RFA Aldersdale 1937 - 1942 Built Cammell Laird. Escort oiler on PQ17. On 5 Jul, 1942, the Aldersdale (Captain Archibald Hobson), dispersed from convoy PQ-17, was bombed and heavily damaged by German Ju88 aircraft of III./KG 30 in the Barents Sea north of the Kola Peninsula. Taken in tow by HMS Salamander (Lt W.R. Muttram, RN), but was later abandoned. The master and 53 crew members transferred to the minesweeper and landed at Archangel on 11 July. On 7 July, U-457 shelled the abandoned Alderdale which broke in two. Both parts sank within 20 minutes.
"Their bodies are laid, o’erclosed by fitful wave and swirling tide.
No headstone but the gleam of Northern Light;
No tears shed here, only rain and spray;
No voice of pity, but that of the wheeling gull.
Their shroud the long sea grass will be,
Their plot the shifting seabed sand."

Third Officer Henry W. Phillips, R.F.A. Aldersdale, Convoy PQ17.