Description
Physical description
medal and ribbon
Label
C/5435 Able Seaman Frederick Robert Barker died on 19 December 1941, aged 24, when HMS Neptune, in which he was serving off Tripoli with Admiral Cunningham's Force K, was sunk by mines with the loss of all but sixteen of her ship's company. Of those who survived the sinking all but one died in the course of the following five days. There was one survivor who was rescued by the Italians on 24 December. Of the 300 New Zealand Naval casulaties of the Second World War nearly half were lost when HMS Neptune went down. The loss of the Neptune remains the greatest single loss of life for the New Zealand Naval forces. Barker, the son of Frederick William Barker and his wife Priscilla Louise Barker, came from Christchurch, Canterbury. His name is commemorated on the New Zealand Naval Memorial, Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand (Panal 10)
History note
C/5435 Able Seaman Frederick Robert Barker died on 19 December 1941, aged 24, when HMS Neptune, in which he was serving off Tripoli with Admiral Cunningham's Force K, was sunk by mines with the loss of all but sixteen of her ship's company. Of those who survived the sinking all but one died in the course of the following five days. There was one survivor who was rescued by the Italians on 24 December. Of the 300 New Zealand Naval casulaties of the Second World War nearly half were lost when HMS Neptune went down. The loss of the Neptune remains the greatest single loss of life for the New Zealand Naval forces. Barker, the son of Frederick William Barker and his wife Priscilla Louise Barker, came from Christchurch, Canterbury. His name is commemorated on the New Zealand Naval Memorial, Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand (Panal 10)