Francis John Brooks, RN
| Birth details unknown | |||
| Died | 3 Jun 1943 | killed when aircraft was shot down | |
| Ranks
Decorations |
Warship Commands listed for Francis John Brooks, RN
| Ship | Rank | Type | From | To |
| HMS L 23 (N 23) | Lt. | Submarine | 24 Jul 1939 | 26 Mar 1940 |
| HMS Unity (N 66) | Lt. | Submarine | 20 Apr 1940 | 29 Apr 1940 |
| HMS Upright (N 89) | Lt. | Submarine | 5 Jul 1940 | 16 Dec 1940 |
Career information
We currently have no career / biographical information on this officer.
Events related to this officer
Submarine HMS L 23 (N 23)
12 Sep 1939
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted full power trials off Portsmouth on completion of a long refit. These trials had to be broken off due to the starboard engine developing problems. (1)
19 Sep 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted full power trials off Portsmouth. This time they were successful. (1)
20 Sep 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted exercises off Portsmouth. (1)
21 Sep 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted exercises off Portsmouth. (1)
25 Sep 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted exercises off Portsmouth. (1)
26 Sep 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted exercises off Portsmouth. (1)
28 Sep 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Portsmouth for Blyth. She was escorted by HMS Skate (Lt.Cdr. A.O. Johnson, RN) until 1700/28 when L 23 joined a northbound convoy. (1)
30 Sep 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) arrived at Blyth. (1)
3 Oct 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted exercises off Blyth. (2)
4 Oct 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted exercises off Blyth. (2)
11 Oct 1939
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Blyth for her 1st war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the North Sea.
For the daily positions of HMS L 23 during this patrol see the map below.
(3)
16 Oct 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) ended her 1st war patrol at Rosyth. (2)
21 Oct 1939
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Rosyth for her 2nd war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the Skagerak.
For the daily positions of HMS L 23 during this patrol see the map below.
(3)
1 Nov 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) ended her 2nd war patrol at Rosyth. (4)
12 Nov 1939
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Rosyth for her 3rd war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the North Sea.
For the daily positions of HMS L 23 during this patrol see the map below.
(3)
30 Nov 1939
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) ended her 3rd war patrol at Blyth. (4)
10 Dec 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) is docked at Blyth. (5)
12 Dec 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) is undocked. (5)
14 Dec 1939
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Blyth for her 4th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the North Sea.
For the daily positions of HMS L 23 during this patrol see the map below.
(5)
15 Dec 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) ended her 4th war patrol at Blyth after having been recalled. (5)
17 Dec 1939
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Blyth for her 5th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the Skagerak.
For the daily positions of HMS L 23 during this patrol see the map below.
(3)
29 Dec 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) ended her 5th war patrol at Rosyth. (5)
30 Dec 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Rosyth for Blyth. (5)
31 Dec 1939 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) arrived at Blyth. (5)
21 Jan 1940
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Blyth for her 6th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the North Sea.
For the daily positions of HMS L 23 during this patrol see the map below.
(3)
2 Feb 1940
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) ended her 6th war patrol at Rosyth. (3)
12 Feb 1940
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Blyth for her 7th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the North Sea.
For the daily positions of HMS L 23 during this patrol see the map below.
(3)
20 Feb 1940 (position 57.12, 5.32)
At 0055 hours, HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN), is depth charged by what is thought to be an enemy destroyer in approximate position 57°12'N, 05°32'E.
It was thought that a force of one cruiser and two destroyers were sighted at close range. When Lt. Brooks came on the bridge it was seen that the enemy must also have seen L 26 as both destroyers were seen to turn in to attack. The range to the nearest was only 700 yards. L 26 then crash dived. The first depth charge exploded when L 26 was at 40 feet and three more followed at close intervals. When L 26 reached 80 feet the second destroyer passed overhead and also dropped four depth charges. Every motor was then stopped on board L 26 and she was laid to rest on the bottom in 152 feet of water. No more depth charges were dropped but surface craft were heard to hunt for her until 0430 hours. L 26 sustained some minor damage during this depth charging. L 26 surfaced around 0600 hours in a patch of oil which she had been leaking. It was thought likely that due to this the enemy would have thought that they had destroyed the submarine.
According to German sources, the enemy ships sighted by L 23 were returning from Operation 'Nordmark', a raid against Allied shipping between the U.K. and Norway, these were the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and the destroyers Wilhelm Heidkamp and Karl Galster. It was the Wilhelm Heidkamp that dropped a total of nine depth charges against the suspected submarine. (3)
21 Feb 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) ended her 7th war patrol at Rosyth. (3)
23 Feb 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Rosyth for Blyth. (6)
24 Feb 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) arrived at Blyth. (6)
27 Feb 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) is docked at Blyth for repairs and periodical docking. (6)
7 Mar 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) is undocked. (6)
11 Mar 1940
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Blyth for her 8th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the North Sea.
For the daily positions of HMS L 23 during this patrol see the map below.
(3)
25 Mar 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS L 23 (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) ended her 8th war patrol at Blyth. (3)
Submarine HMS Upright (N 89)
3 Sep 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted trials of Barrow. (7)
4 Sep 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) was docked at Barrow to change the propellers. (7)
5 Sep 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) was undocked and departed Barrow for Rothesay. (7)
6 Sep 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) arrived at Rothesay for a period of training.
7 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted exercises in the Clyde area while she was escorted by HMS Breda (Capt.(Retd.) A.E. Johnston, RN). (7)
8 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted noise trials in Loch Striven and later in Kames Bay. (7)
10 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted exercises in the Clyde area. (7)
11 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted attack exercises in the Clyde area with HMS Breda (Capt.(Retd.) A.E. Johnston, RN) serving as the target. (7)
13 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted degaussing trials at Gare Loch. (7)
15 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) shifted from Holy Loch to Arrochar. (7)
16 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted torpedo discharge trials off Arrochar. (7)
17 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted torpedo discharge trials off Arrochar. (7)
18 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted torpedo discharge trials off Arrochar. (7)
19 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted torpedo discharge trials off Arrochar. (7)
20 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) shifted from Arrochar to Holy Loch but before proceeding to Holy Loch speed trials were carried out on the measured mile.
22 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted degaussing trials at Gare Loch. (7)
23 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) conducted attack exercises in the Clyde area with HMS Breda (Capt.(Retd.) A.E. Johnston, RN) serving as the target. These included night exercises. (7)
24 Sep 1940 (position 0.00, 0.00)
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) returned to Rothesay upon completion of the night attack exercises. (7)
26 Sep 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Rothesay for Portsmouth.
For the daily positions of HMS Upright during this passage see the map below.
(7)
30 Sep 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) arrived at Portsmouth. (7)
4 Oct 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Portsmouth for her 1st war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the English Channel.
For the daily positions of HMS Upright during this patrol see the map below.
(8)
13 Oct 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) ended her 1st war patrol at Portsmouth. Only a submarine chaser and E-boats were sighted during this patrol. (8)
25 Oct 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) was docked at Portsmouth. (9)
28 Oct 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) was undocked. (9)
30 Oct 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Portsmouth for Gibraltar. She was to join the Mediterranean Fleet. En-route she was to make a short 48-hour patrol in the Bay of Biscay but it proved to be uneventful and nothing was sighted.
For the daily positions of HMS Upright during this patrol see the map below.
(9)
9 Nov 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) arrived at Gibraltar. (10)
19 Nov 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) departed Gibraltar for her 3rd war patrol (1st in the Mediterranean). She was ordered to patrol off Palermo, Sicily, Italy. Upon completion of the patrol she was to proceed to Malta. Only a French convoy was sighted.
For the daily positions of HMS Upright during this patrol see the map below.
(11)
4 Dec 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) ended her 3rd war patrol (1st in the Mediterranean) at Malta. (11)
7 Dec 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) was docked at Malta. (12)
8 Dec 1940
HMS Upright (Lt. F.J. Brooks, RN) was undocked. (12)
Sources
- ADM 173/15760
- ADM 173/15761
- ADM 199/1830
- ADM 173/15762
- ADM 173/15763
- ADM 199/373
- ADM 173/16686
- ADM 199/1819
- ADM 173/16687
- ADM 173/16688
- ADM 199/283
- ADM 173/16689
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.
You can help improve officers Francis John Brooks's page
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this officer.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve his page.