The comments below have not been moderated. World War II: The cargo ship (1,522 GRT, 1923) was torpedoed and damaged in the, World War II: The cargo ship (3,554 GRT, 1920) was damaged and abandoned at Brest, France. 2 held about 800 RAF personnel. The 1,300-ton ship sustained a multiple hits from the two 40,000-ton battlecruisersbut on her second run, one of her torpedoes slammed into the Scharnhorst, ripping a 12-meter wide hole into her hull that let in over two thousand tons of water, knocked her aft Caesar turret out of action, killed forty-eight crew, and disabled her starboard propeller shaft. World War II: The cargo ship (7,405 GRT, 1914) was bombed and damaged in the Bay of Biscay off. World War II: The water carrier (107 GRT) was scuttled at Lorient, France. The SS Orama was built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness in 1924 for the Orient Line with accommodation for 1,700 passengers. Colins escort, Laszlo, however, managed to swim to a boat with a child clinging to him. We said: If you want them, theyre 600 miles out at the bottom of the Atlantic! he recalls. World War II: The Type M-1935 minesweeper (682/874 t, 1939) struck a mine and sank in the Norwegian Sea north of Kristiansand, Norway (, World War II: The tug (400 GRT, 1919) was scuttled at Brest, France. By then the crippled Glorious was listing and turning in circles while being relentlessly pounded by German guns. They werent the only parents desperate to send their children abroad. This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 08:28. But the battlecruisers retaliatory fire was devastating, and the Acastas blazing wrecked dipped stern-first into the water after 6 p.m. By then, the starboard-listing Glorious had also sunk. This left Colin sitting up to his chest in water with only the lifeboats buoyancy tanks preventing the boat from vanishing beneath the waves. Ships Sunk or Damaged 1939 to 1941 Ships Captured or Detained 1939 (80 ships) Ships Sunk, Damaged or Detained 1940 (48 ships) For a while, no one cried: the boys and girls simply stood shivering as the storm raged around them. She was built in 1936 and sailed for 30 years before retiring in 1967. Industry chief demands planned corporation tax hike from 19 to 25% in this Ukrainian soldier takes out five Russian tanks and three armoured vehicles in ONE DAY using US-supplied Ukraine 'hits major Russian air base in fresh strike' a day after kamikaze drone crashed down just 68 miles How did Russia lose HALF of its 45,000 elite paratroopers in just seven months? Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved, first carrier-launched naval air strike in history, North Korea: We Asked 27 Experts What They Think Will Happen in 2019. World War II: The trawler (108 GRT, 1931) was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean south west of. At Customs, they asked: Where are your passports? We laughed. 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. It was the first time Id really been able to grieve, he says. Enough was enough, his parents decided, as the bombs began to fall. Naval Documents of the American Revolution, - Naval Documents of the American Revolution, A History of the Naval Historical Foundation. World War II: The cargo ship (2,483 GRT, 1894) was scuttled in Churchill Sound, World War II: The cargo ship (5,403 GRT, 1919) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The naval trawler (357 GRT, 1928) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The dredger (1,832 GRT, 1903) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The tanker (8,215 GRT, 1931) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (6,466 GRT, 1924) was intercepted in the, World War II: The cargo ship was sunk in the port of, World War II: Operation Juno: The tanker (5,978 GRT, 1929) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo liner (13,212 GRT, 1939) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Finisterre (. SS Express was a Type C3-E cargo ship of American Export Lines that was sunk by Japanese submarine I-10 in June 1942 in the Indian Ocean. 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. Within a few weeks both would be dead after the ship was torpedoed and sunk by U-99 on the 18th October 1940 in the North Atlantic with the loss of all hands while sailing to the Clyde from Sydney, Cape Breton in Convoy SC-7. Already 600 miles out to sea, the SS City of Benares was carrying Colin and 89 other child evacuees to the U.S. and Canada, where they could wait out the end of the war in safety. She was 578 ft. in length and 16,000 gross tons, designed to accommodate 2,200 passengers in three classes. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe Watch on YouTube Hell Below 2 seasons . I thought: Wake up, Colin! She did not return to Liverpool in time to take part in the famous Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk, which evacuated 338,226 Belgian, British, and French troops between May 26 and June 4,. Then, mercifully, he threw himself overboard. What had happened was that Id lain there, grieving away, and my blood had stopped flowing. His spirits lifted as he spotted a light but it was only the conning tower of the U-boat, which had surfaced to check out the scene. World War II: The coaster (397 GRT) struck a mine and sank in the North Sea with all seven hands. However, an exact number of Lancastrias casualties may never be known. At 19, he joined the Royal Navy for his National Service. The wording was puzzling: at 11, hed obviously never served in the Merchant Navy. Then he caught a whiff of the telltale smell of explosives. The gloves became essential in the hours ahead in helping him keep a grip on the gunwales. Healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class. He then struck out to rescue another child but both disappeared in the swirling seas. WHAT WAS THE MAIN SHIP? The Story of the Evacuation in Britain, 1939-1945. They were in their dressing-gowns, with no life-belt, clutching teddy bears. 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 . Never take this off, she warned him. Published: 00:26 GMT, 10 March 2012 | Updated: 00:27 GMT, 10 March 2012. His parents found out Colin was alive only when they spotted a photo of him in a newspaper. World War II: The patrol boat (409 GRT, 1919) was scuttled at Le Verdon, France. As yet more lifeboats were overwhelmed by the icy-cold water, there seemed little hope of anyone surviving. 8 was the first to be lowered. It stayed upright, but the big waves breaking over the bows quickly swamped it. Officially, the Royal Navy maintains this was to save fuel. The D-notice, or Defence Notice, also called DA-notice (Defence Advisory Notice), was a unique British government instruction devised in 1912. you see substantial portions of this page on the Internet or in published material With his red life-jacket already on over his pyjamas, he headed up the stairs. You could see people running around on the decks. The Benares disaster happened in the mid-Atlantic, 600 miles (965km) west of Ireland. Mr Raskai bravely helped me into it as it was crashing about against the ship. World War II: The cargo ship (810 GRT, 1933) was scuttled at Dieppe, France. Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the He was saved by a fellow passenger, but died minutes later. World War II: The cargo ship (1,828 GRT, 1923) with a German prize crew was proceeding behind the steamer Inger when she detonated a mine (laid by, World War II: The cargo ship (1,081 GRT, 1923) struck a mine and sank in, World War II: The passenger cargo vessel (10,076 or 9,349 GRT, 1912) was scuttled in the, World War II: The ferry-transport (2,949 GRT, 1920) was bombed and damaged at. By late-June 1940, internees had begun to be moved out of Warth Mills. World War II: The auxiliary patrol vessel (302 GRT, 1906) was scuttled at Brest, France. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not Abandoning his grip on the gunwales, Colin helped pull out the corpses and consign them to a watery grave. This is what happenned. Two crew were killed. World War II: The Adua-class submarine (686/843 t, 1934) was depth charged and sunk west of Crete (3529N 2006E / 35.483N 20.100E / 35.483; 20.100) by HMSDainty and HMSIlex (both Royal Navy). Despite his mothers disapproval, Colin developed a curious desire to return to the sea. World War II: The armed merchant cruiser (17,046 GRT, 1925) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of. Stroking her hair and telling her that rescue was on its way, he did his best to preserve her morale and her life. Some families, such as the Grimmonds from Brixton, South London, faced an almost unimaginable loss: five of their children Violet, Connie, Lennie, Eddie and Gussie had perished. What had happened was that Id lain there, grieving away, and my blood had stopped flowing. Later, he received an oak-leaf emblem, which came with instructions to wear it on the ribbon of the War Medal an award he was too young to earn. At 5 PM a shell slammed into the Gloriouss bridge, killing DOyly and most of the command crew. Some of the survivors later recalled feeling excited about this strange new adventure. Archive List > World > North Atlantic and Arctic. 'What had happened was that I'd lain there, grieving away, and my blood had stopped flowing. are also recorded at the top of the card.From left to right, the six columns on the card will tell you: the year, current voyage and . I could see people dying around me. 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. Stephen Wynn, a retired police constable with 30 years service in Essex, began writing prior to his retirement. The Glorious and her two escorting destroyers did not yet have radar, so Capt. Up went the bows and down she went.. 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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. The much smaller vessel immediately laid a smoke screen which it used as cover to launch hit-and-run torpedo attacks. The SS Andrea Doria was a flagship of the Italian Line. 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 . 39 days; Cargo removed, Crew 3; Japanese POW: 164; Died POW:12 including 4 lost on Franconia was assigned to Lorient while Lancastria continued toward St. Nazaire but because of the tidal channel on the Loire estuary Lancastria had to anchor in the Charpentier Roads about 5 nm (nautical miles) southwest of the actual port. Many thanks. They included Pioneer and Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Engineers, and Royal Air Force personnel, some Polish and Czech troops, civilian refugees, embassy staff, employees of Fairey Aviation of Belgium and their families. Interestingly, 2040 or 2041 should also be when restricted British documents on the Pearl Harbor attack are made public. He and the other children were watched over that night as they slept but despite all efforts, three more died. The ship was apparently equipped with sixteen lifeboats and 2,500 life jackets, but many of the boats were damaged from the air attacks while others were unusable because of the ships starboard list and hull angle. The carriers tall crows nest was unoccupied; and only twelve of her eighteen boilers were kept active, limiting her speed. Captain Rudolf Sharpe later lost his life when the ship he commanded, the Laconia, was sunk. It was time to evacuate their precious son to safety and that had to be beyond British shores. useful bibliography and discussion. For the scuttling of RFA Oleander on this day, see the entry for 26 May 1940. Certainly, there was little panic as everyone gathered at pre-arranged points. A young man on another boat descended into madness, screaming and threatening his fellow passengers. The Sinking of the Lancastria Stan Scislowski On Monday, June 17, 1940, the Cunard Liner, Lancastria, pressed into war service as a troopship was anchored . It was there that, suddenly, he began to relive the horrors of the sinking. The notifications are not legally enforceable; hence, news editors could choose not to abide by them but, generally, accede to these notices. Sbastien Roblin holds a masters degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. On September 12, the children assembled at the dockside in Liverpool clutching small suitcases and their gas masks. The SS Cap Arcona was a large ocean liner originally built in 1927 for the Hamburg-South America line. I was just waiting for someone to say: What are you doing in your pyjamas at this time in the morning? But no one even looked at me.. The 224-meter long vessel still could only carry a smaller air group of forty-eight aircraft compared to larger U.S. fleet carriers. Though the Royal Navy claimed the transmission was too garbled to be understood, her crew later testified to the contrary. All morning, Colin continued to heave corpses away from his boat. Some survivors claimed that a bomb had gone straight down a funnel, others thought bombs hit No, 4, 2, and 3 holds. People were jumping. A pre-war photograph of the German cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff in Hamburg. Most likely rammed and sunk Oct. 4; 1940 by Antonietta Costa (Italian Cargo ship) 60 NM ENE of Bari . It was in the 1970s a challenge, but I eventually, after many disappointing follows, found a second hand copy, with a book dealer. 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. Then, one day, he developed an infection and had to be sent to an isolation ward to recover. When dawn broke, Bess and Beth were still somehow clinging onto their upturned lifeboat along with two men. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (301 GRT, 1907) was scuttled at, World War II: The naval tug (179 GRT) was scuttled at, World War II: The cargo ship (1,199 GRT, 1908) was scuttled at, World War II: The cargo ship (3,594 GRT, 1920) was scuttled at Rochefort, France. A tragedy in itself made worse by the fact they should never have been onboard to begin with. The first lifeboat it found contained only corpses. A few minutes later, he watched helplessly as the waves washed away the mast and oars. World War II: The cargo ship (7,886 GRT, 1938) was scuttled at Gibraltar to prevent capture by British forces. referenced. Captain Sharp estimated 5,500, but one Royal Engineer officer was told that there were more than 7,200 persons aboard. Yes, battleships mounted over a dozen guns that could pot huge shells at other vessels from over a dozen miles away. In June 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to a new trans-Atlantic evacuation scheme. Meanwhile, hail and rain continued to fall. A4103056. 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 1 June [ edit] 2 June [ edit] 3 June [ edit] 4 June [ edit] 5 June [ edit] 6 June [ edit] 7 June [ edit] 8 June [ edit] And the cowboys eating around campfires.. In fact, HMS Hurricane, a Royal Navy destroyer, was already combing the area. Ships Sunk or Damaged in World War II For the first few days after his rescue, he remained very weak as the Hurricane took the survivors to Glasgow. Within half an hour, four of the crew members on his boat had slipped into unconsciousness and died. An elderly nurse beckoned him to her side, so he switched places. 11, two out of 11 children remained. Once the ship was on its way in a convoy escorted by vessels from the Royal Navy Colin read books in the library and played games on deck. A total of 576 men died in this tragedy, the first Royal Navy ship sunk in the war. She was later salvaged by the British, repaired and re-entered service. World War II: The cargo ship (1,373 GRT) was scuttled at, World War II: The sailing vessel (26 GRT) struck a mine and sank at, World War II: The coaster (509 GRT, 1937) struck a mine and sank in the English Channel off. This left Colin sitting up to his chest in water with only the lifeboats buoyancy preventing! 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