Lieutenant Commander George Gosse GC RANVR
  Lieutenant Commander George Gosse, GC (16 February 1912 – 31
December 1964)
served in the Royal Australian Navy between 1926 and 1933,
reaching the rank of Sub-Lieutenant and receiving training
and experience with the British Royal Navy.
In 1940, he joined the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer
Reserve (RANVR) for service in World War II. Quickly sent
back to the United Kingdom, he served on several shore
establishments before being sent to British India as a naval
mine clearance specialist.
Early years
George Gosse was born on 16 February 1912 at Harvey, Western
Australia, the elder child of William Hay Gosse, a farmer,
and his wife Muriel née Davidson. He was a grandson of
the explorer William Gosse and a nephew of the businessman
Sir James Hay Gosse. His father had served in the 2nd
South Australian Mounted Rifles in the Second Boer War in
South Africa, and joined the British Army as an artillery
officer in World War I. He was awarded the Military
Cross for gallantry and was killed in action in 1918.
Muriel died in 1920; George and his younger sister were then
cared for by their paternal grandmother.
Gosse was schooled at St Peter's College, Adelaide, South
Australia, from 1920 to 1925, and entered the Royal
Australian Naval College (RAN College) at Jervis Bay in
1926, aged 13. According to a family member he was
"so like his father, gay, feckless, fearless and
gregarious". While at the RAN College he excelled at
field hockey, and upon graduation in 1930 received the prize
for engineering theory. Beginning in January 1930 he
served aboard both Australian County-class heavy cruisers,
first HMAS Australia then HMAS Canberra.
He was promoted to Midshipman in May of that year. In
July 1931, he sailed for the United Kingdom for further
training with the British Royal Navy.
His first assignment was to the Mediterranean Fleet, aboard
the Revenge-class super-dreadnought battleship HMS
Ramillies. He also attended an air course on the
Courageous-class aircraft carrier HMS Glorious, and was
familiarised with the employment of destroyers during a
stint aboard HMS Worcester. In September 1932 he was
promoted to acting Sub-Lieutenant, and entered the
Royal Naval College, Greenwich. The social and sporting
temptations of London beckoned, and Gosse's studies
suffered. After he failed the examination for Lieutenant, he
was returned to Australia and his naval career ended on 30
October 1933. Gosse then worked at odd jobs for a few years,
and on 1 October 1938 he married Diana Skottowe at his old
school chapel. The couple had two daughters.
World War II
On 1 September 1939, the day World War II began, Gosse
attempted to rejoin the RAN, but was rebuffed. Gosse
managed to enlist as an ordinary seaman in the Royal
Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve on 21 October 1940. He
initially underwent training at the shore establishments
HMAS Torrens and HMAS Cerberus, before sailing for the UK in
December. After serving at the shore establishment HMS
Collingwood, in April 1941 he was commissioned as a
Sub-Lieutenant while posted to the shore establishment HMS
King Alfred. He next served at the shore establishment HMS
President, then in December of that year he was transferred
to the Royal Indian Navy shore establishment HMIS Hooghly in
Calcutta, British India, as a Naval Mine Disposal Officer.
In February 1942 he was promoted to provisional Lieutenant. In August he was transferred to the shore establishment HMS
Lanka. This was followed by a posting to the shore
establishment HMS Braganza in Bombay in October
1942. Although his 1940 annual report had
described him as "below average, for whom it was doubtful a
niche could be found", two years later his report indicated
that he was reliable and keen, and displayed ingenuity.
When faced with difficulties, he was always cheerful, and
was "a daring character" who was very interested in mines.
Transferred back to the UK in November 1944, Gosse was
posted to the shore establishment HMS Vernon at Brixham,
Devon, which was the European port clearance diving base for
the Royal Navy. Clearance diving teams were responsible
for removing naval mines from British waters, and from the
waters of captured ports on the European mainland. He
brought a Japanese mine back with him to the UK, as he
considered it would be of use at HMS Vernon. According to
his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, he was
a bit of a "law unto himself" in this period, but was
fascinated with mechanical devices and exhibited
inventiveness. He qualified as a shallow-water diver
in January 1945.
Following the capture of Bremen, Germany, in April, Gosse
led Naval Party 1571 to the port to clear mines laid by the
retreating Germans in the Überseehafen. Prior to being
sent forward to Bremen, Gosse had interrogated a German
prisoner of war (POW) who had been involved in the
demolition of the Überseehafen and its facilities who
described a mine known as an "Oyster", which was "impossible
to sweep for and could never be rendered safe".
Lieutenant George Gosse,
RANVR, of Adelaide, Australia, removing the clock of the
first pressure magnetic mine to be
recovered at Bremen after rendering it safe under water. He
is a member of a British Naval P Party,
the "human minesweepers" who cleared Europe's liberated
ports.
After
arriving in Bremen, Gosse risked his life many times in
defusing mines. When his divers reported a sighting of what
appeared to be a new form of mine, on 8 May Gosse dived
himself and verified that it was a "D-type mine with
additional fittings", the "Oyster" mine described by the
German POW. This mine was pressure-operated, and its
detonation train included magnetic and acoustic elements.
About 18:00 the next day, Gosse examined the mine by touch,
as the visibility was so poor that his waterproof torch was
of no use. In order to maintain his depth, he had to tether
himself to the mine marker buoy rope. Using tools he had
improvised, Gosse interrupted the detonation train by
removing the primer release and the primer, which had to be
extracted from about 18 inches (460 mm) down a 2-inch (51
mm) wide tube. Having made the mine safe, Gosse was
releasing his tether when there was a small explosion. Later
examination of the mine showed that water had entered the
primer tube and actuated a water pressure trigger set to
fire the detonator if the mine was raised. Gosse personally
defused two more "Oyster" mines at Bremen between 9 and 19
May, and in both cases, the detonator fired before the
mine reached the surface. Another officer from Naval
Party 1571 said later that "if Gosse hadn't found an answer
to the ["Oyster"], Bremen Harbour would have been unusable".
He was promoted to acting Lieutenant Commander on 30
September 1945 and was demobilised on 20 March 1946.
For his service in World War II, Gosse was awarded the:
George Cross
On 26 April 1946, Gosse's award of the George Cross (GC) was
promulgated in The London Gazette. The citation read:
On the 8th May, 1945, divers searching Ubersee Hafen
reported the presence of a mine which from their description
appeared to be an entirely new type. Lieutenant Gosse
immediately dived and verified the fact that it was a G.D.
pressure type which was commonly known as "Oyster". As it
was very necessary that this type of mine should be
recovered intact, it was decided to attempt to render safe
the mine underwater and on the following day, May 9th,
Lieutenant Gosse dived on it again. Using improvised tools
he eventually succeeded in removing the primer, which was
followed by a loud metallic crash. The mine was eventually
lifted on the quayside when it was found that the detonator
had fired immediately [after] the primer had been removed. During the subsequent ten days Lieutenant Gosse rendered
safe two similar types of mines which were lying in close
proximity to shipping and in each instance the detonator
fired before the mine reached the surface.
This form of operation called for an exceptionally high
standard of personal courage and also a high degree of
skill. The conditions were always arduous and were combined
with the presence of known mines in the docks and with all
forms of underwater obstruction—human corpses—which together
with lack of visibility produced a set of conditions which
would deter the boldest.
This officer displayed courage and zeal far in excess of the
usual course of duty and contributed greatly to the success
of a most difficult and important operation.
The George Cross was the highest award for extraordinary
acts of gallantry away from the field of battle that could
be awarded to a member of the Australian armed forces at the
time. Three days after his GC was promulgated, Gosse
was visited at home by a journalist from The Advertiser
daily newspaper and was surprised to learn he was to receive
an award for doing something he enjoyed so much. He joked,
"George Gosse, George Cross. Sounds like a test of
sobriety".
Later life
Gosse was invested with his George Cross in Adelaide on 3
June 1948 by the Governor of South Australia, Lieutenant
General Sir Willoughby Norrie. He continued to serve in the
RANVR and was substantively promoted to Lieutenant Commander
on 30 June 1955 before retiring in 1958.
He remained an
inventive designer, creating many useful domestic gadgets
and fittings, but his interest waned once a challenge had
been met. According to his entry in the Australian
Dictionary of Biography, his work was mostly
"unspectacular". He was president of the Sporting Car
Club of South Australia from 1946 to 1948.
During 1950, Gosse was part of an Australian armed forces
recruiting campaign throughout South Australia, before
collapsing from nervous strain at a rally in Renmark. In
1953 he was part of the contingent sent to the UK for the
coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and was awarded the
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. In 1964, he
travelled to the UK for a reunion and joined the Victoria
Cross and George Cross Association.
Gosse died of a
coronary occlusion at Maslin Beach on 31 December 1964, and
was cremated. The Victoria Cross recipient Brigadier Sir
John George Smyth wrote that Gosse:
"always lived right on
top of the world, as though every day was his last".
He is commemorated on the Returned and Services League Walls
at the Centennial Park Cemetery in Pasadena, South
Australia.
A ward at the former Repatriation General Hospital,
Hollywood, in Western Australia (now Hollywood Private
Hospital) has been named in his honour.
His medal set is displayed in the Hall of Valour at the
Australian War Memorial.
Sources:
Wikipedia
Australian War Memorial
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