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Couple of interesting snippets from THE TIMES...: msg#00005

science.cryptography.bletchley-park

Subject: Couple of interesting snippets from THE TIMES...

The Times, April 27, 2006
-------------------------
OBITUARY : Captain Hugh Lee, October 12, 1916 - March 31, 2006

Signals officer who helped to sink a U-boat and was afterwards in the
thick of action in the Mediterranean.

HUGH LEE's extraordinarily active career during the Second World War
started when, as anti-submarine control officer of the destroyer Fortune,
he was awarded the DSC for his part in sinking, on September 20, 1939,
U27, which had been attacking trawlers off the Butt of Lewis. This was the
second U-boat sinking of the war. The Germans were suffering from
unreliability in their torpedoes, and U27's captain, Johannes Franz, was
later able to smuggle out of his PoW camp to Admiral Dönitz the important
intelligence that while firing at Fortune he had experienced three
premature explosions.../snip/

...In March a decoded signal from Bletchley Park - coincidentally
handled by Pauline Burrough, daughter of ViceAdmiral Burrough of Malta
convoy fame and Lee's future wife - revealed to Cunningham that the
Italian fleet aimed to attack troop convoys going to Greece. This set up
the victory off Cape Matapan on March 27-28. Lee recalled the shocking
sight as the Italian heavy cruisers Fiume and Zara were surprised at night
and hit at short range by salvoes from battleships: "In a trice, they
were blazing hulks.".../snip/

...In April 1945 Lee returned to England, marrying Pauline Burrough in
September. In 1947 he commanded the naval wireless station at Kranji,
Singapore, during the Malayan emergency. A tour at sea in the carrier
Illustrious was followed by his becoming second-in-command of the signal
school. From 1954 he had an enjoyable two years as director naval signals
to the Indian Navy..../snip/

Lee is survived by his wife, Pauline, and by their three daughters.

Captain Hugh Lee, DSC, Commodore RN Barracks Portsmouth, 1966-68, was born
on October 12, 1916. He died on March 31, 2006, aged 89.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-2152887,00.html


The Times, May 5, 2006
----------------------
Lives Remembered

Mrs Pauline M. Lee writes: The obituary of my husband, Captain Hugh Lee
(April 27), implied that while working at Bletchley Park I handled the
signal that initiated Admiral Cunningham's victory off Cape Matapan in
1941. I was indeed there at the time but in an administrative capacity and
at no time did I see or handle secret material dealt with by the brilliant
code-breakers.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-1569314_1,00.html



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