It will be ‘Up Spirits’ in Wetherspoons’ popular pub in Newport, South Wales, as it is to be renamed the John Wallace Linton, in memory of wartime hero Cdr Linton VC DSO DSC, a local man.

‘Tubby’ Linton was a wartime legend, and there will be many toasts to his memory at the Wetherspoons ceremony, and to the brave crew of the submarine HMS Turbulent, who lost their lives with him in 1943.

It was a member of the Newport branch of the Royal Naval Association (RNA) who came up with the idea of asking Wetherspoons to honour the memory of Cdr Linton by renaming the pub after him.

Supported by the local paper, the South Wales Argus – especially Mike Buckingham – an approach was made to the Wetherspoon Company, and to the delight of all, the response was favourable.

What was surprising, as local interest in Cdr Linton grew, was how few of the people of Newport had heard of him, though the town had erected a memorial in his memory on the bank of the River Usk, although it is somewhat remote and prone to vandalism.

Cdr Linton, who was born in Malpas, passed out from Dartmouth in 1922, joining the Submarine Service as a sub-lieutenant in 1927.

Apart from a couple of years in the mid-1930s, he spent the rest of his Naval career in submarines, eight years of which were in command of boats.

At the outbreak of war Linton was on the China station in one of the big P-class boats, HMS Pandora, but in 1940 he brought his command to Alexandria.

By June 1941, with almost a dozen patrols and a DSC to his name, Linton relinquished command of Pandora, which went for refit in the United States, and he travelled back to Britain to bring the new T-boat HMS Turbulent into commission.

Her first – and only – captain, Linton took the new boat out to the Mediterranean, reaching Alexandria in February 1942.

Turbulent proceeded to sink almost 100,000 tons of shipping, and destroyed three trains using her gun, and Linton’s courage, skill and daring brought him the DSO in September of that year.

By the time Turbulent left Alexandria on her tenth – and Linton’s 21st – patrol in February 1943, Linton was at 37 the oldest and most experienced captain of the First Flotilla.

The tenth patrol saw Turbulent head out into the Tyrrhenian Sea, but she never returned to her base.

The exact fate of the submarine is unknown. Various reports talk of her possibly striking a mine off the port of La Maddalena in Sardinia, or being depth-charged by the Italian destroyer Ardito, or being sunk by an enemy MTB.

Whatever the reason, no more was heard of her, and she was reported overdue on May 3, her captain and crew posted missing, presumed killed. Turbulent had been hunted 13 times and evaded 250 depth charges in her final year.

Linton’s posthumous Victoria Cross, a reward for his remorseless harrying of the enemy over years of patrols in the difficult waters of the Mediterranean, was gazetted in May 1943.

Tubby’s son William, who accompanied his mother to collect his father’s VC from the King at Buckingham Palace in February 1944, also joined the Submarine Service .

And William’s service also came to a tragic conclusion; he died when, as a sub-lieutenant on training, he went down with HMS Affray in the Channel in April 1951.