She was later salvaged by the British, repaired and re-entered service. As it hovered over the waves, it suddenly lurched, then one end jerked downwards and was smashed by a wall of water. In the Hotel Berlin, the Gestapo is searching for underground leader Martin Richter. This is the story of Beryl Myatt, a child evacuee during the Second World War. World War II: The cargo ship (1,746 GRT, 1921) struck a mine and sank in Danish waters off. Within half an hour, four of the crew members on his boat had slipped into unconsciousness and died. The prevailing narrative of naval warfare in World War II concerns how the carrier decisively unseated the battleship as the dominant naval weapon system. Kenneth Lewis was only 14 years old, His Brother Raymond 15. Row 1. And when he arrived back on British soil, everything seemed to have a dream-like quality. The survivors were now completely alone in the dark. Ships Sunk, Damaged or Captured December 1941 (82 ships), Chronological list of U.S. ships sunk or damaged, Geographical list of U.S. ships sunk or damaged, Alphabetical list of U.S. ships sunk or damaged, Merchant Marine Casualties Officially, the Royal Navy maintains this was to save fuel. The CWGC has the names of 513 Merchant Seamen aged 14 to 16 who died between 1939-1945. While the British sighted the ships fifteen minutes later, Captain DOyly didnt call action stations and begin having Swordfish bombers lifted to the flight deck until 4:20 p.m.. Crucially, the German battlecruisers were fastbut Glorious could nearly match their speed at thirty knots, once her boilers built up enough steam. Colin acted quickly. Fateful: The S.S City of Benares, passenger ship is launched in 1936 and would later be sunk while carrying 90 children aged five to 15. Left to right, Kenneth Sparkes, Derek Capel, Freddie Steele, Billy Short and Howard Clayton, Far from being distraught at leaving his parents behind, Colin was excited at the prospect of stepping into a real-life Western: I thought of the sun and the hills. World War II:The auxiliary minesweeper (628 GRT) was scuttled at Le Havre, France. At 02.15 hours on 10 Aug 1942, U-510 fired torpedoes at the Alexia and observed three hits in sequence and thought after 10 minutes that the tanker had sunk, but the ship was again salved. The City of Benares gave a great shudder and began to sink. The unusual disaster continues to evoke controversy, and even questioning in Parliament, decades later. Survivors: Five survivors of the S.S City of Benares passenger ship which was sunk by a German U-Boat in September 1940. What had happened was that Id lain there, grieving away, and my blood had stopped flowing. World War II: The fishing vessel (57 GRT) struck a mine and sank at Taranto, Italy. They didnt have anyone at the ends holding it steady. Once filled, the lifeboat was lowered into the raging sea. The term RMS dates to 1840 when only the fastest and most reliable ships were contracted by the British government to carry mail. The coaster (350 GRT, 1909) ran aground on Fort Island, World War II: The cargo ship (3,137 GRT, 1922) struck a mine and sank in the North Sea north of, The coaster (352 GRT, 1937) sank after hitting rocks near, The cargo ship (4,859 GRT, 1912) ran aground at off, The fishing vessel (227 GRT, 1916) collided with, World War II: The cargo ship (2,248 GRT, 1916) struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off the coast of Belgium (, The trawler (219 GRT, 1915) foundered in a storm on rocks known as "The Black Waughs", The trawler (276 GRT, 1917) collided with, World War II: The cargo ship (1,229 GRT, 1911) was torpedoed, shelled and sunk in the North Sea off the north coast of Inverness-shire (, World War II: The cargo ship (2,109 GRT, 1920) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The trawler (341 or 202 GRT, 1900) was bombed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (1,153 GRT, 1893) was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea off the north coast of Inverness-shire (, World War II: The cargo ship (3,270 GRT, 1922) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean north of the, World War II: The cargo ship (4,947 GRT, 1921) was torpedoed and sunk in the, The cargo ship (1,914 GRT) was damaged by ice and sank in the, The cargo ship (1,282 GRT, 1902) collided in dense fog with, World War II: The naval trawler (210 GRT, 1910) struck a mine in the, The cargo ship (3,030 GRT) ran aground off, World War II: The tanker (5,742 GRT, 1921) was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea east of the. World War II: The cargo ship (3,921 GRT, 1917) was beached in the, World War II: The cargo ship (6,140 GRT) was scuttled in the, World War II: The sailing ship (102 or 112 GRT) struck a mine and sank at, World War II: The cargo ship (1,302 GRT, 1925) was bombed and damaged in the, World War II: The cargo ship (1,262 GRT, 1920) was sunk as a blockship at. World War II: The armed merchant cruiser (17,046 GRT, 1925) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of. The Glorious and her two escorting destroyers did not yet have radar, so Capt. useful bibliography and discussion. Only Colin stood out, because he was dressed in a bright red jacket. Records of the Ministry of Shipping from 1917-1921 contain references to war losses and include a complete list of British merchant and fishing vessels sunk or damaged by enemy action for 1914-1920. 'This is the most ridiculous thing I've seen!' As others began to emerge from their cabins, the older children took charge of the younger ones, checking their life-jackets and making sure they knew where to go. The numbers of passengers aboard, survivors, and casualties are unreported or vary wildly. The SS Goslar, a steamboat, was at port in Suriname when Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, causing the country (then a colony of the Netherlands) to begin to intern German men living in the . It was 10pm. For the first few days after his rescue, he remained very weak as the Hurricane took the survivors to Glasgow. Unlike the other youngsters, who had official escorts, he was travelling independently, though his parents had asked Laszlo Raskai, a Hungarian journalist, to keep an eye on him. The other ten or so whod been with them had drowned. Chris Pleasance explains how Do not sell or share my personal information. You may not use more than a few lines without permission. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (1,256 GRT) was scuttled at Brest, France. At 11, Colin was already a veteran of wartime upheavals. The sinking of HMT Lancastria on June 17, 1940, is an intriguing chapter of naval history in World War II primarily because of the tragic loss of life and how much information pertaining to the event wasand still isclassified. as the source. World War II: The tanker (7,333 GRT, 1914) was scuttled at Brest, France. The destroyers 4.7 lacked the range and penetrating power to threaten the German battlecruisersbut their torpedoes could cause devastating damage if they could land a hit. In June 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to a new trans-Atlantic evacuation scheme. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click here. Contributed on: 30 March 2004. Up went the bows and down she went.. Estimates of the loss range between 3,000 and 5,800 fatalities. However, he was told to embark as many as possible. Measuring some 697 feet (212 metres) in length, it could carry . World War II: The cargo ship (7,405 GRT, 1914) was bombed and damaged in the Bay of Biscay off. World War II: The naval tug (100 GRT) was scuttled at Lorient, France. Others tried desperately to tread water before surrendering to the deep. At 4 p.m. on June 8, 1940, the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious was cruising west across the Norwegian Sea towards the British naval base of Scapa Flow . Wynn cites seven online sources (p. 181), namely the British Newspaper Archive, the Britain at War website, the British section of Ancestry.com, the Militarian Forum, the Forces War Records, the Wartime Memories Project, and the War Graves Records, which appear to have been mistakenly recorded as a .com website rather than .org. SS Arizan Maru while being transferred to Japan, Japanese POW 4 - 2 killed on Wake by Japanese, Damaged-No damage [sources disagree on damage], Steamship (Ship confiscated by U.S. prior), Crew 1; 29 to Japanese POW camp: Died POW: 4. by Sebastien Roblin. The youngest known Second World War service death being that of Raymond Victor Steed, age 14, Galley Boy from the S.S. Captain Rudolf Sharpe later lost his life when the ship he commanded, the Laconia, was sunk. The ferrying trip took three to four hours. The much smaller vessel immediately laid a smoke screen which it used as cover to launch hit-and-run torpedo attacks. U-123 was to be his last front line command,. World War II: The cargo ship (2,155 GRT, 1902) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (6,694 GRT, 1917) was bombed and damaged in the English Channel off. In seconds, they were gone. Colin was assigned to Lifeboat 2. While her smaller 15-centimeter cannons exchanged shots with the Ardent, Scharnhorsts big 11 turrets blazed away at the distant flat-top. A history of Tyne shipbuilders and the ships they built", "Norwegian Homefleet - WW II, Ships starting with So through S", Egypt Red Sea Shipwrecks - The Umbria, A Veritable Time Bomb at 30 metres, Ned Middleton, alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (C), "Kriegsverluste Italienischer Handelsschiffe 1940-1943: Verluste Italienischer Handelsschiffe 1940", "British Admiralty War Diary, 11 June 1940", "Naval Events, June 1940, Part 3 of 4, Saturday 15th - Friday 21st", "HNLMS O 13 of the Royal Netherlands Navy", "Naval Events, June 1940, Part 4 of 4, Saturday 22nd - Sunday 30th". 2: Their Finest Hour , Geoffrey Bonds 1959 Lancastria, John Wests 1988 The Loss of Lancastria, Brian Crabbs 2002 The Forgotten Tragedy: The Story of the Loss of HMT Lancastria, Jonathan Fenbys 2005 The Sinking of the Lancastria: Britains Greatest Maritime Disaster and Churchills Cover-up, Jacques Perruchon and Jacques Leroux 2005 Juin 1940 sur les ctes charentaises: ces trangers qui ont refus notre dfaite, Hugh Sebag-Montefiores 2006 The Sinking of the Lancastria in Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man, Jonathan Fenby and James Goodes 2008 The Sinking of the Lancastria, John Hanleys 2013 The Last Boat, Chair of the HMT Lancastria Association Raye Dancocks 2011 The Lancastria a Secret Sacrifice in World War Two, Graham Frasers 2015 Lancastria: The forgotten tragedy of World War Two, and the Lancastria Archive. Published: 00:26 GMT, 10 March 2012 | Updated: 00:27 GMT, 10 March 2012. Her classs lead ship, the Courageous, had launched the first carrier-launched naval air strike in history near the end of World War I. Of the 38 people in his boat, only 14 remained. those of the BBC. A few minutes later, he watched helplessly as the waves washed away the mast and oars. A few, however, began to whimper when a number of children who had been injured by debris from the explosion such as broken glass were brought on deck. This was the date on which, the RMS Lancastria was sunk off the French port of Nantes, with an unknown loss of life. There are no actual transcripts of these speeches, but they have been reconstructed from Churchills notes given to Charles Eade. From the half-submerged Lifeboat 2, Colin watched as the Benares sank below the waves. Your email address will not be published. World War II: Operation Dynamo: The fishing vessel (39 GRT) was sunk in the North Sea at Dunkerque, France, by enemy action. He states that The time taken to record everybodys name, rank, service number and regiment or corps would have been time consuming and served no purpose (vii). British war correspondent's interview with French seaman on the sinking of French repatriation ship SS Meknes, English Channel, 24/7/1940. The SS Cap Arcona was a large ocean liner originally built in 1927 for the Hamburg-South America line. World War II: The cargo ship (873 or 909 GRT, 1904) struck a mine off Cape Granitola, Italy and sank. The SS Orama was built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness in 1924 for the Orient Line with accommodation for 1,700 passengers. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (208 GRT, 1917) was scuttled at Brest, France. Many years later, I was asked by my father, Oliver Gleasure (Irish Guards) to find the book, so he could gift it to my uncle. All rights reserved. Refitted in 1924 for two classes and renamed Lancastria, she travelled the route from Liverpool to New York and back, but in 1932 was reassigned to cruise in the Mediterranean and through northern European waters. At 3:45 p.m., crew on the German capital ships spotted the funnel smoke of the British warships and surged forward to close the distance. Theyd just woken up.. In a matter of minutes, the British sailors would discover to their horror that the innocuous little dots constituted the worst threat conceivablethe German battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst. Meanwhile, Lifeboat 5 was making an uneven descent. The Lancastria Tragedy: Sinking and Cover-Up, June 1940. You must stay awake., Safe: Survivors of the torpedoed S.S City of Benares passenger ship huddle together on one of the life rafts awaiting rescue. All nine crew were rescued by the trawler, The coaster (270 GRT) ran ashore on Kalder Steel, off, The cargo ship (3,303 or 3,240 GRT, 1913) struck a submerged wreck in the, The coaster (121 GRT, 1918) sank off the mouth of the. On 1 July 1940, the SS Arandora Star began its final, fateful voyage, transporting internees from Liverpool to camps in Canada. Information about the Lancastria sinking might be restricted by the Official Secrets Act. He had a good war by late 1940, sinking eight ships in six wartime patrols, mostly in the North Sea, before the prestigious commission on U-123. "Naval Events, March 1940, Part 1 of 2, Friday 1st Thursday 14th", "Verluste Deutscher Handelsschiffe 1939-1945 und unter deutscher Flagge fahrender auslndischer Schiffe: 1940", "Naval Events, February 1940, Part 1 of 2, Thursday 1st - Wednesday 14th", "Naval Events, March 1940, Part 2 of 2, Friday 15th Sunday 31st", "Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939 - 1945. 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