Relevance of Submarines to the UK canals

[uboater]

The September 2011 issue of Armchair General® presented the Combat Decision Game “Zeebrugge Raid, 1918.” This CDG placed readers in the role of British Royal Navy Vice Admiral Roger Keyes, commander of the Dover Patrol during World War I. Keyes’ mission in April 1918 was to devise a plan to raid the German-held port of Zeebrugge, located in Belgium on the North Sea coast near the English Channel. The goal of the raid was to block the entrance to the Bruges-Zeebrugge Canal and thus reduce the German U-boat threat to Britain’s vital Atlantic convoys. About one-third (40-50) of Germany’s deadly “Grey Wolves” were based at Bruges and transited the canal en route to their Atlantic Ocean “hunting grounds.

 

Keyes was convinced that to give the blocking cruisers the best chance to reach the canal entrance, he had to find a way to divert the German defenders’ attention away from the raid’s main objective. Thus he chose to land an assault force of armed sailors and Royal Marines on Zeebrugge’s mole (Course of Action Two: Diversion). Although two blockships were successfully scuttled at the mouth of the canal, the Germans cleared a path for U-boat passage within a few days. (Petho Cartography)

 

HISTORICAL OUTCOME

Keyes decided that the raid’s main objective, blocking the canal entrance, would have the best chance to succeed if the German defenders’ attention was drawn elsewhere (Course of Action Two: Diversion). Therefore, he included in his raiding force a diversionary attack force of 200 armed sailors and 400 Royal Marines supported by the cruiser HMS Vindictive to assault the German positions on the mole while the three blocking cruisers – Intrepid, Iphigenia and Thetis – entered the harbor and raced for the mouth of the canal. Two coastal submarines, C1 and C3, would be blown up under the viaduct to prevent enemy reinforcements from counterattacking onto the mole.

 

At 10 p.m., April 22, 1918, Keyes’ 75-ship armada (the raiding force ships plus the protecting warships and support vessels) reached a location 16 miles off Zeebrugge, the raiders’ launching point. At 11:56 p.m., HMS Vindictive burst out of a thick smoke screen laid by the armada’s support vessels and steamed toward the Zeebrugge mole only 300 yards away. Surprised and stunned, the German gunners had no time to react before Vindictive’s portside batteries opened up and blasted the mole from a distance of barely 50 yards. The ferryboats pushed Vindictive close to the mole, and the armed sailors and Royal Marines disembarked and then struggled through barbed wire to attack the German positions. (See Zeebrugge Raid map.) As Vindictive’s gunners engaged enemy artillery and the guns of German torpedo boats anchored on the far side of the mole, the landing party continued to fight its way along the mole against heavy fire. While the diversionary attack diverted the Germans’ attention, submarine C3 was blown up under the viaduct, creating an impassable 60-foot gap (C1 parted its towrope crossing the channel and did not take part in the raid).

 

Meanwhile, the three blocking cruisers left the safety of the smoke screen and entered Zeebrugge harbor with HMS Thetis leading the way. Unfortunately, Thetis fouled its propellers and drifted back into the main channel – making a perfect, nearly stationary target for German guns – where it was scuttled by its crew. Yet Thetis and the diversionary attack helped Intrepid and Iphigenia make it across the harbor to the canal entrance, where they were successfully scuttled in blocking position.

 

Royal Navy motor launches and small boats rescued most of the crewmen from the submarine and blockships, but casualties were heavy among the armed sailors and Royal Marines who landed at the mole. The Royal Marines of 4th Battalion were especially hard hit, losing 118 killed and 202 wounded. Royal Navy causalities were 101 killed, 154 wounded and three captured.

Although the Zeebrugge raid blocked the canal entrance, German engineers reacted quickly and cleared a path so that U-boat traffic was able to resume within a few days. Nonetheless, the raid’s success boosted Britain’s homefront morale, as it was a rare and desperately needed victory at a time when Germany’s Kaiserschlacht Spring Offensives (March-July 1918) on the Western Front threatened to collapse the Allied line.

 

A similar Royal Navy raid on April 23-24 at Ostend, Belgium – another port transited by Bruges’ U-boats – was a total failure, and a second Ostend raid on May 10 achieved only limited success.

 

Williams

U-8047 TRUST

 

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/cdg46-zeebrugge-raid-1918.htm

[luctor et emergo]

Impressived , but what is the relevance?

[uboater]

April-May, 1990: Unusual transit - Oberon Class submarine HMAS OXLEY in the Corinth Canal - RAN.

 

 

 

3040. This photograph is captioned on some RAN websites as HMAS OXLEY in the Suez Canal. We're pretty sure that is the Corinth Canal which separates the Peloponnese from mainland Greece.

 

In which case this transit would have taken place when OXLEY made an unusual voyage into the Mediterranean in 1990, indeed via Suez, along with LCH HMAS TOBRUK [iI] and the frigate HMAS SYDNEY [iV] , to attend the 75th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings in Turkey.

 

From Anzac Cove the RAN ships passed through the Dardenelles and held a memorial services in the Sea of Marmora over the last known position of the submarine AE2.

 

Turning west, HMAS OXLEY then proceeded to the Italian naval port of Taranto, which she reached on May 3, and we believe she has passed through the Corinth Canal on this voyage.

 

Even more impressively, on May 5, OXLEY's CO, LCDR Peter Earlam and the entire boat's company were granted an audience with Pope John Paul II, at which he urged them to work for world peace. From there they proceeded to memorial ceremonies for the Battle of Crete, and on to Alexandria, the WWII base for the British Mediterranean Fleet with which many RAN ships served.

 

[THE CORINTH CANAL, a dream from ancient times for the narrow Isthmus, it was finally realized and completed on October 28, 1893. Although too narrow for large modern ships, it is still in use. It is 6343m [3.94 miles] long, 24.6m in width, and 8m in depth].

 

Photo: RAN Official, it appears on the official Royal Australian Navy Flickr photostream, and on the Seapower Centre Australia web page for HMAS OXLEY.

 

SORRY they are not british Canals....

Edited May 6, 2012 by uboater

[bigcol]

Very interesting

 

Great post

[Hastings]

As noted above, the RN had a submarine narrow boat for recruiting. It was part of a small fleet. They are all described in a book, Britannia Rules the Cut, by Andy Wood. This book explains how and why a miniature canal based fleet of two destroyers, a frigate and a submarine under the White Ensign came into being in the 1970s. Softback, the book is £5.00 plus postage, from CanalBookShop at Audlem Mill - http://www.canalbookshop.co.uk, then go to Boats & Craft in the menu.

 

I remember seeing the boats in Little Venice, but didn't know the reason for their existence. Bit different from Jason's Trip, I thought!

[luctor et emergo]

Martin, .leave him to me, please.... ;-)

 

So, like most of them, no back bone.

 

Pitty, i like a good baiting session, but some times they et away..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my own time, in my own way..

[Lady Muck]

So, get up in the morning, delete lots of abuse again, I can spot a pattern forming.

[luctor et emergo]

Do't you dare, he is mine......

[Guest]

Martin, .leave him to me, please.... ;-)

 

Fairy nuff.....

[luctor et emergo]

Lm, don't delete this threads please...

[Guest]

Lm, don't delete this threads please...

 

I suspect that as they are potentially libellous as in making a statement about you assaulting someone when it's not true may mean LM has no option.

 

He employed a similar tactic when I got into a 'discussion' with this guy night before last.

[MartinClark]

So, get up in the morning, delete lots of abuse again, I can spot a pattern forming.

 

How early do I have to get up to read stuff before it gets deleted?

[the grinch]

How early do I have to get up to read stuff before it gets deleted?

about 7:30 as i read it at 7:45 all rather childish on all sides!!

[journeyperson]

This photograph is of either HMS Oberon or HMS Opossum, both Oberon Class Patrol submarines of the Royal Navy, coming up the Ship Canal in early 1976.

 

 

Canal Archive - Bridging the Years

 

Link to website where this and other photos can be found.

Edited May 8, 2012 by journeyperson

[RLWP]

That must be a good contender for Janet S's submarine visit in Manchester

 

Richard

[RLWP]

Hi has richard u-boat got locked out?

 

Twice

 

Richard

[mykaskin]

Apparently the loading figure of a working boat is the same as a nuclear sub - about 1 inch per ton!

 

Is that relevant enough?

 

Mike

[Rebotco]

He does not charge for children.

 

 

What! Does he give them away????????

[David Mack]

Submarine on the Erie Canal, Buffalo, NY (January 2011)

 

[Keeping Up]

In taking a submarine through a lock, I wonder if you can save water by submerging/refloating at the right time ?

[RLWP]

In taking a submarine through a lock, I wonder if you can save water by submerging/refloating at the right time ?

 

Yes

 

Richard

 

Oh, no.

 

Definitely no

[Dorman]

Yes

 

Richard

 

Oh, no.

 

Definitely no

 

How come the bath water goes up when l lie down in the bath then

[bizzard]

How come the bath water goes up when l lie down in the bath then

Subs take in the water as submerging ballast and eject it to surface, so the level would remain the same as if they were still on the surface.

[Keeping Up]

Suppose they take in their water by syphoning with a hose from the upper pound, and eject it to the lower? Or vice versa? Or versa vice? Or maybe if they take in the water from a water point by the lock and eject it into a self pump-out station?

[Guest]

I think you are getting your principles screwed...