PITTS Charles Eric

Appears as Charles Goodman on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

HMS Simoom was a destroyer launched in 1916. She was sunk in action off Schouwen Bank on 23rd January 1917. Conflicting reports state that the ship was torpedoed by the submarine S-50 or was blown up by gunfire from German destroyers. The 1918 ship of the same name was sold in 1931.

The following information has been researched by the Black Country Society:
Charles Goodman was born in Amblecote and was the son of Mr and Mrs C. H. Pitts of 76 Lower Higher Street, Stourbridge.  He was originally an iron-worker before he joined the navy in 1912. He served as a Signalman on several ships including Impregnable and had been present in the 1916 Battle of Jutland when he was wounded by a shell splinter.  In January 1917 he was serving on HMS Simoom, a very recently commissioned destroyer.  It was patrolling the Dover Straits and southern North Sea when it was sunk by a German submarine on the 23rd January. A torpedo penetrated to a magazine and Signalman Charles Goodman was among many who died.  It appears that he was known as Charles Goodman and appears with that name on the Amblecote Memorial.

Charles Goodman has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Portsmouth Naval Memorial under the surname Goodman.