He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 08:28. Because of the losses of the other requisitioned transports, Captain Sharp postulated, based on the figure of 2,653 men he had rescued during Operation Alphabet that his ship could accommodate 3,000 persons. World War II: The unfinished, 84% complete, World War II: The cargo ship (1,885 GRT, 1904) was torpedoed and sunk in the, The auxiliary schooner (144 GRT) sank off, World War II: The coaster (276 GRT) was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel south of, World War II: The cargo ship struck a mine in the, World War II: The cargo ship (569 GRT, 1889) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The auxiliary patrol vessel (48 GRT) was scuttled at, World War II: The cargo ship (5,253 GRT, 1911) was captured in the, World War II: The cargo ship (5,968 GRT, 1921) struck a mine and sank in the, The cargo ship (7,881 GRT, 1922) ran aground south of, World War II: The cargo ship (4,005 GRT, 1924) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The tanker (2,580 GRT, 1928) was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 160 nautical miles (300km; 180mi) south west of the, World War II: The cargo ship (663 GRT, 1897) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The trawler (211 GRT) was bombed and sunk by a Do17Z aircraft of 3./Kstenfliegergruppe 606 (, World War II: The cargo ship (5,053 GRT, 1929) was torpedoed and sunk in the. As a force-ten gale whipped the waves into a fury around the ship, an 11-year-old boy lay alone in his cabin reading The Beano and dreaming of adventure. 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. We have details of 11 people who were on board. Ardent was finally caught darting out for another torpedo run and set ablaze by repeated hits. 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 Glorious and her two escorting destroyers did not yet have radar, so Capt. As HMS Hurricane approached Lifeboat 2, Colin and the remaining passengers started singing Rule Britannia. She was built in 1936 and sailed for 30 years before retiring in 1967. Enough was enough, his parents decided, as the bombs began to fall. The term RMS dates to 1840 when only the fastest and most reliable ships were contracted by the British government to carry mail. Rather than disengage from the hopeless fight, the Acasta peeled off from the Glorious and valiantly charged the Gneisenau. 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. 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. Ships starting with Ba", "The History of the Eastbourne Lifeboat Station", "Norwegian merchant ships 1939 - 1945, Ships starting with N", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_shipwrecks_in_March_1940&oldid=1118868228, World War II: The cargo ship (2,390 GRT, 1922) was intercepted off, World War II: The cargo ship (1,388 GRT, 1909) was bombed and sunk in the North Sea 12 nautical miles (22km) east by south of, World War II: The cargo ship (6,530 GRT, 1925) was intercepted in the, World War II: The cargo ship (2,818 GRT, 1929) was shelled and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (695 GRT, 1937) was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea off. By then Glorious had transmitted a distress message which was picked up by the heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire thirty to fifty miles away. World War II: The auxiliary patrol vessel (302 GRT, 1906) 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. Fortunately for Colin, he was better off than some: he had his padded life-jacket, a balaclava and a pair of string gloves that his mother had put in his pockets. I thought: Wake up, Colin! 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. An elderly nurse beckoned him to her side, so he switched places. World War II: The cargo ship (873 or 909 GRT, 1904) struck a mine off Cape Granitola, Italy and sank. Owners and gross tonnage (G.T.) 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. Under the Official Secrets Act, the report on the Lancastria cannot be published until the year 2040. Meanwhile, Lifeboat 5 was making an uneven descent. 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). The survivors were now completely alone in the dark. Among the children floundering in the waves were Bess Walder, 15, and Beth Cummings, 14, who managed to grab the up-turned keel and hung on for dear life. Many thanks. Seager Co. Tempus Shipping Ltd). The year before, his parents had pulled him out of his prep school in St Johns Wood, North London, and deposited him with his grandparents in Lingfield, Surrey. 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. 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. World War II: The tanker (2,454 GRT, 1888) was sunk as a block ship at Dieppe, France. 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 . About 124,000 troops were assembling and the Admiralty had dispatched some 30 merchant vessels of all sizes to the rescue. She was converted to a troopship in 1940, and was used to transport the British Expeditionary Force to Norway following the German Invasion. . World War II: The cargo ship (7,886 GRT, 1938) was scuttled at Gibraltar to prevent capture by British forces. Her classs lead ship, the Courageous, had launched the first carrier-launched naval air strike in history near the end of World War I. Rangitane left Auckland on Sunday 24 November 1940, en route to Britain via the Panama Canal. Lost were 514 navy men, 26 Fleet Air Arm men and 36 RAF servicing crew. 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. 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. As it grew lighter, he could see corpses floating around each lifeboat. Both the 20,000 ton liner Oronsay and the Franconia were damaged by bombs and strafing, the former had her bridge devastated while the damaged Franconia was able to limp back to England for repairs. Wynn has previously authored and co-authored books for the Your Towns & Cities in the Great War series published by Pen & Sword in addition to half a dozen non-fiction books and crime thrillers.. She was responsible for the sinking of the HMS Curacoa in 1942 but the Queen Mary survived the war without sinking. The notifications are not legally enforceable; hence, news editors could choose not to abide by them but, generally, accede to these notices. 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. Empress of Ireland: Directed by Stephan Parent. as the source. 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. Her pointed bow still poked from below a raised flight deck. Two chapters briefly detail the extraction of Allied forces from Europe in Operations Cycle (Le Havre, France), Operation Dynamo (Dunkirk); and Operation Aerial (St. Nazaire, Nantes, Cherbourg, and seven other French ports). If you can help us with any additional information on this vessel then please contact us. 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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. These little kids beside me some of them were only five years old, he says. The much smaller vessel immediately laid a smoke screen which it used as cover to launch hit-and-run torpedo attacks. A tragedy in itself made worse by the fact they should never have been onboard to begin with. This elderly nurse sitting next to me whod earlier been comforting me became distressed, he says. At 5 PM a shell slammed into the Gloriouss bridge, killing DOyly and most of the command crew. Officially, the Royal Navy maintains this was to save fuel. web page as long as you cite American Merchant Marine at War, www.usmm.org, Your email address will not be published. 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. 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. Chapter 4 Secret Session Speeches by Churchill provides extracts of five speeches made between June 20th 1941 and December 10, 1942, including one made in response to the sinking of HMT Lancastria on June 17, 1941. Her captain, Guy DOyly Hughes, a decorated submariner in World War I, also ordered her Swordfishes to launch raids on land targets, but air group leader J.B. Heath refused, arguing they lacked clear targets and that the pokey biplanes would be shot to pieces by flak. It was his mother who came to collect him. 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. SS Emidio in Vancouver, June 1932. you see substantial portions of this page on the Internet or in published material Today, it sits in a glass case at the Imperial War Museum in London a reminder of all the children whose parents loved them too much to keep them at home. 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 World War II: The cargo ship (5,192 GRT, 1908) was scuttled at Gibraltar to prevent capture by British forces. When sent to newspapers or other publications it prevented particular information from being made public for reasons of state security. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (481 GRT) was bombed and sunk at Dunkerque, France, by Luftwaffe aircraft. A4103056. On No. Some like it, NOT! Most likely rammed and sunk Oct. 4; 1940 by Antonietta Costa (Italian Cargo ship) 60 NM ENE of Bari . Details of the British ships sunk during July - December 1940. All six crew survived. Britain Ship Losses 1940 This page records the details of every British ship lost during the two world wars, including pictures where possible. 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. It was like sitting in a giant bathtub full of freezing water, he recalls. 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. She managed to complete a seventh and final torpedo run before capsizing twenty-five minutes later. However, on June 8 DOyly-Hughes received permission to depart independently for Scapa Flow escorted by just two destroyers. 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. RMS was a sign of distinction and quality. She once described him affectionately as a big child. World War II: The cargo ship (5,041 GRT, 1939) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The coaster (668 GRT, 1899) struck a mine and sank two nautical miles (3.7km; 2.3mi) north of the, The cargo ship (2,744 GRT, 1906) ran aground on, World War II: The tanker (7,101 GRT, 1926) struck a mine in, World War II: The tanker (6,891 GRT, 1925) was captured in the, World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (85 GRT) was scuttled at, World War II: The naval trawler (131 GRT, 1929) struck a mine in the English Channel off. They were in their dressing-gowns, with no life-belt, clutching teddy bears. There were only 11 survivors. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Buried Ben M' Sik European Cemetery, Morocco, Plot 59A. NHF members are being converted to members of the Naval Institute. World War II: The cargo ship (2,975 GRT, 1906) struck a mine and sank in the Mediterranean Sea north of Pantelleria. It was used until 1993, when the name was changed to DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice). Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. 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) was scuttled at, World War II: The cargo ship (3,594 GRT, 1920) was scuttled at Rochefort, France. 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. This left Colin sitting up to his chest in water with only the lifeboats buoyancy tanks preventing the boat from vanishing beneath the waves. Another day nearer America! he remembers thinking. Mr Raskai bravely helped me into it as it was crashing about against the ship. 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 . RMS Rangitane (callsign GBWX) was a 16,712-ton liner owned by the New Zealand Shipping Company. Never take this off, she warned him. World War II: The cargo ship (810 GRT, 1933) was scuttled at Dieppe, France. She was later salvaged by the Germans and re-entered service as. Grave 1. Captain Rudolf Sharpe later lost his life when the ship he commanded, the Laconia, was sunk. In another boat, a young mother had reached the limits of her endurance, but she never knew her babies were already dead, because she soon joined the growing list of victims. Its first two torpedoes missed, but the third scored a bulls eye, hitting the City of Benares. The CWGC has the names of 513 Merchant Seamen aged 14 to 16 who died between 1939-1945. The date was September 17, 1940. With his red life-jacket already on over his pyjamas, he headed up the stairs. In fact, HMS Hurricane, a Royal Navy destroyer, was already combing the area. His dreams, however, were rudely interrupted that night by a loud bang. Many survivors perished from hypothermia or suffocated on fuel oil. Although he could no longer feel his hands, he helped a crew member heave her body out to sea. Row 1. All morning, Colin continued to heave corpses away from his boat. 'Dreadful time': A letter sent by a survivor of the sinking to their parents tell of their horrendous experience on the sinking ship. 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. useful bibliography and discussion. 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. Find out how you can use this. World War II: The cargo ship (1,002 GRT, 1904) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The cargo ship (1,766 or 1,894 GRT, 1918) was scuttled at Rochefort, France. Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the It was 10pm. 'How much can business take?' On September 12, the children assembled at the dockside in Liverpool clutching small suitcases and their gas masks. However, he was told to embark as many as possible. Interestingly, 2040 or 2041 should also be when restricted British documents on the Pearl Harbor attack are made public. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. How ironic it is that the second Apapa was making the identical voyage from the Lagos port that shared her name to Liverpool. 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. Every type of ship is here, warships, submarines, MTBs, tankers, cargo, passenger, troopships and so on, totalling over 3,000. Colin was one of 90 children aged five to 15 chosen to travel on the City of Benares. Ships Five days into the voyage, the Royal Navy escort ships headed off, confident there was no danger. DOyly-Hughes ordered the destroyer Ardent to turn about and visually investigate the sighting, while nonchalantly maintaining his westward course at cruising speed. The passengers were thrown into the sea. 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. It was time to evacuate their precious son to safety and that had to be beyond British shores. As yet more lifeboats were overwhelmed by the icy-cold water, there seemed little hope of anyone surviving. While her smaller 15-centimeter cannons exchanged shots with the Ardent, Scharnhorsts big 11 turrets blazed away at the distant flat-top. World War II: The armed merchant cruiser (17,046 GRT, 1925) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of. She looked at me and said: What have you done with all your clothes? he says. 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 (1,746 GRT, 1921) struck a mine and sank in Danish waters off. by Sebastien Roblin. Early in 1923 the vessel together with two other . In return, battleships almost never succeeded in closing into gun-range of carriers. Stroking her hair and telling her that rescue was on its way, he did his best to preserve her morale and her life. Then, mercifully, he threw himself overboard. I realised she was sinking, so I put my arm around her and tried to keep her head above the water.. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Naval Historical Foundation 1306 Dahlgren Avenue, SE Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374 1-202-678-4333 info@navyhistory.org. World War II: The cargo ship (6,201 GRT, 1915) was intercepted north of Iceland (, World War II: The cargo ship (710 GRT, 1914) struck a mine and sank in the, The cargo ship (6,281 GRT, 1919) ran aground at night 85 nautical miles (157km) south of, The cargo ship (2,679 GRT, 1922) collided with, World War II: The cargo ship (3,072 GRT, 1918) was torpedoed and sunk in the Bristol Channel 32 nautical miles (59km) off, World War II: The fishing vessel (26 GRT) sunk in the North Sea off the, The tanker barge (1,155 GRT, 1904) ran aground at, World War II: The coaster (643 GRT, 1922) was torpedoed and sunk in the, The collier (1,323 GRT, 1924) ran aground on the, World War II: The cargo ship (1,097 GRT, 1920) was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea (, World War II: The cargo ship (2,719 GRT, 1926) struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off the north coast of, The cargo ship (1,918 GRT, 1911) collided with, The auxiliary patrol vessel ran aground near, World War II: The cargo ship (4,979 GRT, 1913) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The fishing vessel (33 GRT) was sunk in the North Sea off, The cargo ship (5,760 GRT, 1916) collided with, World War II: The tanker (6,236 GRT, 1936) was torpedoed and damaged in the, World War II: The trawler (165 GRT, 1897) caught a mine in her nets whilst fishing in the North Sea. Stephen Wynn, a retired police constable with 30 years service in Essex, began writing prior to his retirement. Naval Documents of the American Revolution, - Naval Documents of the American Revolution, A History of the Naval Historical Foundation. Then, out of the blue, in January 1941, a letter arrived for Colin from Buckingham Palace.
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