Captain Edward Maurice Usherwood OBE, DSC Royal Navy

© Peter Hore
Captain Maurice Usherwood, who has died aged 99, demonstrated Asdic to Churchill, was decorated for the relief of Corfu, and settled to a life of good works in Ipswich.
Usherwood was the naval commander of Operation Mercerised, a joint force which in October 1944 liberated the island of Corfu. Nos 2 (Army) and 40 (Royal Marine) Commando under Brigadier Tom Churchill had landed on the hilly Albanian coast north of Corfu, and needed to capture the port of Sarande in order to bring in reinforcements and stores, but were stranded in poor, rainy weather and without transport. Usherwood was operations officer on the staff of the British Flag Officer Taranto when the news came that Churchill was checked and opposed by strong German forces, and he was sent in a landing craft to see what he could do. After landing on ‘Sugar’ beach, a narrow gap in the tall cliffs, Usherwood went ashore to liaise with Churchill. Usherwood organised the supply of Churchill’s commandos, and on several nights (to avoid the continuing, accurate German artillery) ferried in stores and ammunition and evacuated the wounded to Italy.
Next Usherwood and Churchill planned a surprise attack on Sarande, and Usherwood brought up reinforcements including more landing craft and two destroyers, Wilton and Belvoir, and the Assyrian Parachute Company (which had been raised in Iraq) which was landed to outflank the German defences. After a bombardment by Usherwood’s destroyers, Sarande fell on October 9. Two days later Churchill and Usherwood decided on an advance to Corfu which they found weakly defended. They were greeted by an ecstatic delighted Greek population and by two clerics, who from the colour of their beards became known as the black and white bishops, who seemed to be in charge. Urged by the bishops, a victory parade was held, which was led by Usherwood’s sailors, on October 14. The march past was almost spoiled when Greek girls rushed forward to strew the road with long-stemmed roses, which caused havoc under the feet of the impromptu Greek band who were leading the parade barefoot, and who broke up in discord.
Usherwood was awarded the DSC for his courage and leadership in operations which led to the capture of Sarande and Corfu.
Edward Maurice Usherwood was born on December 1, 1911 in Bembridge, Isle of Wight where his father was vicar: the daily sight of warships at Spithead inspired young Usherwood to join the Navy in 1925.
As midshipman in the aircraft carrier Eagle he visited Buenos Aires, and courtesy of the British owned Argentine Railways, spent a week amongst an Anglo-Argentine community at the foot of the Andes, riding, playing polo, dancing and dining.
Usherwood became an anti-submarine specialist and in 1938 in the destroyer Walpole was tasked with a secret demonstration to Winston Churchill (who was in political wilderness, but being briefed by insiders) and the First Sea Lord, Lord Chatfield, on the capabilities of modern Asdic [sonar]. Usherwood laid on an impressive display of detecting, tracking and attacking a submarine off Portland. Churchill, Usherwood thought, did not understand the significance of the echoes of the Asdic ‘pings’ but Churchill, nodding his head vigorously from side to side, followed the pen-recorder as it zipped across the page.
The event entered the history books: Usherwood’s commanding officer, Basil Jones, Chatfield, and the historian Stephen Roskill all noted it, and Churchill wrote in The Gathering Storm that “the faithful effort has relieved us of our great danger … I had never imagined that I should hear one of those creatures asking to be destroyed.” Later, historians seized on this as evidence of British complacency about the impending war on U-boats.
Usherwood, reflecting on it fifty later, recalled that the conditions were ideal, he had a first class crew of Asdic operators, and their success that day even amazed him. He mused that he had been asked to demonstrate the capabilities of Asdic not its limitations, and that is what he had done.
Usherwood spent most of the war in destroyers on Atlantic and Arctic convoy duties, his overriding memory being of appalling weather and hours spent chipping ice off the superstructure to save his ships from being capsized. On October 2, 1942 he was witness, from the a destroyer on the screen [the bridge of HMS Bulldog], of the Cunard liner Queen Mary running down the cruiser Curacao: one moment both ship were there and the next moment when he looked round, he could only see the ends of Curacao rising vertically out of the water.
Usherwood commanded the frigate Loch Arkaig 1945-47, the Verulam 1953-54 and the frigates Torquay and Scarborough 1957-59. He twice held important staff appointments in the USA: in 1950-53 when he helped write the anti-submarine chapter of Allied Tactical Publication No 1 and develop new sonars (as Asdic was now known); and in 1960-62 when he was head of the naval intelligence division of the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic
While in command of Scarborough, and as Captain, 5th Frigate squadron, he led a squadron of four ships up the St Lawrence Seaway, to the Canadian National Exhibition at Toronto in 1959, and Usherwood took his ship on through the Welland canal to reach Buffalo in New York state, 752ft above sea level.
His father retired to Ipswich and Usherwood lived with him when on leave, and settled there in retirement in 1964. There he emulated his father’s Christian duty by becoming energetic on the Old People’s Welfare Committee, the forerunner of Age Concern, in Ipswich. He was determined with his team of visitors and case workers to help as many as possible, persuaded Ipswich Borough Council to give offices in the town for voluntary organisations, such as Age Concern and the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, and was instrumental in opening more sheltered accommodation [like Broke Hall House]. He was also an active vice-president of the Soldiers’ Sailors’ and Airmen’s Families Association, Suffolk, and in 1994 he was appointed OBE for his charitable work
In 1950 Usherwood’s fellow passengers in the Cunard liner Mauretania to New York were the D’Oyly Carte opera company: he met and befriended many members of the company whose singing at spontaneous concerts onboard imbued in him a love of the Savoy operas. For 19 years he was a valuable singing member of the Ipswich Gilbert and Sullivan Society and eventually its president.
Usherwood who died on September 8, 2011 never married.