sides but nothing could be seen.
At 2318A/8, HMS Truant dived again so as not to be caught by surprise on the surface.
At 2345A/8, A/S impulses were picked up.
[Continued on 9 April 1940.] (2)
9 Apr 1940 (position 57.55, 8.14)
HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) torpedoed and damaged the German light cruiser Karlsruhe (8350 tons) off Kristiansand, Norway in position 57°55'N, 08°14'E. In the evening the Karlsruhe, which was beyond salvage, was scuttled with two torpedoes by the German torpedo boat Greif. The other two torpedo boats that were escorting Karlsruhe were Luchs and Seeadler.
0045A/9 - Lost contact and surfaced. Thick fog still all around.
0120A/9 - The fog commenced to lift.
0440A/9 - Dived.
During the day two aircraft, flying low, had been seen. Also a few explosions had been heard but no ships were sighted until .....
1723A/9 - Sighted three torpedo boats 4 nautical miles tot the north-west. Their course was 160°. Started attack.
1730A/9 - The targets altered course to 220°. Their speed was estimated to be 22 knots. The torpedo boats were thought to be Norwegian Sleipner-class vessels [This could not be the case, and they were most likely the three German torpedo boats mentioned above.]
1833A/9 - Sighted a cruiser hull down bearing 326°. Enemy course was 146°. Turned towards to attack.
1852A/9 - The cruiser was seen to be a 'Koln-class'. She was escorted by 3 'Maass-class' destroyers (In fact these were the torpedo boats mentioned above). Range was now 4500 yards.
1856A/9 - Fired a full bow salvo of ten torpedoes. Three torpedo explosions were heard thought to be hits (In fact one torpedo hit Karlsruhe in the stern wrecking it and leaving her immobile).
1900A/9 - Returned to periscope depth. Saw one of the escorts approach at high speed. Went to 60 feet and altered course to 90° from the firing course.
1902A/9 - Two depth charges exploded close. Went to 150 feet. Between this time and 2330 hours Truant was hunted by two of the escorts. In all 31 depth charges were dropped. Most of them unpleasantly close and some damage was sustained. Truant even went to 300 feet to to try to escape further damage.
2325A/9 - Truant was finally able to surface as there was now nothing in sight. A few hours later Lt.Cdr. Hutchinson decided that due to the damage sustained his submarine was no longer fit for operations and course was set to return to Rosyth. (2)
12 Apr 1940
Around 0930A/12, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) ended her 6th war patrol at Rosyth. She was docked in afternoon in the floating dock (AFD 3) at the Rosyth Dockyard. (2)
20 Apr 1940
HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) is undocked. (4)
22 Apr 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) conducted compass adjustment trials at Rosyth. (4)
24 Apr 1940
Around 1700A/24, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) departed from Rosyth for her 7th war patrol. She is to carry out operation Knife, supply Norwegian forces in the Sondefjord, North of Bergen with arms and ammunition. She is to land a small party to blow up a viaduct on the Bergen-Oslo railway and help extricate the Norwegian submarine HNoMS B-6. This is to be the first special operation conducted by H.M. Submarines during this war. (2)
25 Apr 1940
At 0340A/25, HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) is damaged when a mine detonates nearby. A second, more distant, explosion followed two minutes later.
It was thought that HMS Truant was attacked by an enemy submarine but none were in the area.
She returns to Rosyth at 1740A/25, where she is immediately docked in the floating dock (AFD 3) at the Rosyth Dockyard. (2)
26 Apr 1940
HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) is undocked. It had been found that the battery had been damaged and that it was to be replaced. (4)
Sources
- ADM 173/16663
- ADM 199/1861
- ADM 173/16664
- ADM 173/16665
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.
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