John Nettleton was born in Barrow in Furness, Lancashire on 17 December 1913, the son of William Henry Nettleton (a fitter in the Vickers Shipyard) and Agnes Clara Jane Nettleton (née Richardson). In the 1921 Census the Nettleton family were listed as living at 150, Ainslie Street, Barrow in Furness (together with the Richardson family) and William was listed as a ‘Rate Fixer, Fitter’. John Nettleton had an elder brother, Albert James (also a fitter in the Shipyard) and an elder sister, Winnie (at school). John Nettleton served a five-year Apprenticeship as a Fitter and Turner in the Vickers Shipyard between 30 March 1931 and 21 July 1936.

It is not known when he joined the Royal Navy or submarines. John Nettleton was married to Miss Muriel Yvonne Cluer in Droxford, Hampshire in the 1st Quarter of 1940.

The date of his draft to HMS SICKLE is yet to be established but he was awarded the DSM (see London Gazette dated 27 July 1943)‘for his part in the sinking of U-Boat U-303 on 21st May 1943’. On 4 June 1944, SICKLE took part in a surface gun action in the Mediterranean in which two crewmen were wounded and one (AB Blake) was lost overboard. AB Blake was rescued by German forces and, accidentally and very luckily, became the only survivor of HMS SICKLE as the submarine was lost with all hands – including Chief ERA John Nettleton – about two weeks later, probably by striking a mine in the Antikithera Channel, Greece, on or around 18 June 1944.

At the time of his death Muriel Nettleton was living at Malabar Cottage, Droxford, Hampshire with their two children. John Nettleton is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial on Panel 89 Column 1.