ss alexis ship 1940 sinking

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). 1 June [ edit] 2 June [ edit] 3 June [ edit] 4 June [ edit] 5 June [ edit] 6 June [ edit] 7 June [ edit] 8 June [ edit] Some of the survivors later recalled feeling excited about this strange new adventure. Britain Ship Losses 1940 This page records the details of every British ship lost during the two world wars, including pictures where possible. This is the story of Beryl Myatt, a child evacuee during the Second World War. She simply said: Theres your ship. This attack however sank the HMS Triad. Wynn states that there were 2,488 survivors and a minimum of 2,385 perished. In June 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to a new trans-Atlantic evacuation scheme. Splinters also pierced one of the carriers boilers, slowing her down. World War II: The cargo ship (1,525 GRT, 1920) was scuttled as a blockship at Dieppe, France. 11, two out of 11 children remained. 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. Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart Attack entries for Alexia If you can help us with any additional information on this vessel then please contact us. 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. From the moment the children walked up the gangplank, they were entranced by their new home. Buried Ben M' Sik European Cemetery, Morocco, Plot 59A. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. 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. Those who survived the incident were instructed not to speak about their experience. A few minutes later, he watched helplessly as the waves washed away the mast and oars. 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. 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. Owners and gross tonnage (G.T.) World War II: The armed merchant cruiser (17,046 GRT, 1925) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of. Her classs lead ship, the Courageous, had launched the first carrier-launched naval air strike in history near the end of World War I. For his part, Colin was starting to realise how hard it would be to marshal all the children into the lifeboats. 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. 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). "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. She was later salvaged by the Germans and re-entered service as. 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. 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 auxiliary patrol boat sank off Dunkerque after running in a sandbank during a storm. The Glorious then was assigned to pick up the fighters she had just dropped off. Afterwards, he turned his attention to the woman beside him. She was subsequently salvaged and repaired by the Germans and entered. The passengers were thrown into the sea. A4103056. Chronological List of U.S. World War II: The trawler (108 GRT, 1931) was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean south west of. In 1940, these included Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers, Gloster Sea Gladiator fighters, as well monoplane Blackburn Skua monoplane bomber/fighters. With his red life-jacket already on over his pyjamas, he headed up the stairs. It was used until 1993, when the name was changed to DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice). World War II: Operation Dynamo: The fishing vessel (39 GRT) was sunk in the North Sea at Dunkerque, France, by enemy action. She was carrying between 800 and 1,200 people, mainly refugees, and most were lost when her ammunition cargo exploded. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (481 GRT) was bombed and sunk at Dunkerque, France, by Luftwaffe aircraft. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (74 GRT) was scuttled at Cherbourg, France. 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". What had happened was that Id lain there, grieving away, and my blood had stopped flowing. Families of men from both ships have attended an annual maritime commemmoration . 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. For the first few days after his rescue, he remained very weak as the Hurricane took the survivors to Glasgow. About 124,000 troops were assembling and the Admiralty had dispatched some 30 merchant vessels of all sizes to the rescue. Warships, submarines, tankers, cargo, passenger, troopships and so on. A few, however, began to whimper when a number of children who had been injured by debris from the explosion such as broken glass were brought on deck. After being pulled up by a rope to the Hurricane, Colin was still so cold he could feel nothing below the waist. As the night progressed, body temperatures began to fall. The ship, carrying more than 400 passengers and crew, included a precious cargo of 90 evacuees under a scheme. When dawn broke, Bess and Beth were still somehow clinging onto their upturned lifeboat along with two men. It was there that, suddenly, he began to relive the horrors of the sinking. This was the date on which, the RMS Lancastria was sunk off the French port of Nantes, with an unknown loss of life. 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. A total of 576 men died in this tragedy, the first Royal Navy ship sunk in the war. World War II: The tanker (7,333 GRT, 1914) was scuttled at Brest, France. Despite his mothers disapproval, Colin developed a curious desire to return to the sea. 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. Within half an hour, four of the crew members on his boat had slipped into unconsciousness and died. All six crew survived. 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. 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. 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. Charles C. Kolb, PhD, is a USNI Golden Life Member. SS Emidio in Vancouver, June 1932. Only extraordinary circumstancesparticularly the lack of Combat Air Patrolmade the ambush of the Glorious possible by two large capital ships on a clear day. By then the crippled Glorious was listing and turning in circles while being relentlessly pounded by German guns. They didnt have anyone at the ends holding it steady. Once filled, the lifeboat was lowered into the raging sea. For decades, the Royal Navy offered a vaguely exculpatory account of the disaster, but in the 1980s historian Stephen Roskill published an article holding poor command culture by Captain DOylyy responsible for the tragedy. Nevertheless, within hours of disembarking troops at Liverpool on June 14th, Lancastria was reassigned, along with the 20,341 gross tons liner Franconia, to Operation Aerial, the evacuation of British civilians, embassy staff, and support troops from France. But he couldnt. (Look 18/06/1940), World War II: The naval trawler (348 GRT, 1929) ran aground at Brest, France and was abandoned without loss. You could see people running around on the decks. Oxford University-trained historian and author of more than a dozen books Jonathan Fenby stated that 1,738 perished (Fenby 2005, p. 247), but as there are no official figures published, there are great discrepancies in the numbers calculated by a variety of authors, and other estimates range from 2,000 to 9,000. The U.S. 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. 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. The rest of the convoy sailed on, obeying standing orders not to stay in a danger zone. Some like it, NOT! We have details of 11 people who were on board. From the half-submerged Lifeboat 2, Colin watched as the Benares sank below the waves. A tragedy in itself made worse by the fact they should never have been onboard to begin with. As HMS Hurricane approached Lifeboat 2, Colin and the remaining passengers started singing Rule Britannia. Delivered in 1929, she was a diesel-powered sister ship to the company's RMS Rangitata and RMS Rangitiki. A camera crew onboard the Scharnhorst filmed the engagement, and the Gloriouss sinking, which you can see here. The unusual disaster continues to evoke controversy, and even questioning in Parliament, decades later. Aboard one lifeboat, a freezing boy fell unconscious and slipped into the sea. The wording was puzzling: at 11, hed obviously never served in the Merchant Navy. 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. Sold for scrap in August 1954 at Blyth. These decisions proved fatal, as that same day, the German Kriegsmarine dispatched surface forces including the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on Operation Juno, a sortie redirected to interdict Allied evacuation ships. There was no emotional farewell. Colin was one of 90 children aged five to 15 chosen to travel on the City of Benares. Under the British Official Secrets Act, the report on the Lancastria cannot be published until the year 2040. Enclosed was a certificate, signed by Churchill, that commended him for brave conduct in the Merchant Navy. On December 19, 1940, the 'Isolda' was bombed by German plane and sunk three miles south of the Saltee Island. World War II: The harbour defence vessel (608 GRT) was scuttled at Dieppe, France. It was carrying 406 passengers and crew, of whom 100 were children. Of the 38 people in his boat, only 14 remained. If you can help us with any additional information on this vessel then please contact us. 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. I of course ,read it before giving it to my father. Survivors: Five survivors of the S.S City of Benares passenger ship which was sunk by a German U-Boat in September 1940. Then the boat up-ended, tossing out the rest. We said: If you want them, theyre 600 miles out at the bottom of the Atlantic! he recalls. But once he had returned home, the subject of his ordeal became taboo. They were in their dressing-gowns, with no life-belt, clutching teddy bears. Postcard of RMS Lancastria. At Customs, they asked: Where are your passports? We laughed. At 5 PM a shell slammed into the Gloriouss bridge, killing DOyly and most of the command crew. I thought: Wake up, Colin! However, he was told to embark as many as possible. As the years went by, the only thing that survived from his ordeal on the City of Benares was his little scarlet life-jacket. Later, as the light began to fade, even the strongest began to lose hope. Copyright 2011-2022 Naval Historical Foundation. Theyd just woken up.. Estimates of the loss range between 3,000 and 5,800 fatalities. 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. British Summer Time begins in March but do you wind your watch forward Sickening CCTV footage shows the moment two trains collided and burst into flames in horror smash Greek PM MPs demands the menopause is made a 'protected characteristic' like race or religion - but Equalities Commando, 28, 'told woman he met on dating app "I love it when you keep telling me to stop" as he raped and Charles evicting Harry and Meghan is the act of a King putting his country first: REBECCA ENGLISH reveals A royal princess at Eton? 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. , mainly refugees, and my blood had stopped flowing Gloriouss sinking which... 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