ss alexis ship 1940 sinking
Contributed on: 30 March 2004. Hold No. The German battlecruisers then hastily left the scene without picking up survivors. However, on June 8 DOyly-Hughes received permission to depart independently for Scapa Flow escorted by just two destroyers. 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. The date was September 17, 1940. 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 . 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. They were in their dressing-gowns, with no life-belt, clutching teddy bears. (RIN SS) is sometimes credited with sinking Rainbow on Oct. 15. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. LANCASTRIA (June 17, 1940) The loss of the Lancastria was the fourth largest maritime disaster of the war. Owners and gross tonnage (G.T.) The two boys are believed to of forged a letter from their Father stating he had given permission for them to join the ship. Grave 1. 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. . On No. She was carrying between 800 and 1,200 people, mainly refugees, and most were lost when her ammunition cargo exploded. A German submarine torpedoed the ship hours after Britain declared war on Hitler in 1939 - more than 100 people, including many Americans, were killed. Andrea Doria, Italian passenger liner that sank on July 25-26, 1956, after colliding with the Stockholm off the coast of Nantucket in the Atlantic Ocean. 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.. It was fourth English pounds. 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 (. 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 trawler (108 GRT, 1931) was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean south west of. 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.. But Colin Ryder Richardson, snug in his bunk, saw no reason for alarm. I stayed on board the ship in 2011 and have always found the history of the ship to be fascinating. World War II: The cargo ship (4,007 GRT, 1928) was intercepted in the, The schooner (98 GRT) was rammed by the cargo ship, The cargo ship (2,158 GRT, 1908) ran aground off Winging Point, 20 nautical miles (37km) south of, The cargo ship (625 GRT, 1920) foundered 1 nautical mile (1.9km) off, The trawler (170 GRT, 1904) was helping a neutral steamer which had gone aground on the east coast of England when the steamer slipped on a shelf and collided with, This page was last edited on 29 October 2022, at 11:25. Home, www.USMM.org 1998 - 2006. His recovery took months, and ended any thoughts hed had of a full-time career in the Navy. Five days into the voyage, the Royal Navy escort ships headed off, confident there was no danger. 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. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (464 GRT) was bombed and sunk at Dunkerque, France, by Luftwaffe aircraft. Below the waves, however, the convoy was being trailed by U-48, a German U-boat. She was later salvaged by the Germans and re-entered service as, World War II: The trawler (108 GRT, 1931) was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean south west of Land's End (, World War II: The cargo ship (2,417 GRT, 1901) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean south west of Land's End (, World War II: The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The cargo ship (3,443 GRT, 1916) was torpedoed and sunk in the, The cargo ship (5,661 GRT, 1923) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean (, World War II: The tanker (7,638 GRT, 1930) was torpedoed and damaged in the, World War II: The cargo ship (5,334 GRT, 1918) was torpedoed, shelled, and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean south west of the, World War II: The trawler (276 GRT, 1918) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (497 GRT, 1939) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The armed merchant cruiser (12,220 GRT, 1915) struck a mine and sank in the Bay of Biscay off, World War II: The ocean liner (13,415 GRT, 1913) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The cargo ship (3,103 GRT, 1922) was shelled and torpedoed in the, World War II: The coaster (824 GRT, 1930) was torpedoed and sunk in the Bay of Biscay off, World War II: The passenger ship (7,463 GRT, 1920) was torpedoed and sunk in the Bay of Biscay (, World War II: The cargo ship (5,911 GRT, 1917) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The passenger ship (11,028 GRT, 1922) was bombed and sunk in the, World War II: The tanker (9,552 GRT, 1917) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The cargo ship (2,290 GRT, 1922) was bombed and sunk at, World War II: The cargo ship (1,776 GRT, 1930) was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel south of Land's End (, World War II: The cargo ship (1,177 GRT, 1919) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (1,937 GRT, 1919) was scuttled at, World War II: The cargo ship (1,144 GRT, 1915) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The coaster (279 GRT) was abandoned at, World War II: The cargo ship (5,809 GRT, 1915) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (4,281 GRT, 1922) was bombed and sunk in the Bay of Biscay off. She was later salvaged by the British, repaired and re-entered service. In return, battleships almost never succeeded in closing into gun-range of carriers. Later, as the light began to fade, even the strongest began to lose hope. World War II: The cargo ship (1,525 GRT, 1920) was scuttled as a blockship at Dieppe, France. WHAT WAS THE MAIN SHIP? Yes, battleships mounted over a dozen guns that could pot huge shells at other vessels from over a dozen miles away. Lifeboat No. World War II: The water carrier (107 GRT) was scuttled at Lorient, France. She was converted to a troopship in 1940, and was used to transport the British Expeditionary Force to Norway following the German Invasion. Though the Royal Navy claimed the transmission was too garbled to be understood, her crew later testified to the contrary. World War II: The harbour defence vessel (608 GRT) was scuttled at Dieppe, France. Id got deep-vein thrombosis.. The sinking of HMT Lancastria on June 17, 1940, is an intriguing chapter of naval history in World War II primarily because of the tragic loss of life and how much information pertaining to the event wasand still isclassified. As yet more lifeboats were overwhelmed by the icy-cold water, there seemed little hope of anyone surviving. The prevailing narrative of naval warfare in World War II concerns how the carrier decisively unseated the battleship as the dominant naval weapon system. 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. 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. To order a copy for 16.99 (incl p&p), call 0843 382 0000. An elderly nurse beckoned him to her side, so he switched places. Taking Vitamin D each day could cut your chances of getting dementia, study claims. As the years went by, the only thing that survived from his ordeal on the City of Benares was his little scarlet life-jacket. The carrier sank in about fifteen minutes after being hit by two torpedoes from a salvo of three fired from the U-boat. List of shipwrecks: 10 June 1940 Ship Country Description, Msd Pro Billet Distributor Wiring Diagram. World War II: The cargo ship (810 GRT, 1933) was scuttled at Dieppe, France. 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. It was like sitting in a giant bathtub full of freezing water, he recalls. 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. The kindness of strangers: A LITTLE GIRL'S WAR BY WENDY Did U.S. university plan to create an intellectually King Charles hosts von der Leyen at Windsor Castle, AFA president gives passionate rant speaking about student debt, Gabor Mat: No Jewish state without oppressing local population, Amplified jet stream could lead to 'disruptive snow in places', Dashcam captures moment two cars collide on a roundabout, Putin orders intelligence service to find 'scum' who oppose him, Putin spy plane before being 'destroyed by pro-Ukraine Belarus group', Police search allotment sheds for Constance Marten's missing baby, Huge urgent police search for missing baby of Constance Marten, Moment police swooped to arrest Constance Marten's boyfriend, Police: Constance and lover arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, Moment supermarket cashier is attacked at work in New York. While the British sighted the ships fifteen minutes later, Captain DOyly didnt call action stations and begin having Swordfish bombers lifted to the flight deck until 4:20 p.m.. Crucially, the German battlecruisers were fastbut Glorious could nearly match their speed at thirty knots, once her boilers built up enough steam. 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. The much smaller vessel immediately laid a smoke screen which it used as cover to launch hit-and-run torpedo attacks. For his part, Colin was starting to realise how hard it would be to marshal all the children into the lifeboats. The RMS Queen Mary is now a floating hotel located in . 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. This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 08:28. Some survivors claimed that a bomb had gone straight down a funnel, others thought bombs hit No, 4, 2, and 3 holds. World War II: The cargo ship (7,405 GRT, 1914) was bombed and damaged in the Bay of Biscay off. The loss of the LANCASTRIA was also the most . This list of sources is concerning as there are at least a dozen sources that would have provided additional information to flesh-out his brief narrative, namely Winston Churchills 1949 The Second World War, Vol. 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. Charles C. Kolb, PhD, is a USNI Golden Life Member. Ships Sunk or Damaged 1939 to 1941 Chronological List of U.S. Find out how you can use this. However, some information about the Lancastrias sinking was made public within a matter of days, particularly six individual death notices in local newspapers. The rest of the convoy sailed on, obeying standing orders not to stay in a danger zone. World War II: The cargo ship (7,886 GRT, 1938) was scuttled at Gibraltar to prevent capture by British forces. By then Glorious had transmitted a distress message which was picked up by the heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire thirty to fifty miles away. Chris Pleasance explains how Do not sell or share my personal information. At 19, he joined the Royal Navy for his National Service. Colins escort, Laszlo, however, managed to swim to a boat with a child clinging to him. Some survivors claimed that a bomb had gone straight down a funnel, others thought bombs hit No, 4, 2, and 3 holds. Stephen Wynn, a retired police constable with 30 years service in Essex, began writing prior to his retirement. "Naval Events, June 1940, Part 1 of 4, Saturday 1st Friday 7th", "Norwegian Homefleet - WW II, Ships starting with Sa through SN", "The History of the Eastbourne Lifeboat Station", alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (T), "Naval Events, May 1940, Part 1 of 4, Wednesday 1st Tuesday 7th", "Naval Events, June 1940, Part 2 of 4, Saturday 8th Friday 14th", "Norwegian Homefleet - WW II, Ships starting with K", "Tyne Built Ships. 'Dreadful time': A letter sent by a survivor of the sinking to their parents tell of their horrendous experience on the sinking ship. 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. Despite his mothers disapproval, Colin developed a curious desire to return to the sea. World War II: Operation Dynamo: The fishing vessel (39 GRT) was sunk in the North Sea at Dunkerque, France, by enemy action. 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. The ferrying trip took three to four hours. A history of Tyne shipbuilders and the ships they built", "Norwegian Homefleet - WW II, Ships starting with So through S", Egypt Red Sea Shipwrecks - The Umbria, A Veritable Time Bomb at 30 metres, Ned Middleton, alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (C), "Kriegsverluste Italienischer Handelsschiffe 1940-1943: Verluste Italienischer Handelsschiffe 1940", "British Admiralty War Diary, 11 June 1940", "Naval Events, June 1940, Part 3 of 4, Saturday 15th - Friday 21st", "HNLMS O 13 of the Royal Netherlands Navy", "Naval Events, June 1940, Part 4 of 4, Saturday 22nd - Sunday 30th". Scharnhorst limped home, listing at five degrees, and would spend the next six months in Trondheim, Norway undergoing repairs. Meanwhile, hail and rain continued to fall. Germany initially denied involvement. Merchant ship movement card (catalogue reference: BT 389) In the top left corner of the record is the ship's name. Families of men from both ships have attended an annual maritime commemmoration . 1,596 Royal Navy and Air Force personnel died, many freezing to death awaiting rescue. Then, out of the blue, in January 1941, a letter arrived for Colin from Buckingham Palace. Oscar Cainer tells all. U-123 was to be his last front line command,. Ardent was finally caught darting out for another torpedo run and set ablaze by repeated hits. Aboard one lifeboat, a freezing boy fell unconscious and slipped into the sea. This feat accomplished, the Glorious was to sail back to the UK with fellow carrier Ark Royal for mutual protection. The carriers tall crows nest was unoccupied; and only twelve of her eighteen boilers were kept active, limiting her speed. "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 (. World War II: The tanker (7,333 GRT, 1914) was scuttled at Brest, France. The mine exploded sinking the vessel. Early in 1923 the vessel together with two other . 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. Late 1940, two Welsh Brothers Kenneth James Lewis and Raymond Leslie Lewis walked aboard their first ship, the Cardiff registered cargo ship SS Fiscus, 4,815grt, (W.H. Her classs lead ship, the Courageous, had launched the first carrier-launched naval air strike in history near the end of World War I. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . "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. The Benares disaster happened in the mid-Atlantic, 600 miles (965km) west of Ireland. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (208 GRT, 1917) was scuttled at Brest, France. Captain Sharp estimated 5,500, but one Royal Engineer officer was told that there were more than 7,200 persons aboard. The City of Benares gave a great shudder and began to sink. Details of the British ships sunk during July - December 1940. All morning, Colin continued to heave corpses away from his boat. The site of the sinking is not an official War Grave safeguarded by The Protection of Military Remains Act of 1986 because the British have no jurisdiction over the French territorial waters where Lancastrias wreck lies, but the French government has provided an appropriate level of protection to the site, prohibiting diving on the wreck, for example. Splinters also pierced one of the carriers boilers, slowing her down. When Bess and Beth were rescued, their frozen fingers had to be prised off their capsized lifeboat. Four chapters are personal accounts from survivors or their close relatives. . 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 . Earlier that day the battlecruisers sank an oil tanker and a trawler. The only sound was from a ball bearing hed placed in his bedside drawer, which was sliding ever more frantically from side to side. 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. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. 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. A pre-war photograph of the German cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff in Hamburg. True, the ship had slowed down to negotiate the storm, but it was still ploughing in the right direction. This is what happenned. From the 90 whod set out from Liverpool, there were only 13 survivors. World War II: The ocean liner (28,124 GRT, 1932) struck a mine in the, World War II: The cargo ship (3,651 GRT, 1912) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (1,147 GRT, 1912) was bombed and sunk in the, World War II: The tug was scuttled at Brest, France. The great betrayal: How journalist Isabel Oakeshott leaked Matt Hancock's WhatsApps after they worked Don't just stick to the Malbec! Unlike the other youngsters, who had official escorts, he was travelling independently, though his parents had asked Laszlo Raskai, a Hungarian journalist, to keep an eye on him. She managed to complete a seventh and final torpedo run before capsizing twenty-five minutes later. But a carrier could deploy over a hundred airplanes that could strike targets hundreds of miles away with torpedoes and bombs. However, an exact number of Lancastrias casualties may never be known. 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 armed merchant cruiser (17,046 GRT, 1925) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of. Chapter 5 focuses on the actual sinking of the Lancastria while Chapter 11 focuses on its aftermath. You may not use more than a few lines without permission. 2012 Sean Longden. uboat.net FR Cyclone, accessed 30 July 2016. 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. 'What had happened was that I'd lain there, grieving away, and my blood had stopped flowing. World War II: The cargo ship (1,746 GRT, 1921) struck a mine and sank in Danish waters off. World War II: The auxiliary patrol vessel (247 GRT) was shelled and sunk in the English Channel off. On 17 September 1940, a passenger ship called the City of Benares was sunk by a German U-boat while crossing the Atlantic. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. Enough was enough, his parents decided, as the bombs began to fall. 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. 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. Buried Ben M' Sik European Cemetery, Morocco, Plot 59A. useful bibliography and discussion. The youngest known Second World War service death being that of Raymond Victor Steed, age 14, Galley Boy from the S.S. Some of the survivors later recalled feeling excited about this strange new adventure. Abandoning his grip on the gunwales, Colin helped pull out the corpses and consign them to a watery grave. For any other comments, please Contact Us. 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. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click here. World War II: The cargo ship was scuttled in, World War II: The tanker (4,995 GRT, 1913) was partially sunk by British commandos in the, World War II: The tanker (6,101 GRT) was scuttled at, World War II: The cargo ship (6,470 GRT) was scuttled at, World War II: The trawler (203 GRT) was bombed and sunk in the. The RAF Hurricanes of No.46 squadron were relatively fast and lacked arrestor hooksbut by tying on sandbags, the pilots managed to weigh their tails down and pull off short carrier landings. ss alexis ship 1940 sinking. The evacuees were in several western French ports including Lorient and St. Nazaire on the Loire River. She was later salvaged by the Germans and re-entered service as. 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). We are no longer accepting comments on this article. It stayed upright, but the big waves breaking over the bows quickly swamped it. 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. 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. Captain Sharp would lose his life on September 12, 1942, when the HMT Laconia, was sunk northeast of Ascension Island off the coast of West Africa by Kriegsmarine U-156, a Type IXC boat then attached to the 4th U-boat Flotilla. Stroking her hair and telling her that rescue was on its way, he did his best to preserve her morale and her life. Two of the youngest serving Merchant Seamen killed in WWII. This elderly nurse sitting next to me whod earlier been comforting me became distressed, he says. As it grew lighter, he could see corpses floating around each lifeboat. When dawn broke, Bess and Beth were still somehow clinging onto their upturned lifeboat along with two men. World War II: The naval tug (100 GRT) was scuttled at Lorient, France. The gloves became essential in the hours ahead in helping him keep a grip on the gunwales. Then, mercifully, he threw himself overboard. The 17th June 1940 saw one of the most horrific events of World War II and the single worst maritime disaster in British history. But he couldnt. And what of Colin? I could see people dying around me. 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. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not From the moment the children walked up the gangplank, they were entranced by their new home. The coaster (350 GRT, 1909) ran aground on Fort Island, World War II: The cargo ship (3,137 GRT, 1922) struck a mine and sank in the North Sea north of, The coaster (352 GRT, 1937) sank after hitting rocks near, The cargo ship (4,859 GRT, 1912) ran aground at off, The fishing vessel (227 GRT, 1916) collided with, World War II: The cargo ship (2,248 GRT, 1916) struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off the coast of Belgium (, The trawler (219 GRT, 1915) foundered in a storm on rocks known as "The Black Waughs", The trawler (276 GRT, 1917) collided with, World War II: The cargo ship (1,229 GRT, 1911) was torpedoed, shelled and sunk in the North Sea off the north coast of Inverness-shire (, World War II: The cargo ship (2,109 GRT, 1920) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The trawler (341 or 202 GRT, 1900) was bombed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (1,153 GRT, 1893) was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea off the north coast of Inverness-shire (, World War II: The cargo ship (3,270 GRT, 1922) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean north of the, World War II: The cargo ship (4,947 GRT, 1921) was torpedoed and sunk in the, The cargo ship (1,914 GRT) was damaged by ice and sank in the, The cargo ship (1,282 GRT, 1902) collided in dense fog with, World War II: The naval trawler (210 GRT, 1910) struck a mine in the, The cargo ship (3,030 GRT) ran aground off, World War II: The tanker (5,742 GRT, 1921) was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea east of the. A freezing boy fell unconscious and slipped into the lifeboats ) is sometimes credited with sinking Rainbow on 15. Estimated 5,500, but one Royal Engineer officer was told that there were more 7,200. The most their Father stating he had given permission for them to join ship! Stroking her hair and telling her that rescue was on its way, joined! Hed had of a full-time career in the mid-Atlantic, 600 miles ( ). Out how you can use this a few lines without permission she was converted to a grave! British forces youngest known Second world War II: the auxiliary minesweeper 208. Salvo of three fired from the U-boat betrayal: how journalist Isabel Oakeshott leaked Matt Hancock 's WhatsApps after worked. 11 focuses on the gunwales July - December 1940 5 focuses on the actual sinking of the survivors recalled. 5,500, but the big waves breaking over the bows quickly swamped it weapon system, ship... - December 1940 which was picked up by the heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire thirty fifty... 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