A PLAQUE honouring a Petersfield navy officer awarded the Victoria Cross is to be laid in the town.

Commander Loftus Jones was awarded Britain’s highest gallantry award after he went down with his ship during the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916.

He was born on November 13, 1879, to Admiral Loftus Francis Jones and Gertrude of Sussex Road in Petersfield and followed his father into the Royal Navy.

On May 31, he was captain of HMS Shark when German ships were spotted and battle was joined.

During the fierce engagement Cmdr Jones was badly wounded twice before his outnumbered ship sunk.

His body was washed ashore on the Swedish coast and he is now buried in Kviberg British cemetery.

His medal citation in The London Gazette of March 6, 1917, read: “On the afternoon of the 31st May, 1916, during the action, Commander Jones in HMS Shark led a division of destroyers to attack the German battle cruiser squadron.

In the course of this attack a shell hit the Shark’s bridge, putting the steering gear out of order, and very shortly afterwards another shell disabled the main engines, leaving the vessel helpless. The commanding officer of another Royal Navy destroyer, came between the Shark and the enemy and offered assistance, but was warned by Cmdr Jones not to run the risk of being almost certainly sunk in trying to help him. Cmdr Jones, though wounded in the leg, went aft to help connect and man the after wheel. Meanwhile the forecastle gun with its crew had been blown away, and the same fate soon afterwards befell the after gun and crew. Cmdr Jones then went to the midship and the only remaining gun, and personally assisted in keeping it in action. All this time the Shark was subjected to very heavy fire from enemy light cruisers and destroyers at short range. The gun’s crew of the midship gun was reduced to three, of whom an able seaman was soon badly wounded in the leg. A few minutes later Cmdr Jones was hit by a shell, which took off his leg above the knee, but he continued to give orders to his gun’s crew, while a chief stoker improvised a tourniquet round his thigh. Noticing that the Ensign flag was not properly hoisted, Cmdr Jones gave orders for another to be hoisted. Soon afterwards, seeing that the ship could not survive much longer, and as a German destroyer was closing, he gave orders for the surviving members of the crew to put on lifebelts. Almost immediately after this order had been given, the Shark was struck by a torpedo and sank. Cmdr Jones was unfortunately not amongst the few survivors from the Shark who were picked up by a neutral vessel in the night.

His body was washed ashore in Western Sweden some days later, and he was buried at Fiskebäckskil, Västra Götaland, Sweden. His body was transferred to the British War Graves plot in Kviberg Cemetery, Gothenburg in 1961.

At 11am on Friday, May 27, outside St Peter’s Church in Petersfield Square a plaque will be laid in his honour, and a commemoration ceremony and short service will be held.