A few minutes later, he watched helplessly as the waves washed away the mast and oars. And the cowboys eating around campfires.. Goodbye, Colin. He recalls feeling relieved that his buttoned-up family didnt go in for the kind of tearful scenes that were going on all around him. I could see people dying around me. World War II: The harbour defence vessel (608 GRT) was scuttled at Dieppe, France. Scharnhorst limped home, listing at five degrees, and would spend the next six months in Trondheim, Norway undergoing repairs. 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. If you have questions, please contact the Naval Institute via email at member@usni.org or by phone at 800-233-8764. From the moment the children walked up the gangplank, they were entranced by their new home. As he worked, he knew that a single wave could sweep him away. Some survivors claimed that a bomb had gone straight down a funnel, others thought bombs hit No, 4, 2, and 3 holds. The ship, built in 1940 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding in Quincy, Massachusetts, was one of eight sister ships built for the United States Maritime Commission on behalf of American Export Lines. Ardent was finally caught darting out for another torpedo run and set ablaze by repeated hits. LANCASTRIA (June 17, 1940) The loss of the Lancastria was the fourth largest maritime disaster of the war. 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 when her lookout spotted two grey blips over a dozen miles away on the horizon. Postcard of RMS Lancastria. His dreams, however, were rudely interrupted that night by a loud bang. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In fact, HMS Hurricane, a Royal Navy destroyer, was already combing the area. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (464 GRT) was bombed and sunk at Dunkerque, France, by Luftwaffe aircraft. You may quote material on this 'This is the most ridiculous thing I've seen!' I was barefoot, wearing pink pyjamas and my life-jacket, when I walked into the Central Hotel in Glasgow. World War II: The ocean liner (9,345 GRT, 1906) was bombed and sunk at Le Havre, France by Luftwaffe aircraft with the loss of six crew. Empress of Ireland: Directed by Stephan Parent. Like many boys of his era, Colin had been circumcised, and they knew that if the Germans invaded, he risked being wrongly identified as a Jew. It was time to evacuate their precious son to safety and that had to be beyond British shores. The Royal Navy apparently remained unaware of the battle and made no rescue effort, only learning what happened after Germany announced the victory. World War II: The armed merchant cruiser (17,046 GRT, 1925) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of. While her smaller 15-centimeter cannons exchanged shots with the Ardent, Scharnhorsts big 11 turrets blazed away at the distant flat-top. Some survivors claimed that a bomb had gone straight down a funnel, others thought bombs hit No, 4, 2, and 3 holds. She was requisitioned as an accommodation ship in 1940, but was briefly removed from service in 1942 so she could play the part of the Titanic in a crude German propaganda film about the sinking of the famous vessel. There were only 11 survivors. It was used until 1993, when the name was changed to DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice). The BBC is not responsible for the content of any external sites
The maritime disaster resulted in the deaths of 51 people46 from the Andrea Doria and 5 from the Stockholm. It was in the 1970s a challenge, but I eventually, after many disappointing follows, found a second hand copy, with a book dealer. The ship was built by William Beardmore and Company of Dalmuir on the River Clyde and launched in 1920 as Royal Mail Steamship (RMS) Tyrrhenia for the Anchor Line, a subsidiary of the better-known Cunard Line. People were jumping. He was saved by a fellow passenger, but died minutes later. September 3, 2020 Call it fate, coincidence, predestination, or just bad luck, somehow Michael McShane ended up on the British passenger liner SS Athenia during the first few days of September 1939. However, in May 24, the Allies began evacuating forces in Norway due to Germanys successful offensives into the Low Countries and France. The ferrying trip took three to four hours. A young man on another boat descended into madness, screaming and threatening his fellow passengers. : Carron United Kingdom World War II: The Admiralty-requisitioned cargo ship . World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (675 GRT, 1911) was scuttled at Cherborug, France. Healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class. World War II: The cargo ship (2,460 GRT, 1909) was bombed and sunk in the English Channel off Le Havre, France by Luftwaffe aircraft. World War II: The cargo ship (1,684 GRT, 1920) was bombed and sunk in the English Channel off Le Havre, France by Luftwaffe aircraft. Besides being called the World War and the Great War, which were the most common names, it was also referred to merely as The War, orThe War in Europe, the War of Nations, the 1914 War, or some variation on these and other names. 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 I thought: Wake up, Colin! Four chapters are personal accounts from survivors or their close relatives. "Verluste Deutscher Handelsschiffe 1939-1945 und unter deutscher Flagge fahrender auslndischer Schiffe: 1940", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_shipwrecks_in_June_1940&oldid=1142243449, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, World War II: The cargo ship (4,220 GRT) was bombed and damaged in the North Sea 13 nautical miles (24km) off, World War II: The coaster (281 GRT, 1896) was bombed and sunk in the, World War II: The trawler (195 GRT) was bombed and sunk in the North Sea (. With a sickening lurch, 12 passengers were thrown from the boat and lost in the darkness. At 19, he joined the Royal Navy for his National Service. Battleships accompanied by other surface warships did directly engage carriers one more time in World War II during the Battle of Samar, though this time the U.S. carriers air wings participated in the fight leading to a very different, though no less dramatic outcome. World War II: The cargo ship (3,577 GRT, 1918) was torpedoed and sunk in the, The cargo ship (1,478 GRT, 1924) collided with, World War II: The fishing vessel (96 GRT, 1919) struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off, World War II: The cargo ship (3,584 GRT, 1910) was scuttled at, World War II: The tanker (603 GRT) struck a mine in the English Channel off, World War II: The cargo ship (2,317 GRT, 1904) was shelled and sunk in the, The cargo ship (351 GRT, 1920) collided with, World War II: The minesweeper (682/874 t, 1939) struck a mine off, World War II: The cargo ship (2,863 GRT, 1937) struck a mine in the, World War II: The sailing vessel (183 GRT, 1902) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The coaster (798 GRT, 1904) was torpedoed, shelled and sunk in the, World War II: The coaster (145 GRT) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The trawler (217 GRT, 1904) struck a mine in the North Sea (, World War II: The cargo ship (5,888 GRT, 1936) was torpedoed and damaged in the, World War II: The cargo ship (4,212 GRT, 1927) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 15 nautical miles (28km; 17mi) off Tory Island by, World War II: The cargo ship (5,415 GRT, 1933) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: Operation Juno: The tanker (5,666 GRT, 1928) was shelled and sunk in the Norwegian Sea off Jan Mayen (, World War II: Operation Juno: The troopship (19,840 GRT, 1924) was shelled and sunk in the Norwegian Sea (. Object description. Not a member of the Naval Institute? Rather than disengage from the hopeless fight, the Acasta peeled off from the Glorious and valiantly charged the Gneisenau. As it hovered over the waves, it suddenly lurched, then one end jerked downwards and was smashed by a wall of water. A total of 576 men died in this tragedy, the first Royal Navy ship sunk in the war. 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. Officially, the Royal Navy maintains this was to save fuel. World War II: The cargo ship (1,525 GRT, 1920) was scuttled as a blockship at Dieppe, France. World War II: The tug (239 GRT) struck a mine in the North Sea and sank. She managed to complete a seventh and final torpedo run before capsizing twenty-five minutes later. I realised she was sinking, so I put my arm around her and tried to keep her head above the water.. you see substantial portions of this page on the Internet or in published material She looked at me and said: What have you done with all your clothes? he says. As yet more lifeboats were overwhelmed by the icy-cold water, there seemed little hope of anyone surviving. At 5 PM a shell slammed into the Gloriouss bridge, killing DOyly and most of the command crew. The great betrayal: How journalist Isabel Oakeshott leaked Matt Hancock's WhatsApps after they worked Don't just stick to the Malbec! It was there that, suddenly, he began to relive the horrors of the sinking. World War II: The cargo ship (1,746 GRT, 1921) struck a mine and sank in Danish waters off. What had happened was that Id lain there, grieving away, and my blood had stopped flowing. Then, one day, he developed an infection and had to be sent to an isolation ward to recover. WHAT WAS THE MAIN SHIP? The 224-meter long vessel still could only carry a smaller air group of forty-eight aircraft compared to larger U.S. fleet carriers. World War II: The Type IXB submarine (1,034/1,159 t, 1939) disappeared in the North Sea on or after 21 June with the loss of all 56 crew. There are 1,472 names on his list of the deceased, extracted from the War Graves website, but theCommonwealth War Graves Commission records 1,816 burials with more than 400 in France (Fenby 2005, p. 234) and the Lancastria Association identifies 1,738 individuals that died aboard the ship . Those who succumbed to sleep soon joined the growing numbers of the dead. Yes, battleships mounted over a dozen guns that could pot huge shells at other vessels from over a dozen miles away. As Colin recalls, his mothers attitude was: Least said, soonest mended.. When sent to newspapers or other publications it prevented particular information from being made public for reasons of state security. Kenneth and Raymond Lewis are commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial in London on Panel 49. SS Emidio in Vancouver, June 1932. 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. Never take this off, she warned him. However, Chapter 10, Those Who Died, comprises nearly one-third of the book and lists the names of 1,431 individuals from 39 different military units along with, where possible, their ranks, service numbers and designations of regiments or corps. Her classs lead ship, the Courageous, had launched the first carrier-launched naval air strike in history near the end of World War I. From somewhere out there in the deep, a German U-boat had fired a torpedo directly into the ship, just below the childrens sleeping quarters. 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 RMS Queen Mary is now a floating hotel located in . Armed Guard Casualties Some like it, NOT! 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. After receiving news of the Lancastria disaster, Churchill had placed a D-notice on the incident, forbidding any knowledge of the sinking reaching an already demoralized public. They were in their dressing-gowns, with no life-belt, clutching teddy bears. Under the Official Secrets Act, the report on the Lancastria cannot be published until the year 2040. After the Navy, Colin became a Lloyds underwriter, married first wife, Gill, and adopted a baby of six weeks who grew up to become Changing Rooms presenter Anna Ryder Richardson. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click here. She was subsequently salvaged and repaired by the Germans and entered. The survivors were now completely alone in the dark. DOyly-Hughes ordered the destroyer Ardent to turn about and visually investigate the sighting, while nonchalantly maintaining his westward course at cruising speed. 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. Abandoning his grip on the gunwales, Colin helped pull out the corpses and consign them to a watery grave. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe Watch on YouTube Hell Below 2 seasons . What a story, and how lucky are we,born just after WW2, for the brave men and women, who fought for our freedom, Your email address will not be published. World War II: The fishing vessel (57 GRT) struck a mine and sank at Taranto, Italy. In any event, none of the Glorious aircraft were airborne performing a Combat Air Patrol, nor were any readied on the flight deckperhaps due to concerns of pilot fatigue. Enough was enough, his parents decided, as the bombs began to fall. Most likely rammed and sunk Oct. 4; 1940 by Antonietta Costa (Italian Cargo ship) 60 NM ENE of Bari . Id got deep-vein thrombosis.. Just two weeks after being set up, it received more than 200,000 applications from worried parents for just 20,000 places. Britain Ship Losses 1940 This page records the details of every British ship lost during the two world wars, including pictures where possible. "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. 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 Lancastria Tragedy: Sinking and Cover-Up, June 1940. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not
The cargo ship (1,537 GRT, 1938) sank off West Point, The cargo ship (1,314 GRT, 1913) ran aground in the, World War II: The cargo ship (4,512 GRT, 1911) struck a mine and sank in the, The trawler (162 GRT, 1897) sank after a collision with the trawler. I felt responsible for losing them and a totally ridiculous guilt came over me., For a few days, reporters made a big fuss of the heroic boy who had helped others in his lifeboat to survive. Couple find note in chimney that reveals their 290,000 house was 100 times cheaper 50 years ago. She was subsequently salvaged by the Germans and re-entered service as. The only sound was from a ball bearing hed placed in his bedside drawer, which was sliding ever more frantically from side to side. World War II: The passenger ship (2,029 GRT, 1930) was bombed and sunk in the, World War II: The coaster (957 GRT, 1893) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The naval trawler (109 GRT, 1916) was sunk at Scapa Flow in a collision with trawler, The coaster (216 GRT, 1919) was sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (4,102 GRT, 1931) was bombed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (3,857 GRT, 1928) struck a mine in the, World War II: The cargo ship (1,463 GRT, 1923) struck a mine and sank in the. Contributed on: 30 March 2004. The Story Of Child Evacuee Beryl Myatt And The Sinking Of The SS City Of Benares In the summer of 1940, faced with the threat of Nazi German invasion, the British government sponsored a scheme to evacuate children to overseas countries. Kenneth Lewis was only 14 years old, His Brother Raymond 15. Forces in Norway due to Germanys successful offensives into the Low Countries and.. 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