HMS Affray (P421)
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
HMS Affray ( ship identification : P421), a British Amphion- class submarine , was the last Royal Navy submarine to be lost at sea, claiming 75 lives. The boat sank in the English Channel on April 16, 1951 . The Affray was built in the final stages of World War II. She was one of 16 submarines of her class originally designed for use in the Pacific against Japan. All ships in their class were given names beginning with the letter A. She was the only ship in the Royal Navy that was named after a particularly loud and disorderly fight (Affray = (mass) brawl).
history
Early history
It was on 16 January 1944 the Cammell Laird -Werft in Birkenhead on down Kiel , ran on April 12 from the stack and was only after the end of World War On 25 November 1945 put into service. The Affray and her sister ships were state-of-the-art submarines in their day. They were the culmination of a rapid submarine development that took place during World War II. Some elements of their design came from captured German submarines. Its modular design and fully welded hull were unique at the time. For use in the Far East, they were equipped with refrigeration and two huge air-conditioning systems, and all accommodations were as far away from the engine room as possible . Ten torpedo tubes made them and their class the most heavily armed submarines in the world. She was sent as part of the 3rd submarine flotilla to the submarine tender Montclare in Rothesay before she joined the identical boats Amphion , Astute , Auriga , Aurochs and the submarine tender Adamant in the British Pacific Fleet. For the next four years, the Affray traveled and took part in exercises around the world, including Australia , Singapore , Japan , Morocco , South Africa , Pearl Harbor and Bergen .
modification
On March 11, 1949, she was transferred to the reserve of the 5th submarine flotilla and brought to the dry dock to be retrofitted with a snorkel - a pneumatically erectable and lowerable steel tube, which can be drawn in or replaced in a vertical position served by air. As soon as this mast was erected, it locked automatically and sucked air into the submarine at periscope depth , so that the boat could operate its diesel engines to propel and charge the batteries without having to surface. The snorkel had a float valve that closed automatically when the submarine fell below periscope depth. The main air inlet valve in the pressure hull of the submarine was located in a bulbous housing protruding about half a meter. This housing was completely hidden and was protected by the free-floating hull. The Affray's snorkel is designed to be both ventilated and vented. This was later changed so that the snorkel was just an air inlet and the outlet was relocated to the rear of the tower.
In December of the same year, the Affray was sent to the Mediterranean . During the deep dives there, it was recorded that it began to leak "like a sieve" and that the diesel engines were losing oil. In January 1951, the Affray was moved to Portsmouth Naval Base to join the Reserve Group "G". In March she was taken out of reserve and Lieutenant John Blackburn DSC became commanding officer and tasked with getting her and the new crew ready.
loss
On April 16, 1951, the Affray began a combat exercise called "Exercise Spring Train" with a crew reduced from 61 to 50 men. They were joined by a sergeant , a corporal and two Marines from the Special Boat Service , a commander (engineer), a naval instructor, seven lieutenants (marine engineers) and 13 sub-lieutenants . The last two groups received basic underwater officer training. The crew on that day consisted of a total of 75 men. The orders were unusually broad: the Marines were to be dropped off somewhere on the south-west coast of England - the commander told the Admiralty that he had chosen a secluded beach in Cornwall - to go ashore and return under cover of darkness. The drill was to be repeated until the Affray was due to return to base on April 23 to repair major damage, including a leak in a battery tank. The Affray left her home base at approximately 4:00 p.m. and made regular contact at 9:00 p.m. to confirm position, course, speed, etc., and stated that she was preparing for the dive. The last ship she saw on the surface was the C-class destroyer contest , which was returning to Portsmouth that evening. As they passed each other, the ships greeted each other by whistling . When the 8:00 AM report failed the next day, the Affray was declared missing and an immediate search began.
The search
Throughout the day, the coastal stations called the Affray , and the destroyer Agincourt led a fleet of search vessels that eventually numbered 24 ships from four nations. The 2nd training flotilla, to which the Tintagel Castle , the Flint Castle , the Hedingham Castle and the test ship Helmsdale with ASDIC (sonar) belonged, left Portland . The submarines Scorcher , Scythian and Sirdar appeared off Portland with large white flags to distinguish them from the missing Affray . The Sirdar was aground six hours later so that the ASDIC boats could familiarize themselves with the detection of a submarine lying aground. The code word 'SUBMISS' was sent to all ships in the NATO navies to inform them of the absence of the Affray . All other Amphion-class boats were kept in the ports pending the investigation into the incident. When the Affray went missing, it was such important news in Britain that the first events leading to the Suez Crisis were referred to page two of the national newspapers. The first 48 hours were feverishly searched, assuming the crew would not survive much longer, if they had survived at all. During the search, two of the searching ships had received knocking Morse code , which was deciphered as "We are trapped on the bottom", but this did not help to find the submarine. After three days, gradually fewer ships were used and the search was less intensive.
In Great Britain, the missing submarine became more and more popular. There were rumors of mutiny and even a seizure by the Soviet Union . In the meantime, the Royal Navy continued their search. Several strange events occurred during the search. The strangest thing was a massive object found by the sonar on the ground. The search ship realized that it couldn't have been the Affray because of its size , when it came back a few days later to find out what it was, it was gone. Another strange occurrence was that the commander's wife of one of the sister submarines claimed to have seen a ghost in the uniform of a dripping wet submarine officer who gave her the location of the sunken submarine (this position turned out to be correct later). She recognized him as an officer who had died during World War II, so not a member of the Affray's crew . With so many shipwrecks on the English Channel (161 found, most of them sunk during World War II), it took almost two months to find the Affray .
discovery
On June 14th, HMS Loch Insh , who had been involved in the search from the start, made a sonar contact at the very edge of Hurd's Deep , a deep underwater valley in the English Channel. It was the same place an oil spill had been seen when the Affray disappeared, an area that had been previously searched. The Reclaim arrived a few hours later, after a call from the Loch Insh captain , who, as an ex-submarine operator, was convinced that this was the Affray . A diver was sent down who reported seeing a long white railing before being swept away by the current. Due to the bad weather, the crew opted for an underwater camera, which they had previously been skeptical about. As soon as he dived, the camera first recorded the letters "YARFFA" - Affray backwards. She was finally found. It was 27 km northwest of Alderney , much closer to France than to England. It lay slightly on the port side to the northeast at a depth of 86 meters and slid a little further towards port over the next few months, where it came to rest at an angle of about 50 degrees. Divers could not find any evidence of collision or damage to the hull, hull or bridge and it was found that the search periscope and ANF radar mast were extended, indicating that she was at periscope depth as she sank. However, the snorkel was broken and was lying next to the submarine, to which it was only hanging with a thin piece of metal. The hatches including the muzzle flaps of the torpedo tubes were all closed, and the two emergency buoys were still in their housing, but the rear one could not have been loosened either because the folding wooden grids under which they lay were tied with wire ( It was later discovered that this had been done because the grilles had often come off while driving). It was obvious that no one had tried to get out of the boat. The only external indication that the crew had done anything to resolve their dilemma was that the forward elevators were set to maximum “surface”. The bridge telegraphs were also on "Stop". The snorkel was the only part of the submarine that was salvaged, it was later discovered that it was faulty. This could have contributed to the Affray's demise (see below).
Cause of the loss
There were many theories as to why the submarine sank. The snorkel was broken and lay next to the hull, so that it was initially assumed that it had broken open and flooded the submarine. After a thorough inspection of the snorkel, which showed no signs of bumps, it was assumed that it was likely broken when the submarine hit the bottom (the snorkel was later checked and although defects in manufacture were found it was that it would have withstood normal use). A battery explosion has also been considered. The Royal Navy had first attempted to search the interior with a primitive radioactive device. This provided minimal information about the internal condition of the submarine, but it appeared to show that the internal valve for the snorkel was in the open position, suggesting that at least one compartment had been flooded and part of the crew had drowned . During this attempt, one of the (pea-sized) X-ray capsules near the submarine was accidentally lost. As a result, the Admiralty decided against further attempts to determine why the Affray sank, mainly due to the various dangers it posed to divers (a Royal Navy diver lost his life trying to identify another sunken submarine while searching). A recent theory, supported by some experts, suggests that the snorkel may have fallen below the surface of the water and the float valve jammed, or could not have prevented water from entering the submarine. With up to 13 tons of water entering the submarine per minute, this could have caused the Affray to quickly go aground. With a reduced crew and the trainees obstructing the work, there would have been a delay in stopping the water flow. By the time the valve was closed or the flood area in which the valve was located was sealed, there was so much water on board that even blowing out all the ballast would not have been enough to bring them back to the surface. If the bridge had also flooded, no one would have been alive to direct such action. It would also be possible, with some trainees at the control units, that a problem with the clutch caused the Affray to even accelerate before it hit, which put some parts of the submarine inoperative that would have helped it to the Surface.
Visited again
Almost half a century after the loss, Innes McCartney , a seasoned trimix diver with a passion for sunken submarines, received the Affray's position from the Department of Defense and dived to the sunken submarine. He reported:
- As we went down the lead, a large, dark figure emerged from the darkness. Even on a good day on the edge of Hurd's Deep, little ambient light penetrates 50 feet and it took us a while to recognize the distinctive shape of a submarine. It is an impressive sight, lies almost completely free on the hard seabed and hovers more than 10 meters in the open in some places. Our lighting showed that it is now covered in sponges and anemones that provide welcome color in the dark. The first thing I noticed about the wreck was its sheer size. It is one of the largest submarine wrecks in the English Channel and it is difficult for a diver to swim around it on a single dive. It is a little on the port side and its bow points northeast. It is not very heavily covered by fishing nets, only a few crab baskets are on the hull. The wreck is in a very good state of preservation considering that it has been on the ocean floor for 47 years. His bridge is completely intact with speaking tubes, the panoramic telescope and radio antennas. The navigation lights are on the side of the tower and the ladder is still in place. The periscope shafts stand proudly upright and even the cables that run between them are still there. In front of the tower, the foredeck is intact and the cannon tarpaulin is clearly visible. I really wanted to find the cradle the snorkel was in when it was used. This was on the port side, aft of the tower and I found it on our second dive on the wreck. The base of the snorkel was still in place and the area where the mast had broken off was clearly visible. On a later visit to the Royal Navy Submarine Museum , I saw the base of the mast section that was being raised. They would still be a perfect match. The front and rear elevators are still in position and the outer torpedo tubes at the bow are a very impressive sight. Behind the tower there are indications of the rescue attempts by the Royal Navy in 1951. Apart from the missing snorkel, the diving team discovered no further damage to the wreck. This is in line with the findings of the Royal Navy investigation. It remains an important and salutary memory of our maritime heritage. Very few divers in the UK have the experience and skill to undertake such a dive. This should ensure that the Affray remains undisturbed for posterity. It is a war grave and the final resting place of 75 Marines and this should be respected.
To this day, the crew is buried in the submarine on the northern edge of Hurd's Deep. Since 2001, the affray has been declared a protected site under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. A permit from the UK Department of Defense is required to dive there.
literature
- Alan Gallop: Subsmash - the Mysterious Disappearance of HMS Affray , published by The History Press , 2007
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hamilton-Paterson, James (1992) Seven-tenths: the sea and its thresholds. Hutchinson, p. 122. ISBN 0571229387
- ↑ https://www.jstor.org/stable/41368390 ? Recent Developments in Deep Sea Diving, by Robert H. Davis
- ↑ Innes McCartney: Lost Patrols: Submarine Wrecks of the English Channel. 2002
- ^ "The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2008". Office of Public Sector Information