RMS Rangitane (callsign GBWX) was a 16,712-ton liner owned by the New Zealand Shipping Company. But Colin Ryder Richardson, snug in his bunk, saw no reason for alarm. This is the story of Michael McShane and how he survived the sinking of the SS Athenia, the first ship torpedoed by a U-boat in World War II. All nine crew were rescued by the trawler, The coaster (270 GRT) ran ashore on Kalder Steel, off, The cargo ship (3,303 or 3,240 GRT, 1913) struck a submerged wreck in the, The coaster (121 GRT, 1918) sank off the mouth of the. World War II: The auxiliary patrol vessel (302 GRT, 1906) was scuttled at Brest, France. 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. At 3:45 p.m., crew on the German capital ships spotted the funnel smoke of the British warships and surged forward to close the distance. She was later salvaged by the British, repaired and re-entered service. 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. 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. World War II: The cargo ship (7,405 GRT, 1914) was bombed and damaged in the Bay of Biscay off. The 17th June 1940 saw one of the most horrific events of World War II and the single worst maritime disaster in British history. Scharnhorst limped home, listing at five degrees, and would spend the next six months in Trondheim, Norway undergoing repairs. World War II: The cargo ship (2,483 GRT, 1894) was scuttled in Churchill Sound, World War II: The cargo ship (5,403 GRT, 1919) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The naval trawler (357 GRT, 1928) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The dredger (1,832 GRT, 1903) struck a mine and sank in the, World War II: The tanker (8,215 GRT, 1931) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (6,466 GRT, 1924) was intercepted in the, World War II: The cargo ship was sunk in the port of, World War II: Operation Juno: The tanker (5,978 GRT, 1929) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo liner (13,212 GRT, 1939) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Finisterre (. 2012 Sean Longden. However, crew members have alleged DOyly-Hughes was in a hurry to attend Heaths court martial. 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. Alexia British Motor tanker The Alexia after conversion to the MAC ship HMS Alexia. web page as long as you cite American Merchant Marine at War, www.usmm.org, 8 was the first to be lowered. A4103056. Rangitane left Auckland on Sunday 24 November 1940, en route to Britain via the Panama Canal. On the 8th June 1940, she was sunk 300 miles West of Narvik, by the . . Though the Royal Navy claimed the transmission was too garbled to be understood, her crew later testified to the contrary. World War II: The cargo ship (7,340 GRT) was bombed and sunk off Le Havre, France by Luftwaffe aircraft. 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. 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. Just two weeks after being set up, it received more than 200,000 applications from worried parents for just 20,000 places. 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. Two of the youngest serving Merchant Seamen killed in WWII. World War II: The cargo ship (873 or 909 GRT, 1904) struck a mine off Cape Granitola, Italy and sank. Only Colin stood out, because he was dressed in a bright red jacket. At Customs, they asked: Where are your passports? We laughed. His parents found out Colin was alive only when they spotted a photo of him in a newspaper. Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the The passengers were thrown into the sea. Ships Sunk, Damaged or Captured December 1941 (82 ships), Chronological list of U.S. ships sunk or damaged, Geographical list of U.S. ships sunk or damaged, Alphabetical list of U.S. ships sunk or damaged, Merchant Marine Casualties From the half-submerged Lifeboat 2, Colin watched as the Benares sank below the waves. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. Two crew were killed. This story has been placed in the following categories. Captain Sharp estimated 5,500, but one Royal Engineer officer was told that there were more than 7,200 persons aboard. This is a revised edition of the book published in 1985 as Who Will Take Our Children? She looked at me and said: What have you done with all your clothes? he says. 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. Therefore, destroyers, fishing boats, and other small craft had to ferry the evacuees to Lancastria while being bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffes Junkers Ju 11 bombers of Kampfgeschwader 30. Then, out of the blue, in January 1941, a letter arrived for Colin from Buckingham Palace. At first, he thought the Benares must have collided with another ship. World War II:The auxiliary minesweeper (628 GRT) was scuttled at Le Havre, France. In June 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to a new trans-Atlantic evacuation scheme. It was in the 1970s a challenge, but I eventually, after many disappointing follows, found a second hand copy, with a book dealer. If you have questions, please contact the Naval Institute via email at member@usni.org or by phone at 800-233-8764. It was time to evacuate their precious son to safety and that had to be beyond British shores. A young man on another boat descended into madness, screaming and threatening his fellow passengers. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not Just two weeks after being set up, it received more than 200,000 applications from worried parents. However, on June 8 DOyly-Hughes received permission to depart independently for Scapa Flow escorted by just two destroyers. The U.S. 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. This left Colin sitting up to his chest in water with only the lifeboats buoyancy tanks preventing the boat from vanishing beneath the waves. The unusual disaster continues to evoke controversy, and even questioning in Parliament, decades later. The SS Goslar, a steamboat, was at port in Suriname when Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, causing the country (then a colony of the Netherlands) to begin to intern German men living in the . public. World War II: The armed merchant cruiser (17,046 GRT, 1925) was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of. 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. When Bess and Beth were rescued, their frozen fingers had to be prised off their capsized lifeboat. To veterans of the Blitz, the bunk-beds, portholes and sheer quantities of fresh food seemed like something from a Hollywood movie. Details of the British ships sunk during July - December 1940. All rights reserved. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (261 GRT, 1918) was scuttled at Lorient, France. The list of shipwrecks in June 1940 includes ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during June 1940. At 11, Colin was already a veteran of wartime upheavals. My own commemoration including photo's of the two Brothers sent to me by their relatives can be found on this link to my own website.http://www.british-merchant-navy.co.uk/TOWER.htmAbout links. 'What had happened was that I'd lain there, grieving away, and my blood had stopped flowing. Her pointed bow still poked from below a raised flight deck. 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. He states that The time taken to record everybodys name, rank, service number and regiment or corps would have been time consuming and served no purpose (vii). Healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class. World War II: The cargo ship (2,155 GRT, 1902) was torpedoed and sunk in the, World War II: The cargo ship (6,694 GRT, 1917) was bombed and damaged in the English Channel off. Contributed on: 30 March 2004. There was no emotional farewell. As it grew lighter, he could see corpses floating around each lifeboat. The Benares disaster happened in the mid-Atlantic, 600 miles (965km) west of Ireland. Besides being called the World War and the Great War, which were the most common names, it was also referred to merely as The War, orThe War in Europe, the War of Nations, the 1914 War, or some variation on these and other names. You may quote material on this As a precaution, his mother had sewn a life-jacket into the lining, which in turn had been stuffed with silky kapok fibre to provide extra insulation. Abandoning his grip on the gunwales, Colin helped pull out the corpses and consign them to a watery grave. Wynn cites seven online sources (p. 181), namely the British Newspaper Archive, the Britain at War website, the British section of Ancestry.com, the Militarian Forum, the Forces War Records, the Wartime Memories Project, and the War Graves Records, which appear to have been mistakenly recorded as a .com website rather than .org. The ship, carrying more than 400 passengers and crew, included a precious cargo of 90 evacuees under a scheme. Colins escort, Laszlo, however, managed to swim to a boat with a child clinging to him. 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. Even when coupled with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania off the south coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915 by German which killed 1,195, leaving 761 survivorsLancastria would apparently exceed the combined death total. The ship was apparently equipped with sixteen lifeboats and 2,500 life jackets, but many of the boats were damaged from the air attacks while others were unusable because of the ships starboard list and hull angle. Under the command of Captain HL Upton, she . Even so, he was already freezing and soaked to the skin. Below the waves, however, the convoy was being trailed by U-48, a German U-boat. On No. People were jumping. You may not use more than a few lines without permission. Afterwards, he turned his attention to the woman beside him. The City of Benares gave a great shudder and began to sink. The SS Andrea Doria was a flagship of the Italian Line. There were only 11 survivors. (Look 18/06/1940), World War II: The naval trawler (348 GRT, 1929) ran aground at Brest, France and was abandoned without loss. Palm Springs residents sue to remove 25-foot Marilyn Monroe statue depicting her iconic My Daily Horoscope: What does 2nd March hold for MY star sign? Chronological List of U.S. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. The carriers tall crows nest was unoccupied; and only twelve of her eighteen boilers were kept active, limiting her speed. Only one crew member from the Ardent, two from the Acasta, and thirty-six from the Glorious survived to be picked up by Norwegian and German forces. List of shipwrecks: 3 March 1940 Ship Country Description Arucas Germany World War II: The passenger ship (3,369 GRT, 1927) was intercepted in the Atlantic Ocean east of Iceland by HMS York ( Royal Navy) and was scuttled by herTen crew members were lost at sea. The two boys are believed to of forged a letter from their Father stating he had given permission for them to join the ship. World War II: The auxiliary minesweeper (74 GRT) was scuttled at Cherbourg, France. The SS Orama was built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness in 1924 for the Orient Line with accommodation for 1,700 passengers. Wynn does not clarify what materials he utilized from these sources and there are no footnotes, in-text citations, or endnotes. By then the crippled Glorious was listing and turning in circles while being relentlessly pounded by German guns. Britain Ship Losses 1940 This page records the details of every British ship lost during the two world wars, including pictures where possible. Early in 1923 the vessel together with two other . About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . 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