F. S. Bell used. F. S. Bell Captain Frederick Secker Bell CB (17 August 1897 – 23 November 1973) of the Royal Navy was the commander of during the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939. He was educated at Matfield Grange, a prep school in Kent, and then at the Royal Naval Colleges of Osborne and Dartmouth. He served afloat in the battleship at the Battle of Jutland, as First Lieutenant of the destroyer in the Reserve Fleet at Devonport, 1923–25, and as executive officer of from 1935–38 and was promoted captain on 31 December 1938. He took command of in
HMS E20 British code. Upon arriving at the designated location, "UB-14" surfaced and fired a torpedo at "E20" from a distance of . "E20"s crew saw the torpedo, but it was too late to avoid the weapon. The torpedo hit "E20"s conning tower and sank her with the loss of 21 men. "UB-14" rescued nine, including "E20"s captain who, reportedly, had been brushing his teeth at the time of the attack. HMS E20 HMS "E20" was a British E-class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 25 November 1914 and was commissioned on 30 August 1915. She was sunk,