Id got deep-vein thrombosis.. Photographs Beryl Myatt DOyly-Hughes ordered the destroyer Ardent to turn about and visually investigate the sighting, while nonchalantly maintaining his westward course at cruising speed. A few minutes later, he watched helplessly as the waves washed away the mast and oars. She was subsequently salvaged and repaired by the Germans and entered. The Glorious first saw action in World War II providing air cover for the Allied expeditionary force seeking to support Norways resistance to Nazi invasion in April 1940, her Sea Gladiators shooting down several German bombers. Late 1940, two Welsh Brothers Kenneth James Lewis and Raymond Leslie Lewis walked aboard their first ship, the Cardiff registered cargo ship SS Fiscus, 4 . And when he arrived back on British soil, everything seemed to have a dream-like quality. Once his infection had cleared, he was told to get out of bed. While her smaller 15-centimeter cannons exchanged shots with the Ardent, Scharnhorsts big 11 turrets blazed away at the distant flat-top. Wynn states that there were 2,488 survivors and a minimum of 2,385 perished. 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. After being pulled up by a rope to the Hurricane, Colin was still so cold he could feel nothing below the waist. NHF has decommissioned and is no longer accepting new members or donations. The SS Andrea Doria was a flagship of the Italian Line. Owners and gross tonnage (G.T.) Lifeboat No. 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.. Published: 00:26 GMT, 10 March 2012 | Updated: 00:27 GMT, 10 March 2012. The other ten or so whod been with them had drowned. 2 held about 800 RAF personnel. Many thanks. (RIN SS) is sometimes credited with sinking Rainbow on Oct. 15. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe Watch on YouTube Hell Below 2 seasons . The survivors were now completely alone in the dark. Those who succumbed to sleep soon joined the growing numbers of the dead. As the night progressed, body temperatures began to fall. The ship was among twenty others that participated in the evacuation of 2,653 British, French, and Polish troops from Norway when Operation Alphabet began on May 24,1940. The Royal Navy apparently remained unaware of the battle and made no rescue effort, only learning what happened after Germany announced the victory. The X-class lighter (160 t, 1915) was wrecked on this date. Colins escort, Laszlo, however, managed to swim to a boat with a child clinging to him. Below the waves, however, the convoy was being trailed by U-48, a German U-boat. It was in the 1970s a challenge, but I eventually, after many disappointing follows, found a second hand copy, with a book dealer. 1,596 Royal Navy and Air Force personnel died, many freezing to death awaiting rescue. 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. She was later salvaged by the Germans and re-entered service as. These advantages meant that battleships and battlecruisers were repeatedly sunk by carrier-based aircraft, from Pearl Harbor to Taranto to the Battle of the Philippines Sea. Colin was assigned to Lifeboat 2. 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. It stayed upright, but the big waves breaking over the bows quickly swamped it. 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. Contributed on: 22 May 2005. 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). On September 12, the children assembled at the dockside in Liverpool clutching small suitcases and their gas masks. Despite his mothers disapproval, Colin developed a curious desire to return to the sea. 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 Warships, submarines, tankers, cargo, passenger, troopships and so on. Naval Institute is maintaining and preserving the former Naval Historical Foundation website so readers and former NHF members can still access past issues of Pull Together and other content. Hold No. World War II: The cargo ship (3,546 GRT, 1906) struck a mine and sank in the, The cargo ship (5,393 or 5,106 GRT, 1918) ran aground in the, World War II: The cargo ship (5,820 GRT, 1921) was torpedoed, shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of. 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. you see substantial portions of this page on the Internet or in published material Sold for scrap in August 1954 at Blyth. She was subsequently salvaged by the Germans and re-entered service as. At 11, Colin was already a veteran of wartime upheavals. Though the Royal Navy claimed the transmission was too garbled to be understood, her crew later testified to the contrary. Later, as the light began to fade, even the strongest began to lose hope. Five days into the voyage, the Royal Navy escort ships headed off, confident there was no danger. On December 19, 1940, the 'Isolda' was bombed by German plane and sunk three miles south of the Saltee Island. World War II: The armed merchant cruiser (17,046 GRT, 1925) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of. At 19, he joined the Royal Navy for his National Service. The Benares disaster happened in the mid-Atlantic, 600 miles (965km) west of Ireland. Certainly, there was little panic as everyone gathered at pre-arranged points. In return, battleships almost never succeeded in closing into gun-range of carriers. These little kids beside me some of them were only five years old, he says. It was his mother who came to collect him. You may quote material on this About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . Taking Vitamin D each day could cut your chances of getting dementia, study claims. A total of 576 men died in this tragedy, the first Royal Navy ship sunk in the war. At first, he thought the Benares must have collided with another ship. The evacuees were in several western French ports including Lorient and St. Nazaire on the Loire River. 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. I thought: Wake up, Colin! List of shipwrecks in June 1940 - Wikipedia List of shipwrecks in June 1940 View history The list of shipwrecks in June 1940 includes ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during June 1940 . The ferrying trip took three to four hours. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. Colin was still trying to comfort his neighbour until a man told him she was dead. Early in 1923 the vessel together with two other . 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. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (464 GRT) was bombed and sunk at Dunkerque, France, by Luftwaffe aircraft. This story has been placed in the following categories. 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. Five minutes later, in one of the longest-range hits in naval history, the Scharnhorsts third volley screamed over fifteen miles to slam straight into the Gloriouss flight deck, blasting open a huge hole that rendered it unusable and knocking two Swordfish bombers into the water. In his memoirs, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wrote that he had intended to release the news a few days later, but that events in France crowded upon us so black and so quickly that I forgot to lift the ban (p.192). World War II:The auxiliary minesweeper (628 GRT) was scuttled at Le Havre, France. The Glorious and her two escorting destroyers did not yet have radar, so Capt. Empire Morn killed 26th April 1943 after his ship hit a mine. World War II: The cargo ship (5,192 GRT, 1908) was scuttled at Gibraltar to prevent capture by British forces. Within four months of the outbreak of World War II, Lancastria was requisitioned by the Admiralty as His Majestys Troopship (HMT) Lancastria under the command of Captain Rudolph Sharp. Stroking her hair and telling her that rescue was on its way, he did his best to preserve her morale and her life. The RMS Queen Mary is now a floating hotel located in . 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 (3,404 GRT, 1927) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The coaster (253 GRT) struck a mine and sank at, World War II: The auxiliary sloop (1,049 GRT, 1923) was shelled and sunk in the English Channel between, World War II: The auxiliary patrol vessel (197 GRT) was scuttled at, World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (511 GRT) was shelled and sunk in the English Channel between Fcamp and, World War II: The collier (4,690 GRT, 1853) was bombed and sunk at, World War II: The coaster (264 GRT, 1914) was beached and abandoned in the, World War II: The trawler struck a mine and sank at, World War II: The tanker (8,030 GRT, 1928) was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off, World War II: The coaster (198 GRT, 1929) struck a mine and sank in, World War II: The naval trawler (326 GRT, 1928) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The coaster (209 GRT, 1928) was beached and abandoned in the River Seine in Paris, France. Ardent was finally caught darting out for another torpedo run and set ablaze by repeated hits. 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. Although he could no longer feel his hands, he helped a crew member heave her body out to sea. Healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class. It was 10pm. Earlier that day the battlecruisers sank an oil tanker and a trawler. World War II: The auxiliary patrol vessel (302 GRT, 1906) was scuttled at Brest, France. Just as importantly, in an era where radar technology was in its infancy, airplanes were the most effective tool for scouting out vast swathes of the ocean to locate enemy fleets. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. 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. 8 was the first to be lowered. World War II: Operation Dynamo: The fishing vessel (39 GRT) was sunk in the North Sea at Dunkerque, France, by enemy action. World War II: The cargo ship (810 GRT, 1933) was scuttled at Dieppe, France. by Norwegian commandos 11/03/39, Sent from Gibraltar to Marseilles; Released Other Nazis are planning to escape to America. She was subsequently salvaged by the Germans and re-entered service as. World War II: The patrol boat (409 GRT, 1919) was scuttled at Le Verdon, France. Required fields are marked *. In 1940, these included Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers, Gloster Sea Gladiator fighters, as well monoplane Blackburn Skua monoplane bomber/fighters. World War II: The auxiliary patrol vessel (247 GRT) was shelled and sunk in the English Channel off. Find out how you can use this. 2012 Sean Longden. Also he was going to join the Navy in UK, would like to get the facts from the Navy about him signing into the Navy, also his father, my Great Grandfather, signed the India Shipping documents in Belfast, Ireland in 1921, claims, can I make claim for Great Great Grandfathers son, William George Ellason Myers he was born 1899, he lost his things and what else damages stress, we were also Banker, looking for documents to support the opening of the Bank of England, Ireland and Scotland and all Y.M.C.A., in America we were Bank Starter for all Great West Permanent Loans and Savings company of Canada, and I believe London Life and all Permanent Buildings, we were amazing, last known residence in his WILL, residing in the Union Theology College of British Columbia/United Church of Canada, Esquire, Banker and Methodist Minister, named after 4 priests. In fact, the Northampton was secretly evacuating the Norweigian royal family to the UK, and commanding Vice Admiral John Cunningham had strict orders to maintain radio silence, and thus neither intervened nor relayed the message. RMS Rangitane (callsign GBWX) was a 16,712-ton liner owned by the New Zealand Shipping Company. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Some survivors claimed that a bomb had gone straight down a funnel, others thought bombs hit No, 4, 2, and 3 holds. 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 like sitting in a giant bathtub full of freezing water, 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. For his part, Colin was starting to realise how hard it would be to marshal all the children into the lifeboats. 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. Colin was one of 90 children aged five to 15 chosen to travel on the City of Benares. Officially, the Royal Navy maintains this was to save fuel. Lost were 514 navy men, 26 Fleet Air Arm men and 36 RAF servicing crew. Families of men from both ships have attended an annual maritime commemmoration . Postcard of RMS Lancastria. Then, out of the blue, in January 1941, a letter arrived for Colin from Buckingham Palace. We have details of 11 people who were on board. Meanwhile, Lifeboat 5 was making an uneven descent. On 17 September 1940, a passenger ship called the City of Benares was sunk by a German U-boat while crossing the Atlantic. Only one crew member from the Ardent, two from the Acasta, and thirty-six from the Glorious survived to be picked up by Norwegian and German forces. I could see people dying around me. It was used until 1993, when the name was changed to DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice). As it hovered over the waves, it suddenly lurched, then one end jerked downwards and was smashed by a wall of water. World War II: The cargo ship (4,499 GRT) was scuttled at Brest, France. It was the first time Id really been able to grieve, he says. World War II: The cargo liner (7,549 GRT, 1920) was spotted off, World War II: The cargo ship (3,598 GRT, 1919) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west north west of. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Interestingly, 2040 or 2041 should also be when restricted British documents on the Pearl Harbor attack are made public. 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. There was no emotional farewell. Of the 38 people in his boat, only 14 remained. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (675 GRT, 1911) was scuttled at Cherborug, France. With a sickening lurch, 12 passengers were thrown from the boat and lost in the darkness. Stephen Wynn, a retired police constable with 30 years service in Essex, began writing prior to his retirement. She was converted to a troopship in 1940, and was used to transport the British Expeditionary Force to Norway following the German Invasion. 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. 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. The CWGC has the names of 513 Merchant Seamen aged 14 to 16 who died between 1939-1945. Just two weeks after being set up, it received more than 200,000 applications from worried parents. The Glorious then was assigned to pick up the fighters she had just dropped off. 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). This page has been archived and is no longer updated. 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. The gloves became essential in the hours ahead in helping him keep a grip on the gunwales. This is what happenned. I realised she was sinking, so I put my arm around her and tried to keep her head above the water.. Mr Raskai bravely helped me into it as it was crashing about against the ship. Within half an hour, four of the crew members on his boat had slipped into unconsciousness and died. A German submarine torpedoed the ship hours after Britain declared war on Hitler in 1939 - more than 100 people, including many Americans, were killed. 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. You may not use more than a few lines without permission. Lancastria was attacked, apparently by five Junkers Ju 88 dive bombers, and the ship capsized, and sank within twenty minutes mid-afternoon on June 17 off the French port of St. Nazaire. The rest of the convoy sailed on, obeying standing orders not to stay in a danger zone. The list of shipwrecks in March 1940 includes ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during March 1940. She managed to complete a seventh and final torpedo run before capsizing twenty-five minutes later. Lancastria was attacked, apparently by five Junkers Ju 88 dive bombers, and the ship capsized, and sank within twenty minutes mid-afternoon on June 17 off the French port of St. Nazaire. 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. 11, two out of 11 children remained. By late-June 1940, internees had begun to be moved out of Warth Mills. If it can be proved that Captain Sharp ignored the Ministry of Defence instructions not to exceed the maximum loading capacity of 3000 persons, grounds for compensation claims could be enormous. There were multiple air raids and, in addition, the British feared possible U-boat attacks, so Captain Sharp decided to wait for a Royal Navy and/or RAF escort. They didnt have anyone at the ends holding it steady. Once filled, the lifeboat was lowered into the raging sea. Armed Guard Casualties Decades after Apapa was lost , on the 15th of November 1940 the identically named MV APAPA was bombed and sunk by a German FW 200 Condor aircraft, two hundred miles from County Mayo in Ireland. Chronological List of U.S. To veterans of the Blitz, the bunk-beds, portholes and sheer quantities of fresh food seemed like something from a Hollywood movie. His dreams, however, were rudely interrupted that night by a loud bang. The Lancastria Tragedy comprises an introduction, eleven numbered chapters, and a concluding chapter titled In Closing, as well as endmatter including an About the Author section, Sources, and a three-page Index of proper nouns. Kenneth Lewis was only 14 years old, His Brother Raymond 15. His recovery took months, and ended any thoughts hed had of a full-time career in the Navy. Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. The notifications are not legally enforceable; hence, news editors could choose not to abide by them but, generally, accede to these notices. The carrier sank in about fifteen minutes after being hit by two torpedoes from a salvo of three fired from the U-boat. 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. Merchant ship movement card (catalogue reference: BT 389) In the top left corner of the record is the ship's name. All morning, Colin continued to heave corpses away from his boat. 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. For the scuttling of RFA Oleander on this day, see the entry for 26 May 1940. World War II: The cargo ship (873 or 909 GRT, 1904) struck a mine off Cape Granitola, Italy and sank. A2477018. 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. 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. It was time to evacuate their precious son to safety and that had to be beyond British shores.

Ralph The Baker Louisiana, Articles S