Lieutenant-Commander Anthony (”Steady”) Tuke DSC and Bar Royal Navy

LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER ANTHONY TUKE

Joining the Air Branch of the Royal Navy in 1938, Anthony Tuke was known throughout the Fleet Air Arm as ‘Steady’ Tuke, a sobriquet arising from a flying instructor’s judgement of his early performance. His exceptional service as a naval aviator saw him surviving four and a half years continuously in the front line, clocking up 110 operations, three forced landings and being awarded two DSCs.
On completion of pilot training in April 1940, he joined 826 Squadron which was the first to be equipped with the Fairey Albacore, supposedly a replacement for the antiquated ‘Stringbag’ Swordfish. Also a biplane and obsolescent at birth , the Albacore incorporated a number of improvements including an enclosed cockpit but while flying cover for the Dunkirk evacuations and mounting a series of attacks on ports in Belgium, Holland and France was, unsurprisingly, shown to be easy meat for modern German Messerschmitt Bf109 fighters, 826 Squadron losing several aircraft.. While bombing by day the invasion barges at Calais in September, Tuke’s aircraft was heavily damaged by a fighter, his observer and telegraphist air gunner were both badly wounded. He was awarded his first DSC at the age of nineteen for these operations.
826 Squadron joined the carrier Formidable in December and sailed round the Cape to the Suez Canal, her aircraft attacking Italian forces at Mogadishu and Massawa on the way.
In March 1941 Formidable took part in the famous battle of Cape Matapan in which the Italians lost three heavy cruisers and two destroyers in night gun actions. Albacores and Swordfish had repeatedly attacked the Italian fleet with torpedoes, hitting the battleship Vittorio Veneto but unfortunately not stopping her, while
a Swordfish from Crete initiated Italian losses by immobilising the cruiser Pola. One 826 Squadron Albacore and its crew were lost.
Formidable and 826 Squadron were next involved in bombardment spotting for battleships off Tripoli and covering convoys to and from Greece. In May they supported the vital Operation Tiger convoy to Alexandria carrying tanks and crated Hurricane fighters for the Eighth Army.
During the evacuation of Crete which cost so many naval ships and lives, Formidable was attacked in retaliation for the bombing of the airfield at Scarpanto by the Ju87 Stukas of the same efficient dive-bomber group led by Major Enneccerus that had previously crippled the carrier Illustrious, scoring two hits.
With no aircraft carriers left in the Eastern Mediterranean, ‘Steady’ Tuke was deployed into the desert in support of the army until required with a few Swordfish to rejoin the partially repaired Formidable on her voyage to America.
Back in England, he was appointed senior pilot of 819 Squadron and in July 1942 was seconded to Coastal Command for three months of night operations, bombing and mining European ports. 819 Squadron embarked in the escort carrier Archer in February 1943 and provided anti-Uboat cover for two Atlantic convoys.
Promoted to Acting Lt-Commander(A), Tuke, now aged 22, was appointed commanding officer of 851 Squadron and took passage to America in the liner Queen Mary. His squadron formed at the US naval air station at Squantum, Massachusetts with 12 rugged Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers.
Having flown across the American continent to San Francisco, taking five days and with eight stops, Tuke’s Avengers embarked in the American-built Ruler-class escort carrier Shah in January 1944. Shah was allocated to the Eastern Fleet and, having made passage to Colombo via Australia, was employed on trade protection in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal.
Tuke was awarded a bar to his DSC for his part in cooperation with the frigate Findhorn and the Indian sloop Godavari in sinking U198 near the Seychelles. This U-boat from La Pallice in France had recently sunk four merchant ships in the Indian Ocean; there were no survivors.
In July Tuke suffered an engine failure and had to ditch, being rescued by a native dug-out catamaran fishing boat.
He returned home in November 1944 and joined the deck landing training school as Lt-Cdr (Flying) where he married the captain’s secretary, Third Officer Frances Harvey WRNS. His final tour was in command of 783 Squadron, a motley collection of aircraft types used for signal and radar training.
‘Steady’ Tuke was placed on the retired list ‘medically unfit due to war service’ in September 1948. He worked as group secretary for the Essex branch of the National Farmers Union for 35 years and was a governor of Woodbridge School, Ipswich. He was also a Lay Tax Commissioner from 1980 to 1984.
He is survived by his wife Frances and their two sons.

Lieutenant-Commander Anthony Tuke, DSC and Bar,
naval aviator, was born on December 28 1920. He died
on August 15 aged 89.