Lieutenant Commander John Elliott Smart (1 March 1916 – 3 February 2008) was an officer in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, who commanded one of the midget submarines that attacked the German cruiser ''Lützow'' and the Japanese cruiser ''Takao'' during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Early life

Smart was born on 1 March 1916 in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

in England and joined the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

(RNVR) in 1938, his commission as a sub-lieutenant was confirmed on 3 October 1939. He served the first part of the war in

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

s in the eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. He was promoted

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 1 March 1941, then joined HMS Varbel, the midget submarine training depot, in 1943.

Operation Source

Six midget submarines were to take part in the attack on the German cruiser ''Lützow'' in Altenfjord, Norway. During the tow over to the attack, ''X8'' lost contact with her towing submarine HMS ''Sea Nymph'', but after 37 hours they regained contact. Unfortunately ''X8'' developed leaks and was unable to dive, eventually leading to the ''X8'' being scuttled. Smart was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) for his part in the operation.

Operation Struggle

The XE class submarines HMS ''XE1'' and ''XE3'' was assigned to

Operation Struggle The XE-class submarines were a series of twelve midget submarines that were built for the Royal Navy during 1944; four more to a slightly different design were built 1954-5 as the Stickleback-class submarine, ''Stickleback'' class. They were ...

, an attack on the Japanese cruisers ''Myōkō'' and ''Takao'' in the Johore Strait. Smart was in command of '' XE1'', targeting the ''Myōkō'' but after 16 hours ran out of time and laid the charges next to ''Takao'', that had already been attacked by '' XE3''. The attack on ''Takao'' lead to appointment as a Companion of the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

(DSO), and as an Officer of the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

from the United States.

Later life

Smart retained his RNVR commission after the war and was promoted lieutenant commander on 1 March 1949. He was awarded the Volunteer Reserve Decoration (VRD) on 30 April 1953, and retired on 8 March 1954. He then became a

stockbroker A stockbroker is an individual or company that buys and sells stocks and other investments for a financial market participant in return for a commission, markup, or fee. In most countries they are regulated as a broker or broker-dealer and ...

with Pemberton Securities in their

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

office, remaining there until the 1980s, when he transferred to the

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

office. He died in Victoria on 3 February 2008 at the age of 91. He is survived by his wife, Meghan, and two sons, Elliot and Christopher.

References

External links

Telegraph obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, John Elliott 1916 births 2008 deaths Officers of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Officers of the Legion of Merit Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Navy officers of World War II Stockbrokers