WW2 Submariners

Hello all

Having already written a book about the social history of WW1 submariners, I am currently preparing research for a similar title concerning WW2 submariners (some imagination, huh?).

If anyone has any previously unpublished or hard-to-get-hold-of titles concerning life at sea etc., or, even better, if anyone knows an ex-submariner who served during the 1930s to very early 50s (i.e. under very similar conditions) and would be willing to answer a few questions, I'd be grateful if you would contact me. Equally, if anyone has copies of WW2 submariners' service papers - to save me having to go via the expensive and restricted route of the MoD - I'd love to have copies of them - and will of course pay expenses incurred.

Equally, if there are any submariners who served from the '50s to the '80s and would be willing to answer a few questions about their experiences at sea - routines, anecdotes etc., perhaps for a third title - I would be pleased to hear from them.

Many thanks
Richard

 

DirtyDick

Whats the title of your book.Submariners seem to be a breed apart from everyone else.Reading of their experiences especially at the dawn of submarine warfare would make for interesting reading.

Stephen

 

Steve

It's available from the above publishers for £13.99, other websites for a similar price, museum and book shops, and can be ordered for other bookshops which currently don't stock it.

 

Richard

Thanks for that information,that's definately one i'll be adding to my book collection.

Stephen

 

Originally posted by DirtyDick@Jun 26 2004, 06:26 AM


Equally, if there are any submariners who served from the '50s to the '80s and would be willing to answer a few questions about their experiences at sea - routines, anecdotes etc., perhaps for a third title - I would be pleased to hear from them.

Many thanks
Richard
Do you know the name of a British submarine lost in the English Channel around the time of the Korean War? I have some sort of block at the moment, did it begin with A?

Did you hear the two part prog. about this broadcast on BBC Radio 4 about 5 or 6 years ago? I made tapes, but they are not to hand.

The BBC team found a member of the crew, who didn't sail because the boat was filled up with "brass". He told the prog. that he had voiced many concerns about the Sub' and its schnorkel (sp?) to the enquiry.

When the team tracked down the papers at the PRO they read that the man had voiced no such concerns! However, who-ever was covering up slipped up because, further on in the mans evidence it said something like ...."besides the concerns cited above, did you have any more unease about the safety of the ship?"

Makes one question official records somewhat!

 

Originally posted by BeppoSapone+Jun 26 2004, 04:25 PM-->(BeppoSapone @ Jun 26 2004, 04:25 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'> <!--QuoteBegin-DirtyDick@Jun 26 2004, 06:26 AM


Equally, if there are any submariners who served from the '50s to the '80s and would be willing to answer a few questions about their experiences at sea - routines, anecdotes etc., perhaps for a third title - I would be pleased to hear from them.

Many thanks
Richard
Do you know the name of a British submarine lost in the English Channel around the time of the Korean War? I have some sort of block at the moment, did it begin with A?

Did you hear the two part prog. about this broadcast on BBC Radio 4 about 5 or 6 years ago? I made tapes, but they are not to hand.

The BBC team found a member of the crew, who didn't sail because the boat was filled up with "brass". He told the prog. that he had voiced many concerns about the Sub' and its schnorkel (sp?) to the enquiry.

When the team tracked down the papers at the PRO they read that the man had voiced no such concerns! However, who-ever was covering up slipped up because, further on in the mans evidence it said something like ...."besides the concerns cited above, did you have any more unease about the safety of the ship?"

Makes one question official records somewhat! [/b]Did a bit of "Googling" and I think I was writing about HMS Affray

http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/losses.htm#affray

Just off to read about the Thetis. I believe that one of my great uncles, from Birkenhead, was involved in salvaging it. In fact, he was lucky not to have been on the sub when it sunk, a lot of his mates from the shipyard were supposed to have been onboard.

 

Hi Beppo

Yes, lots of cover-ups due to red faces at the Admiralty in these peacetime incidents.

Most of Thetis's crew and attendant dockyard workers were lost because they were unsure about whether they should try to escape - very difficult due to angle of boat and also since virtually no such (realistic) training and provision until WW2.

You might find some of the WW1 K Class accidental losses make for interesting comparisons.

Cheers

Richard

 

USS Ling virtual Tour


New Jersey Naval Museum

Hi Richard,
The USS Ling is lcoated at the New Jersey Naval Museum which is quite close to where I live. The tours of the Ling are still conducted by WWII Vets although their numbers are dwindling. Most of the staff are volunteers with some type of connection to the Submarine service. You may want to contact the museum and tell them what you're looking for.
Take care,
Neil

 

Thanks Neil, an American perspective (i.e. serving in bigger boats in the Pacific) would be useful; I'll give them an email.

Richard

 

Hi Richard,

You have probabley already seen the site I am posting, so this is for people like me who have been following this thread and picking up a bit of info.CLICK HERE good luck with the book.

Brum

 

Hello Richard,

As an introduction to your work you may wish to write about the fate of HMS Thetis, when she was lauched the most modern sub in the Royal Navy.

As a boy, my home in Wallasey overlooking the River Mersey, I kept a record of the many ships coming and going to all parts of he world. So, as my father had taken me to the launching of Thetis (built at Cammell Laird's Shipyards, Birkenhead) it was exciting to see her sailing down the Mersey, towards the end of May 1939, on the way to ongoing sea trials. A day or so later, on June 1st, came the tragic news that she had sunk in Liverpool Bay. Despite the fact that her stern was above water, all but four of her crew lost their lives. As a result of the tragedy, submarines of the Royal Navy were equipped with escape hatches, a precaution not before thought to be necessary.

There is much material available on the web should you decide her story merits a place in your book.

Regards, Gerry

 

Just bringing this back to the top; help still appreciated from WW2 submariners and related personal reminiscences from any nation.

Particularly, anyone know name/number of any RAN who served on RN subs during the War, so I can order their details to be scanned.

Richard

(And belated thanks for you help, Gerry. )

 

Great to hear about your book deals. You must tell me how you got them. My MFA in Creative Writing and $2 get me a ride on the New York Subway. A large number of US Navy WW2-era submarines were preserved as museums. I recommend you contact USS Pampanito, USS Bowfin, USS Batfish, and USS Cavalla. All had terrific war records. Pampanito saved the lives of Australian and British POWs when they sank their ship hauling them to Japan. She is now a museum in San Francisco, in great shape. USS Bowfin is in Honolulu. She was one of the first to penetrate into the Yellow Sea. She sank numerous ships in three years of war, including a Vichy French tanker. She also sank a pier, a crane, and a bus. USS Batfish is in Oklahoma. Her achievement is unique: she sank three Japanese submarines, a record for the war, in about 48 hours. USS Cavalla blasted open the Japanese carrier Shokaku in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, sinking one of the carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor. All, as I say, are museums, and I have the books on Batfish and Bowfin. A good overview of the US submarine war is in Clay Blair's "Silent Victory." The US has preserved a good many WW2-era submarines. Ling may be moving to Hoboken later this decade. Ironically, she never fired a shot in anger, being commissioned just as the war ended.

 

Thanks for that, Kiwiwriter. I've already approached several US sub museums, received a response from one ex-USN submariner, and am awaiting his response to a questionnaire.

Don't they also have a dreadnought battleship preserved in Texas? Now that would be worth a visit - far more interesting, technologically speaking, than HMSs Victory and Warrior.

Richard

 

Originally posted by Kiwiwriter@Nov 19 2004, 03:48 PM
She also sank a pier, a crane, and a bus. [post=29567]Quoted post[/post]

Nice shooting!

 

In case you have not heard about this one, there is a U boat in the Chicago Illinois Industrial Museum, you can walk through her. I cannot remember too much as it was a while ago but I believe she was captured intact.

 

Originally posted by Compo@Nov 20 2004, 03:59 PM
In case you have not heard about this one, there is a U boat in the Chicago Illinois Industrial Museum, you can walk through her. I cannot remember too much as it was a while ago but I believe she was captured intact.
[post=29584]Quoted post[/post]


U506

 

Thanks chaps; I noted they do a virtual guided tour through her on their website.

Richard

 

Originally posted by morse1001+Nov 20 2004, 05:01 PM-->(morse1001 @ Nov 20 2004, 05:01 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-Compo@Nov 20 2004, 03:59 PM
In case you have not heard about this one, there is a U boat in the Chicago Illinois Industrial Museum, you can walk through her. I cannot remember too much as it was a while ago but I believe she was captured intact.
[post=29584]Quoted post[/post]


U506
[post=29589]Quoted post[/post]
[/b] You mean, U-505. There is also a new book coming out about her odyssey from Germany to Lake Shore Drive on Chicago's South Side. In addition to being the first warship seized by US Sailors on the high seas since 1812, she is also a US National Historic Landmark and a National Engineering Landmark. The Museum of Science and Industry is moving to put her under cover so she does not get further whacked by Chicago's tough winter elements. They've also had a lot of help from German companies in restoring her. Apparently the Germans believe, that if a U-Boat has to be on display somewhere, it should be a first-class advertisement for German engineering, and I can see their point.

 

Originally posted by Kiwiwriter+Nov 22 2004, 02:27 PM-->(Kiwiwriter @ Nov 22 2004, 02:27 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'>Originally posted by morse1001@Nov 20 2004, 05:01 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-Compo@Nov 20 2004, 03:59 PM
In case you have not heard about this one, there is a U boat in the Chicago Illinois Industrial Museum, you can walk through her. I cannot remember too much as it was a while ago but I believe she was captured intact.
[post=29584]Quoted post[/post]


U506
[post=29589]Quoted post[/post]
You mean, U-505.
[post=29613]Quoted post[/post]
[/b]
Okay! it was a typo!