STORIES FROM THE WAR AT SEA

The Independent & The Independent on Sunday

Royal Navy's last 'human torpedoes' tracked down

By Jan McGirk in Phuket

Published: 10 May 2006

"Tiny" and "Slasher", the last two "human torpedoes" used by British Royal Navy commandos in combat, may have been found in the southern Andaman Sea east of Phuket, some 60 years after they were abandoned and sank.

Chris Parton, a marine salvage expert, told The Independent that he and his former business partner, Adam Douglas, tracked down the Second World War-era miniature vessels to the seabed near Dok Mai island, a haunt of leopard sharks and moray eels.

After the Boxing Day tsunami pounded the reefs in 2004, the rare sneak- attack weapons came to rest at a depth of nearly 40 metres. A strong current makes recovery difficult, but Mr Parton, 58, said they could be retrieved within three months if government permits come through.

A surprise attack using human torpedoes was launched from the British submarine HMS Trenchant on 28 October 1944, just after midnight. War records recount how four British commandos, sitting back-to-back astride the two top-secret MK II Terry Chariot torpedoes, were sent to sabotage two Italian cargo ships anchored off Japanese-occupied Phuket. The frogmen were meant to plant explosive charges on the ships' hulls, set the timers, and ride their battery-powered torpedoes, minus the warheads, back to the command submarine.

One team was detained an extra 20 minutes because they could not dive beneath the bigger ship, and had to sneak into its engine room to plant their time-bomb. The cargo ships Volpi and Sumatra blew up just after the commandos made it back to the submarine.

But when a monitor picked up the sound of propellers, the four frogmen, William S. Smith, Albert Brown, Anthony Eldridge and Sid Woolcott, were ordered to jettison before the Chariots could be stowed. A Japanese warship was reported lurking nearby, so the Trenchant dived and sped back to base at Trincomalee. The pair of Terry Chariots sank in the jade-green waters off Thailand.

Mr Parton reckons it was "an intelligence fiasco", and that the likely source of the propellers heard on the submarine's sonar was the returning Chariots.

Three of the retired commandos later came back to Phuket to revisit the site where they had earned Distinguished Service Medals.

Mr Brown described the operation in graphic detail to a member of the Submariners' Association, Dave Barlow, before his death.

I took the charge with me and lashed it to one of the deck fittings and took the pin out of the time-setting clock. I had about 45 minutes on the clock when the lashing parted and my hand was cut. I had to grab the charge again and struggle with it across the deck. The fuse-clock was ticking away and I knew my time was running out as I negotiated a series of steps down into an engine-room and placed the charge where it could not move.

"Then I had to take a chance and put another four hours on the clock; that's when my life was in my hands. But I was too preoccupied with several personal discomforts: my suit was full of water and one of my hands were bleeding badly ... a further fall had torn open my head piece and gashed the top of my skull. I could feel my hair sticky with blood. However, as I made my way up the engine-room ladder and across the deck to where I thought Smith would be waiting, I was able to reflect on the big bang I had left just below me.

"By the time I rejoined Smith I had to been aboard for some 20 minutes - long minutes they had been too. I let Smith feel the split pin that meant the charge had been set, we shook hands and were away."

It was Mr Parton's business partner Adam Douglas, whose father had piloted a miniature submarine during the war, who recognised the silhouettes of these rare weapons on the sea bed. Only six were ever made. As historic curios, the rusty Chariots have generated considerable international excitement. Thai maritime law is explicit, however: any antique found in Thai waters belongs to the nation.

Complicating the case is confusion over whether these MK II Chariots are vessels or spent weapons. Thai officials are waiting for advice from the British Admiralty.

There may be more war souvenirs on the seabed around Dok Mai. Each of the four frogmen was issued 20 gold sovereigns, silk maps of Siam and Malaya, a telescope and heliograph, watch and compass, a revolver, a commando dagger, plus a cyanide capsule.

Mr Parton said he would hate to see the memorabilia auctioned on eBay.

THE GRAF SPEE

GERMAN POCKET BATTLESHIP

 

Divers recover emblem of Nazi ship off Uruguay

 Salvage experts recovered a massive 2m (6ft) bronze eagle emblem on Friday from the wreckage of a Nazi battleship scuttled off the coast of Uruguay at the outset of World War II.

Three divers had to loosen 145 bolts securing the 300kg (661lb) eagle to the stern of the craft in the muddy waters off Uruguay's capital, Montevideo.

 The ship -- the Graf Spee -- was a symbol of German military strength in the war.

It sank nine vessels in the Atlantic Ocean before being damaged in December 1939 during a running fight with the British heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and the light cruisers HMS Ajax & HMNZS Achilles that became know as the battle of the River Plate, one of the war's first naval clashes between major fleet units.

 During the battle the Exeter at 10,400 tons & 8 inch guns the Graf Spee’s biggest threat was severely damaged and had to make the Falklands to effect emergency repairs.

Captain Langsdorff of The Graf Spee only lightly damaged by all accounts by being hit by 17 shells some of which failed to penetrate the armour made the surprising decision to seek shelter in Montevideo.

 The cruisers Ajax & Achilles supported later by the HMS Cumberland patrolled outside the port.

Meanwhile the British kept up a diplomatic barrage on the Uruguay government to order the Graf Spee to sea.

But looking at it all now it seems that Langsdorff had had enough of fighting and he ordered the ship to be sunk with explosives to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

Capt Langsdorff committed suicide in a Buenos Aires naval camp three days later.

 Divers have been working on and off since 1998 to recover the ship piece by piece, part of a multimillion-dollar effort by Argentine and German investors to refloat remains of the Nazi fleet and open a museum.

The recovery was the second major one by the international team of divers.

In 2004, the group raised the Graf Spee's range finder, a component that held the first radar antenna ever installed on a warship.

 The eagle's swastika was covered during lifting operations as a mark of consideration.

  The eagle was taken to a customs warehouse, but not before curious cruise ship guests had had a chance to disembark and get some snapshots.

 The ship has lain in waters only 10m deep since its scuttling - until a project financed by private investors from the US and Europe with the backing of the Uruguayan government sought to salvage it.

 It is hoped the vessel will become a tourist attraction in Montevideo.

 The Exeter at speed

 HMS Exeter. York Class Heavy Cruiser

Built by Devonport Dockyard. Laid Down 1 August 1928.

Launched 18 July 1929. Completed 27 July 1931.

Damaged by Graf Spee 13/12/39 - repaired Devonport 2/40 - 3/41.

Sunk 28 February 1942 at the Battle of the Java Sea

HMNZS Achilles

 The 1st of Sepember 1932  Cammell Laird's shipyard Birkenhead.

Type: Light cruiser

 

HMS Ajax

Built by: Vickers Armstrong (Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.) 

Ordered:  

Laid down: 7 Feb, 1933 

Launched: 1 Mar, 1934 

Commissioned: 12 Apr, 1935 

End service: Feb, 1948 

  History: HMS Ajax started the war on the South America station.

She was damaged by the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee during the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December 1939.

Repaired and refitted at Chatham Dockyard from December 1939 until July 1940.

After repairs she went to the Mediterranean. She was refitted at Chatham dockyard between May and October 1942. She returned to the Mediterranean upon completion of her refit and was almost immediately badly damaged by bombing on 1 January 1943.

She went to the United States for repairs at the New York Navy Yard and was out of action until October 1943.

She again returned to the Mediterranean but was recalled to home waters for the Normandy invasion in June.

Once again she returned to the Mediterranean for the invasion of southern France in August. She remained in the Mediterranean for the remainder of the war.

 HMS Ajax was decommissioned in February 1948.

Initially intended to be sold to Thailand but this deal did not materialize. She arrived at Newport for breaking up on 18 November 1949.

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  THE ARCTIC MEDAL CAMPAIGN

News from Phil Hughes who was one of the very active campaigners 

Message To You All,

                               I have just received this attached email from Dave Maddox of the "Arctic Convoy Campaign" which is great news.  We have won the fight at last for these brave men and I sincerely hope they will "splice the mainbrace" freely over this Christmas time.  Will you all help to spread the news to your members and contacts and if possible, send a message to Dave Maddox and all involved in this campaign with your comments.  Please accept my sincere thanks to you all for your support in this because without your petitions and letters it would not have been achieved. This will make it a very Merry Christmas now.

Best wishes to you all.

Regards and thanks,Phil Hughes (East Kent Branch Secretary).

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 FIRST AMERICAN SHIP IN WW2 SUNK IN AUSTRALIAN WATERS

The Melbourne Age - December 12, 2005

 A YEAR before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour changed the course of World War II, Adolf Hitler's forces claimed one of the first American war casualties, off the Victorian coast near Apollo Bay.

 In a largely forgotten chapter of history, the City of Rayville hit a mine in Bass Strait in 1940, the first US merchant ship sunk by the Germans.

 Cape Otway Lightstation manager Paul Thompson says few people realise the Germans had come so far south.

 They pirated a Norwegian vessel off Australia's north-west coast and converted it to lay about 100 mines in Bass Strait.

 This effort claimed the British steamer SS Cambridge off Wilsons Promontory a day before the City of Rayville met the same fate on November 8, 1940.

 Bound for New York with lead from Port Pirie in South Australia, the City of Rayville sank quickly after hitting the mine about 20 kilometres off the coast.

The Cape Otway lighthouse keeper and local farmers saw and heard the explosion. With night falling, Apollo Bay fishermen rushed to the ship's aid, saving all but one of its 37 crew. 

 The Cape Otway radar bunker was built at the cape the following year and 25 servicemen stationed there.

"It's one of the best-kept secrets of the war as perhaps the focus moved elsewhere with the war effort," Mr Thompson said. He is seeking information and photographs of the bunker for a restoration project.

 Long before this World War II intrigue, the Cape Otway beacon had an illustrious history, and was the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the mainland, dating from 1848.

 It had a scandalous start. The first lighthouse keeper, Captain James Lawrence, was a drunken rogue who failed to keep the light shining.

 After word of his conduct and fondness for drinking, womanising and foul language got back to Melbourne, he was dismissed only months into his posting.

 By 1859, Cape Otway was at the forefront of a communications revolution, with a telegraph station built in a grand Mediterranean-style villa.

 The submarine cable from Tasmania to Cape Otway cut from days to minutes the time it took to send messages.

 Although the cable failed after six months, the telegraph station was vital in signalling ships arriving from North America and England.

 The long-awaited sighting of Cape Otway lighthouse brought great relief as ships' captains attempted the dangerous manoeuvre of "threading the eye of the needle", as entering the western entrance of Bass Strait was known.

 "You can imagine what it is like sailing for 20,000 kilometres without seeing land, and then you have to find this gap of 90 kilometres between Cape Otway and King Island in one of the worst shipping lanes in the world," Mr Thompson said.

 "When they saw the lighthouse and had safe passage into that entrance, there was much relief for the crew and passengers, many of them immigrants who knew it as the Beacon of Hope."

 Visitors to Cape Otway can see the light tower, original lighthouse keeper's residences, radar bunker and telegraph station.

 Anyone with information about the radar bunker can contact Mr Thompson on 5237 9240.

LINKS

www.lightstation.com

www.heritage.vic.gov.au

www.peoplesvoice.gov.au

 Editors note this article mentions the mining of the SS Cambridgeshire on November 8^th 1940 – One of our Vindi Boys Bill Lucas who was on the first Vindi course in 1939 was injured when his Federal boat was mined in Australian waters, the Cambridgeshire was most likely his ship.  

Bill had both his legs broken and spent quite some time in hospital here.  On leaving hospital he served on Australian MN ships as steward then Chief Steward until his retirement many years later about 1970 I think.

Bill left us due to his and his wife’s poor health the last time I spoke to him about 2 years ago now, he was living in Tuncurry NSW.

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 HERITAGE MATTERS by Dr. Edward Harris MBE

 From the Royal Bermudan gazette

 THE sun from the sea first touches Bermuda at St. David's Head, the easternmost part of the island.

There, under the protective guns of an old battery, the Bermuda Government has erected a monument to local inhabitants lost at sea.

A purpose of such a monument is to remind us of the lives that the great forces of nature or the destructive hand of man interrupted irrevocably and whose only grave is that of the sea.

There are those who go down through foolishness, who test the mighty ocean with arrogance or inadequate implements.

Most, however, meet their end while undertaking the duties of the mariner on a day that went wrong.

Others reach an uninvited but honourable fate, as did five Bermudians whose lives were literally torpedoed in the line of military duties.

They are recorded in Bermuda's Roll of Honour of those killed in action in the World War of 1939-45 and honoured annually on Remembrance Day.

Three of these men served in the Merchant Marine, the movers of essential cargoes who suffered considerable losses through U-boat attacks.

Another served in one of His Majesty's warships and the last was coming home when his ship was sunk.

Perhaps their names will be recorded along with the civilian losses at the St. David's monument.

 

Douglas William Howard Hutchings was lost on January 16, 1941.

He was an oiler, whose first job was in the engine room of the Queen of Bermuda, but had transferred to another vessel.

At the time of his death, Queen of Bermuda was on duty in the Falkland Islands far to the south.

According Billy McGee, who had an excellent web site on the Merchant Navy, there were two British vessels sunk on January 16, 1941, the Zealandic and the Oropesa.

Both were attacked off Rockall, some 300 miles from Iceland and Ireland on the route from the North Sea to the Atlantic.

The cargo ship Zealandic was lost with all hands and Oropesa, a passenger liner, lost 105 crew and passengers, with 143 being rescued.

Given that he was originally on a passenger liner, it is possible that Hutchings was lost on the Oropesa.

It was sunk by U-96, a boat familiar to most through its incarnation as the lead actor in the outstanding film, Das Boot.

 

Of the 40,000 mariners of the U-boat fleets, 30,000 did not return from sea.

 

Howard Sinclair Burgess was a fireman and trimmer and with 28 others on the Henri Mory was lost on April 26, 1941. The Henri Mory had sailed with a cargo of iron ore from Pepel and Freetown in Sierra Leone for Barrow in Scotland.

One source suggests that the ship came to Bermuda and it is possible that Burgess joined the vessel and his fate here.

 

The Henri Mory had left Convoy SL-68 and was travelling independently when the ship was torpedoed by U-110 in the North Atlantic.

The U-110 had a very short career of only two sailings and was sunk a few weeks after the Henri Mory went down.

 

The boat became famous for it remained afloat long enough for the British to board it and remove an Enigma code machine and many secret documents.

 

Lieut. Cecil John Greenway Wright was serving in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on HMS Dunedin when the vessel was torpedoed on November 24, 1941.

He was one of the 419 men lost, only 67 of the crew surviving.

In 1940, Dunedin had been posted to the America and West Indies Station at Bermuda and thereafter was on the South Atlantic Station.

While pursuing enemy surface ships in those waters, the Dunedin was sent to an oceanic grave by U-124, halfway between Sierre Leone and Brazil.

 

Noel Lumley Meyer was returning to Bermuda via Canada after service with the Royal Air Force.

He was travelling on the Lady Hawkins, one of the famous "Lady Boats" that had served Bermuda and the West Indies for several decades.

The ship was torpedoed on January 19, 1942 south of Boston by U-66 under the command of Richard Zapp, with the loss of 255 souls.

Meyer was last seen helping survivors into lifeboats, 71 persons later being rescued.

The USS Buckley sank the U-66 by ramming on May 6, 1944.

 

Alfred David Drewsbury Drew remains an enigmatic merchant mariner.

While he is recorded on the Bermuda Roll of Honour, neither his date nor place of death is at present known.

At the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, he was a young man of 20 years. It is said that he volunteered for convoy service to Britain and was lost when his ship was torpedoed.

His name is not recorded on the lists of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

This suggests that he died on his first voyage, before his name could be recorded officially as a member of his ship's crew.

Further research may finally complete the story of this young Bermudian lost at sea in the line of duty.

 

LIKE a stone thrown into the sea, a sinking vessel creates but a few ripples that are soon lost to sight, as is the ship itself. The loss of its crew makes destructive emotional waves that resound down through the years in the lives and memory of family and friends left behind.

Memory itself cannot escape the shipwreck of time, unless we hold in firm in archival records and built monuments.

We make these memory banks to respect the dead and honour their contributions to the present, especially those who gave their lives in the line of duty.

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Dr. Edward Harris, MBE, JP, FSA, Bermudian, is the Executive Director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum.

 

 

Copyright ©2005 The Royal Gazette Ltd.

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                                  The Epic Voyage of the Newton Pine

The 'Newton Pine' down to her marks

The only tramp to sink a U-Boat!

 

Once he left school at 14 in 1938, all Londoner, Davin Taysor wanted out of life was to go to sea, like so many teenage boys living in Britain’s seaports. Still it took all his badgering for a year or more before his parents relented. This was enough encouragement to have him trying his luck, climbing ships’ gangways, intent on waylaying the bosun or the Chief Steward of some of the scores of ships that docked there every day of the year, London, in those halcyon days, being the world’s biggest seaport.

 

Sheer persistence paid off, and on a bright sunny day in May 1939 he couldn’t get home quick enough, for in his hand was a form his parents needed to sign, giving him permission to follow his dream. The chief steward on a small coal burning tramp steamer called the Newton Pine, told him the job of cabin boy was his, if he gained his parents’ signatures.

 

His first round trip to sea was to Buenos Aires. In a world at peace, giving no hint of what was to be in store for the next six years, Buenos Aires was that sort of seaport seamen always longed to return to and he was happy to sign on for another voyage. He was at sea on September third, the day war was declared.

 

In those early war months there were no convoys for homeward bound ships. The Newton Pine eventually made it safely to the UK docking at Barry Island in South Wales. There Davin was to see his first ship, that had suffered the wrath of the enemy, docked in the repair basin with a hole in the side that a bus could have been driven through.

 

The Newton Pine was fitted out with a WWI vintage 4.1” gun. The poop deck was also strengthened to cope with a 12 pounder AA gun of similar vintage, the powers that be, allowing a ration of 25 shells for each gun. The second mate was appointed gunnery officer and given a book on how to fire and maintain them. Davin signed on for a third voyage, convinced the Newton Pine, now so well armed, was capable of looking after herself. His monthly wage packet was increased to seven pounds ten shilling a month, three pound ten shillings of that being war risk payment. He was soon to find out what that meant and whether his confidence in the Newton Pine’s armament had been misplaced.

 

By now the convoy system had been implemented for most ships outward and homeward bound from the UK. The Firth of Clyde was the gathering point for the one the Newton Pine was instructed to join. The old hands were surprised to see her sister ship Newton Beach forming up alongside and much friendly waving was exchanged. Eventually the convoy Commodore was satisfied all his ships were at their stations and a course was set for Gibraltar, where the convoy would be disbanded. The ships would be on their own from there.

 

A few days out and engine trouble was to strike. It was a case of goodbye to the Newton Beach, no one rea