Joseph John Armstrong

Able Seaman Joseph John Armstrong died on 14th March 1941 as the Luftwaffe attacked SS Stanleigh in the Irish Sea as it left from Liverpool, England.

Able Seaman

Joseph John Armstrong

D/JX 185615

Able Seaman Joseph John Armstrong of Belfast, Co. Antrim served in the Royal Navy and was part of the crew lost when a Luftwaffe Heinkel HE111 sank SS Stanleigh in the Irish Sea.

Able Seaman Joseph John Armstrong (D/JX 185615) served in the Royal Navy during World War Two. He was the son of Joseph John Armstrong and Isabella Armstrong (née McKee) of Excise Street, Belfast, Co. Antrim, and the husband of Margaret Hooke Armstrong of Belfast, Co. Antrim.

He died on 14th March 1941 aged 34 years old on board SS Stanleigh. On the night of 13th-14th March 1941, a Luftwaffe Heinkel HE111 of Kampfgeschwader 27 bombed the merchant cargo ship. SS Stanleigh was part of a convoy departing Liverpool, England.

Some members of the crew escaped to a lifeboat but the sinking ship ran into the escape vessel killing many crew members. A makeshift raft of planks and oil barrels enabled 6 crew members to survive the sinking. Another ship picked them up the following day.

Armstrong served at HMS President III, a shore establishment in Bristol where DEMS Gunners trained.

Joseph John Armstrong has no known grave. His name is on Panel 46, Column 2 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial, Plymouth, Devon.