A WW1 'Sinking of German V1-Class Torpedo Boat SMS S20' Africa General Service Medal, clasp Somaliland 1902-04, British War & Victory Medal group awarded to 198596 A.B. Robert William Mitchell, Royal Navy.

Robert William Mitchell was born on the 21st September 1881, and joined the ranks of the Royal Navy on the 21st September 1899, later joining the crew of HMS Perseus on the 7th March 1901.

HMS Perseus was a Pelorus-class protected cruiser that served on the East Indies Station and was involved in operations related to the Somaliland Campaign (1902–1904). Commissioned in 1901 under Commander Edmund Radcliffe Pears, HMS Perseus operated across the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, and East African waters.

Somaliland Campaign -Crew members of HMS Perseus received the Africa General Service Medal with the clasp for Somaliland 1902–04 for their service during operations against the forces of the "Mad Mullah" (Mohammed Abdullah Hassan). In June 1902, the ship intercepted Arab smugglers and weapons caches in the Gulf region that were bound via Makullah for the Somaliland campaign. Later in September 1902, the ship took part in actions such as demolishing the fort at Balhaf.

Mitchell went on to serve with several other ships and shore bases, and on the 10th of August 1916, he joined the crew of the C-class light cruiser HMS Centaur. On the 5th June 1918, Mitchell was present when HMS Centaur was part of a small Royal Navy force that sank the SMS S20 torpedo boat off Zeebrugge.

In the early morning of 5 June, S20 and S15 were returning from a patrol when they encountered four light cruisers Centaur, Canterbury, Conquest and Concord, the destroyer leader Lightfoot and eight destroyers of the Harwich Force, which were providing cover for a bombardment of Ostend by monitors of the Dover Patrol. Heavily outnumbered and outgunned, the two German torpedo boats made for Zeebrugge and the protection of German coastal defences. S20 was hit in the boiler room by one of the cruisers, immobilising S20 and killing her captain. The British destroyers sank S20, with 49 of her crew killed. S15, although hit three times, managed to make the cover of the coastal defences, causing the British to break off the pursuit.

The Nazi German destroyer Erich Geise was named after S20's commanding officer killed during S20's loss.

The medals are mounted for display, sold with some copied research, and are as follow –

ED.VII Africa General Service Medal, clasp Somaliland 1902-04, R. W. MITCHELL, A. B., H.M.S. PERSEUS.; British War & Victory Medals, 198596 R.W. MITCHELL. A.B. R.N.

Condition, light polishing, otherwise good very fine