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World War One discussions.
Re: WWI u-boat sinking April 1917
Posted by:
David H
()
Date: April 05, 2005 07:46PM
John
No U-boat was sunk on 2 April 1917.
An account of the action of the Wandby may be found in Archibald Hurd's "The Merchant Navy" part of the Official History of the Great War, originally published in 1929
"...the early morning of that day (2nd April)was memorable for the succesful resistance and escape of the Wandby (3981 tons) attacked in the Bay of Biscay. She was on voyage from Bilbao to Newport and was making for La Rochelle when at about 6 a.m. a shot from a submarine fell close astern of her. The sea was very rough and it was not till after the sixth shot that the enemy was sighted. The submarine was one of the latest type using two 4-inch guns. The Wandby's master (Mr D Simpson) at once brought her dead astern and opened fire in reply. At the end of three quarters of an hour the Wandby's fifteenth shot brought the encounter to an end and the submarine disappeared below the surface. She had fired thirty-six rounds and hit the Wandby once, on the port quarter just above the waterline, and some damage had also been done by bursting shrapnel, but happily no lives were lost. The master's own account of the affair is interesting:
'we got well away from port with the convoy, but had an accident to our wheel-chains, and were left behind. We repaired the damage and on Monday morning the Germans came along, and started shelling our old ship, which only gets eight knots. There was no chance of running away, and it was either a case of throwing up the sponge or fighting, and we pegged away at him. The fifteenth got home,and the last we saw of him was his bows up in the air and he went down stern first' "
The action is not unusual, several ships claimed to have sunk subs when they were actually submerging - in this case I would think that in the rough sea the sub. cannot lay the gun accurately enough to inflict damage and the opposing fire is getting too accurate, so the sub. leaves off the attack and submerges - surface ship crew see the submarine submerge after a shell explodes nearby and believe they may have cause her to sink. No sub. was actually lost at this time.
David H
No U-boat was sunk on 2 April 1917.
An account of the action of the Wandby may be found in Archibald Hurd's "The Merchant Navy" part of the Official History of the Great War, originally published in 1929
"...the early morning of that day (2nd April)was memorable for the succesful resistance and escape of the Wandby (3981 tons) attacked in the Bay of Biscay. She was on voyage from Bilbao to Newport and was making for La Rochelle when at about 6 a.m. a shot from a submarine fell close astern of her. The sea was very rough and it was not till after the sixth shot that the enemy was sighted. The submarine was one of the latest type using two 4-inch guns. The Wandby's master (Mr D Simpson) at once brought her dead astern and opened fire in reply. At the end of three quarters of an hour the Wandby's fifteenth shot brought the encounter to an end and the submarine disappeared below the surface. She had fired thirty-six rounds and hit the Wandby once, on the port quarter just above the waterline, and some damage had also been done by bursting shrapnel, but happily no lives were lost. The master's own account of the affair is interesting:
'we got well away from port with the convoy, but had an accident to our wheel-chains, and were left behind. We repaired the damage and on Monday morning the Germans came along, and started shelling our old ship, which only gets eight knots. There was no chance of running away, and it was either a case of throwing up the sponge or fighting, and we pegged away at him. The fifteenth got home,and the last we saw of him was his bows up in the air and he went down stern first' "
The action is not unusual, several ships claimed to have sunk subs when they were actually submerging - in this case I would think that in the rough sea the sub. cannot lay the gun accurately enough to inflict damage and the opposing fire is getting too accurate, so the sub. leaves off the attack and submerges - surface ship crew see the submarine submerge after a shell explodes nearby and believe they may have cause her to sink. No sub. was actually lost at this time.
David H
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
WWI u-boat sinking April 1917
|
John | 04/05/2005 05:06PM |
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Re: WWI u-boat sinking April 1917
|
David H | 04/05/2005 07:46PM |
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Re: WWI u-boat sinking April 1917
|
John | 04/06/2005 01:30PM |