Scion of an ancient Irish family, Third Officer Cecelia Blake-Forster was assigned to HMS Cormorant in Gibralter along with 21 other Wrens. A select Wrens few had been put through a grueling, competitive course to become chief wireless telegraphers, with the accompanying elevation in rank upon successful completion. These telegraphers were, along with eight Wren officers and one QARNNS nurse, to be transferred to Gibralter for wireless and cipher duty there.
The twenty two Wrens departed on the SS Aguila carrying a cargo of 397 bags of mail in a general cargo of 1,288 tons on 12 August 1941 as a part of Convoy OG-71 en route to Gibraltar from Liverpool. The convoy, consisting of twenty three merchant ships and escorted by six corvettes and two destroyers, was attacked by German submarines while off the south western coast of Ireland. Aguila was attacked by German submarine U-201 and sunk. The torpedo hit the Aguila amidships sending her to the bottom in ninety seconds. There were only 16 badly injured survivors, leaving a death toll of 145. Not a single one of the twenty-two Wrens aboard survived.
As a tribute to their memory, a lifeboat named 'Aguila Wren' was built and launched on June 28, 1952, for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Little other information is available on Third Officer Blake-Forster, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has no information on her family or her age at death.
She is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 41, Column 1.
The twenty two Wrens departed on the SS Aguila carrying a cargo of 397 bags of mail in a general cargo of 1,288 tons on 12 August 1941 as a part of Convoy OG-71 en route to Gibraltar from Liverpool. The convoy, consisting of twenty three merchant ships and escorted by six corvettes and two destroyers, was attacked by German submarines while off the south western coast of Ireland. Aguila was attacked by German submarine U-201 and sunk. The torpedo hit the Aguila amidships sending her to the bottom in ninety seconds. There were only 16 badly injured survivors, leaving a death toll of 145. Not a single one of the twenty-two Wrens aboard survived.
As a tribute to their memory, a lifeboat named 'Aguila Wren' was built and launched on June 28, 1952, for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Little other information is available on Third Officer Blake-Forster, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has no information on her family or her age at death.
She is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 41, Column 1.
Scion of an ancient Irish family, Third Officer Cecelia Blake-Forster was assigned to HMS Cormorant in Gibralter along with 21 other Wrens. A select Wrens few had been put through a grueling, competitive course to become chief wireless telegraphers, with the accompanying elevation in rank upon successful completion. These telegraphers were, along with eight Wren officers and one QARNNS nurse, to be transferred to Gibralter for wireless and cipher duty there.
The twenty two Wrens departed on the SS Aguila carrying a cargo of 397 bags of mail in a general cargo of 1,288 tons on 12 August 1941 as a part of Convoy OG-71 en route to Gibraltar from Liverpool. The convoy, consisting of twenty three merchant ships and escorted by six corvettes and two destroyers, was attacked by German submarines while off the south western coast of Ireland. Aguila was attacked by German submarine U-201 and sunk. The torpedo hit the Aguila amidships sending her to the bottom in ninety seconds. There were only 16 badly injured survivors, leaving a death toll of 145. Not a single one of the twenty-two Wrens aboard survived.
As a tribute to their memory, a lifeboat named 'Aguila Wren' was built and launched on June 28, 1952, for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Little other information is available on Third Officer Blake-Forster, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has no information on her family or her age at death.
She is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 41, Column 1.
The twenty two Wrens departed on the SS Aguila carrying a cargo of 397 bags of mail in a general cargo of 1,288 tons on 12 August 1941 as a part of Convoy OG-71 en route to Gibraltar from Liverpool. The convoy, consisting of twenty three merchant ships and escorted by six corvettes and two destroyers, was attacked by German submarines while off the south western coast of Ireland. Aguila was attacked by German submarine U-201 and sunk. The torpedo hit the Aguila amidships sending her to the bottom in ninety seconds. There were only 16 badly injured survivors, leaving a death toll of 145. Not a single one of the twenty-two Wrens aboard survived.
As a tribute to their memory, a lifeboat named 'Aguila Wren' was built and launched on June 28, 1952, for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Little other information is available on Third Officer Blake-Forster, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has no information on her family or her age at death.
She is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 41, Column 1.
Inscription
Portsmouth Naval Memorial
Panel 41, Column 1
Gravesite Details
Third Officer, Women's Royal Naval Service. Age: Unknown.
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