Scapa Flow and the Royal Oak.

[Freiwillige]

I began a new career and on my second patrol I noticed that it was october 1939.
That is when U-47 and Gunther Prein snuck into the impregnable Scapa Flow and sunk the Royal Oak. Well odly Enough I was assighned U-47 by the game! So I decided that I would pull off the stunning attack using the same route that Prien did. (For maps showing Preins route into Scapa Flow see www.u47.org)

I carefully stuck to his Historic time table, and was easily able to slip in. But the Royal Oak was nowhere to be found. So I laid a pair of eels into a heavy tanker then a pair into a troop transport. Flairs shot up into the night and searchlights scanned the water. It was only when I was menouvering to make my exit that I realised What I thought was a destroyer parked in the distance due west was infact the Royal Oak! I would not have noticed if it wasnt for the flairs lighting her up.Okay so she was not where she should have been historically in fact she was off by about 1 1/2 miles but that matters little. Its so dark I have a hard time making out her distance. I let loose my final three torpedos. Minutes tick by as I await the reaction. I wasnt kept waiting long, One after another the torpedo's found their mark. First one about midship, Second along the stern and the third into the bow. I waited to see If she would go under. I turned the boat until my last torpedo was facing her out the stern tube. Torpedo Los! Again minutes tick by. I am giving up and creeping out of the estuary when my fourth and last torpedo finds its mark! She's going down!

11,000 ton tanker
7,000 ton Troop transport
35,000 ton HMS Royal Oak

833 men perished in that attack http://www.hmsroyaloak.co.uk/index.htm
Abbott, S.E.
Ackerman, A.G.
Adams, W.P.
Agnew, C.W.
Alberry, J.
Allen, A.F.
Allen, P.L.
Amos, E.J.
Anderson, E.
Anderson, H.L.
Anderson, R.F.
Anderson, W.B.
Anderson, W.T.
Andrews, E.H.
Andrews, G.C.
Andrews, W.E.
Annell, F.W.
Armfield, L.
Armitage, F.C.
Armstrong, G.H.
Arno, R.
Ashby, K.
Ashwin, A.W.
Atherton, J.
Atherton, N.
Atkinson, J.
Atkinson, T.E.
Attard, F
Attard, L.
Attfield, H.G.
Azzopardi, A.
Baigent, G.H.
Bailey, C.W.
Bailey, E.R.
Bain, R.
Baker, A.E.
Baker, A.W.
Baker, W.G.M.
Baldwin, A.S.
Ball, R.J.
Ballard, E.F.
Balls, H.E.
Barber, A.S.
Barber, F.
Bargery, A.E.
Barker, E.H.
Barnes-Moss, H.W.
Barnfather, R.A.
Bartlett, A.
Bartolo, J.
Bealing, F.C.
Beange, J.
Beddall, H.
Bedwell, H.
Beechey, A.C.
Beer, A.E.
Bell, R.W.
Bendall, R.F.J.
Bennett, W.
Benney, C.E.
Beswick, H.W.J.
Betts, H.J.
Betts, W.T.
Billyard, N.
Binnington, A.
Binns, F.B.
Binsley, G.F.
Birtchnell, C.E.
Black, J.

Blackborough, J.W.
Blagrove, H.E.C
Blenkiron, N.
Blood, S.
Blyth, H.B.
Boening, J.
Bold, P.W.
Bonello, S.
Bonner, W.C.
Borland, D.A.
Bottomley, R.J.
Bowden, R.C.
Bowen, J.
Bowhay, W.J.R.
Boyd, T.A.
Boyes, L.S.
Boyle, W.
Brading, C.E.
Bradwick, A.H.
Bramley, R.J.
Branch, H.
Bridges, J.G.C.
Bright, H.
Brightman, G.R.
Briscoe, E.
Britton, T.F.
Brookin, J.F.
Broughton, A.E.
Brown, A.G.
Brown, D.A.J.
Brown, H.
Brown, H.W.
Brown, J.
Brymer, E.A.
Buckett, S.V.
Bucknall, A.G.
Budge, J.
Bull, A.N.
Burden, A.E.
Burnham, P.
Burns, A.
Burns, J.E.
Burrows, R.W.
Burt, E.H.
Burtenshaw, C.H.
Burton, J.W.
Butler, A.A.
Butler, A.E.
Butler, A.E.
Bydawell, L.R.J.
Cachia, J.
Cairns, J.
Campbell, C.H.
Campbell, D.
Campsie, C.
Cannon, R.J.
Capel, C.W.
Card, A.R.W.
Carnegie, A.K.
Carpenter, E.G.
Carr, F.C.
Carter, G.W.
Carter, J.
Carter, R.W.H.
Carter, W.F.
Cartwright, W.
Cass, L.
Cast, R.I.
Chadwick, J.C.



Chadwick, T.
Chalk, R.G.
Challenger, A.L.
Chappell, W.G.
Cheesley, W.H.G.
Chesman, W.E.
Chick, A.
Church, O.
Clacher, W.H.
Clackson, R.G.
Clark, A.H.
Clark, A.J.
Clark, F.H.
Clark, J.
Clark, R.L.W.
Clarke, F.H.
Clarke, R.E.
Clements, E.F.J.
Clementson, J.
Cloute, E.C.
Cock, C.H.
Coffin, L.J.
Colbourne, F.E.
Colbourne, J.W.F.
Colbran, P.B.
Coleman, E.W.
Coleman, J.A.
Coleman, M.G.N.
Collins, G.A.
Collins, R.
Comber, A.E.B.
Connor, F.
Connor, R.J.
Conroy, F.
Cook, G.J.
Cooke, F.A.
Cooper, L.L.
Cooper, N.
Cope, J.R.
Coreschi E.
Cornelious, K.T.
Cornelius, H.J.
Cornish, C.F.
Cousins, H.J.
Cox, E.
Cragg, W.
Craven, A.
Cree, J.D.B.
Crockett, J.S.
Crofts, E.A.
Cross, E.V.A.
Crosswell, W.H.
Cumbes, R.W.
Cumming, L.T.J.
Cummings, H.
Cunningham, E.W.
Curtin, C.
Curtis, H.H.W.
Cutler, J.A.
Daniels, G.
Darnell, G.T.
Daughtrey, A.
Davey, C.B.
Davie, R.C.
Davies, H.R.
Davies, M.C.
Davis, J.F.
Davis, R.E.
Daysh, A.

Deacon, W.J.
Dear, A.J.
Deighton, E.C.
Derbyshire, R.
Derry, J.O.H.
Diaper, S.T.
Dickie, W.A.
Doe, S.P.
Doggett, I.E.
Dowding, P.W.G.
Downes, A.F.
Draper, B.H.
Druce, A.
Duncalf, T.
Dunk, C.A.
Dunk, W.W.
Dyer, H.
Eade, J.H.
Easton, F.
Ede, F.
Edwards, A.
Edwards, J.F.
Edwards, R.G.
Edwards, W.R.A.
Efemey, R.B.
Elliott, R.
Eltringham, N.
Emery, A.
Emery, F.C.
Evans, B.
Evans, J.E.
Eyers, C.E.
Fairbrother, J.W.
Farr, E.W.
Farrell, R.
Fenn, T.R.P.
Finlay, M.B.
Fisher, B.L.
Fisher, J.B.
Fitch, C.E.
Flogdell, A.E.
Flounders, A.
Ford, W.J.
Forsey, H.S.
Foster, D.C.
Foster, G.W.
Foulger, A.
Fowler, J.W.
Foyle, A.A.
Francis, H.A.
Franckeiss, E.L.
French, C.
Fuller, C.W.
Furbear, T.G.
Furby, E.A.
Furlong, J.
Furnell, L.T.
Gallagher, J.W.
Gibbons, J.A.
Gibson, G.
Gibson, S.J.
Gile, W.H.
Gill, G.E.
Gill, H.W.
Gillis, G.W.
Glasspool, H.
Godley, S.G.
Godwin, T.G.
Godwin, W.

Golding, A.
Goodyear, J.C.
Goorlay, J.R.G.
Gorsuch, E.D.
Gough, E.J.
Gough, T.E.
Gowan, J.D.
Grace, V.M.
Graham, G.M.
Graham, P.W.C.
Graham, S.
Graham-Brown, J.L.T.
Gray, A.
Gray, E
Gray, H.W.
Grech, J.
Green, F.
Green, F.A.
Green, R.
Greenwood, L.
Griffin, H.
Griffiths, E.J.
Griffiths, J.R.
Grindey, A.E.
Grogan, J.
Giusti, I.
Gutteridge, R.G.N.
Guy, R.
Hales, J.
Hall, H.J.
Hall, J.
Hall, K.E.
Hall, W.R.
Hamblin, G.A.
Hamblin, H.J.
Hammond, J.S.
Hammond, W.L.
Hance, T.R.
Harkin, P.R.
Harle, G.
Harley, J.A.H.
Harper, R.R.J.
Harris, G.J.
Harris, K.J.
Harris, N.H.
Harris, P.W.
Hawkins, K.R.J.
Hawkins, W.J.
Hayes, T.
Hayward, J.G.
Heather, C.W.
Helmore, W.L.
Hemestretch, C.W.
Hemsley, C.F.
Henstridge, C.
Heslop, C.
Hicks, A.E.
Higgins, J.J.
Higgs, H.H.
Highfield, J.E.
Hill, A.
Hill, D
Hill, D.
Hill, E.F.
Hill, S.
Hillier, C.W.
Hingston, E.
Hiscock, F.J.
Hixson, H.H.

Hocking, J.R.
Hodgson, A.R.
Hodgson, J.S.
Hudson, F.H.J.
Holland, C.
Holyoak, E.
Hotton, L.W.T.
Hudson, J.C.
Huggins, H.S.
Hughes, F.E.
Hughes, T.
Hughes-Rowlands, R.
Hull, E.C.
Hull, R.G.
Humber, J.F.
Hunt, A.V.
Hunt, E.G.
Hunter, F.
Hunter, J.
Hurst, F.
Huscroft, R.W.
Hussey-Yeo, A.J.
Hutchcocks, T.
Hyde, A.J.
Hyde, G.M.
Ing, R.
Jack, J.D.
Jackman, J.J.
Jackson, L.T.D.
Jackson, T.W.
Jacobs, W.A.C.
Jago, L.
James, L.J.
James, R.
James, V.L.
Jay, V.G.U.
Jelley, L.J.
Jenkins, E.J.A.
Jenkins, T.S.
Jennings, R.E.
Jewell, A.
Jewer, S.A.
Jobson, J.B.
Johns, P.H.M.
Johnson, F.W.P.
Johnson, T.W.
Johnston, A.J.
Jones, C.E.
Jones, H.
Jones, H.G.
Jones, S.
Jones, T.J.
Jordon, F.
Jordon, H.D.
Judge, P.R.
Kane, R.C.
Kearey, A.
Keel, J.
Keel, W.
Kemp, L.H.
Kempster, A.
Kennedy, R.H.
Kennedy, W.T.
Kennett, E.H.
Kent, H.A.J.
Kenworthy, J.
Kersey, H.A.
Kidby, W.F.
King, C.E.M.


King, F.W.
King, W.L.
Kirkby, D.E.
Knight, G.E.W.
Laban, K.G.
Lardner, F.M.
Lawrence, J.E.
Leach, E.C.
Lenz, B.H.
Lester, R.
Lewis, C.E.
Lewis, D.J.
Liddell, R.
Lilley, H.G.
Liptrot, F
Lister, H.G.
Littlejohn, J.B.M.
Lloyd, R.G.
Lloyds, S.R.
Loats, T.R.
Lock, L.F.
Lockwood, W.
Logan, F.
Long, A.
Lowery, D.
Lynch, H.C.
Lyons, J.
MacAngus, D.
MacDermott, A.D.
MacGibbon, T.H.
Mackinnon, D.
MacReady, J.A.
Magion, J.P.
Maher, C.
Malyon, S.H.
Mamo, F.
Manning, J.
Mansfield, W.H.
Manwaring, D.
Manwaring, W.
Marlow, A.J.
Marsh, J.W.
Marsh, O.F.
Marshall, F.
Martin, E.J.
Martin, H.J.
Martin, L.G.
Matfield, A.H.
Mather, G.
Matthews, F.H.
Matthews-Sheen, T.
McArthur, A.
McBain, D.
McBrown, R.S.
McDonald, A.
McGregor, G.D.
McGregor, R.
McLaren, W.
McLennan, A.J.
McMilland, G.A.
McPherson, C.J.
McTaggart, D.
Meaden, F.E.B.
Medley, B.
Mellor, S.
Merifield, W.J.
Middleton, A.F.C.
Milborn, P.
Miles, A.
Miles, A.W.S.
Miles, E.H.
Miles, P.
Milford, A.E.

Miller, A.E.
Miller, J.H.
Milligan, J.M.
Millis, R.
Millmore, F.
Milness, R.W.
Minns, F.A.
Mirfin, G.D.
Mitchell, J.H.
Mitchell, J.S.
Moar, J.W.
Moffat, J.B.
Mooney, P.
Moore, I.
Moore, J.E.
Moore, L.G.
Moore, W.J.
Morey, F.J.M.
Morris, C.H.
Morrison, J.
Morrison, J.
Morse, D.L.G.
Moses, L.D.
Mosley, J.H.
Mould, R.W.
Mountain, F.
Mountford, H.C.L.
Moylan, T.
Mullen, T.G.
Mullin, C.T.
Munro, J.
Murphy, P.
Murphy, T.
Murray, W.R.
Mutlow, L.C.
Myers, G.E.
Naisby, T.F.
Needham, E.
Newman, W.H.
Newnham, E.
Newnham, K.G.
Newsham, H.
Newsome, G.
Niblett, C.H.
Nichol, G
Nicholls, A.H.
Nicholson, W.D.
Nixon, H.
Nuttall, F.R.M.
O'Brien, A.E.
O'Shea, M.
Offer, C.H.
Ogden, G.R.
Osborne, T.G.
Overton, J.J.
Oxley, G.R.
Oxley, H.
Paice, H.F.
Palfreyman, J.
Palmer, C.J.
Palmer, G.J.
Pape, E.W.A.S.
Park, A.A.
Parker, A.G.
Parker, J.
Parker, R.T.
Parkinson, G.H.
Parr, W.A.
Parrish, W.H.
Parry, G.J.
Parsons, G.E.
Partlett, E.G.
Patch, D.G.

Paterson, W.D.
Patterson, N.M.
Paul, L.W.C.
Pearson, A.R.
Pennel, J.A.
Pennycord, J.A.
Percy, K.B.
Perkins, E.E.G.
Perkins, R.J.
Perry, D.W.
Pesci, E.
Peters, E.R.
Peters, G.
Phelps, C.E.
Phipps, C.P.
Pickard, S.E.
Piddington, P.G.
Pierson, A.J.
Pike, A.C.
Pilkington, H.
Pine, B.
Pitkin, F.
Pollard, G.E.
Pollard, G.R.
Pope, G.A.
Porter, E.R.
Porter, H.W.
Porter, J.S.
Potter, A.
Potter, S.
Pottle, R.V.T.
Poulter, R.
Powell, A.
Powell, D.W.
Powles, W.
Pragnell, S.L.
Pratt, C.
Preston, F.H.
Priest, W.C.H.
Priestley, A.J.
Prince, G.A.
Pryor, R.A.
Puddy, R.G.
Pye, P.K.
Quantrell, O.
Quigley, A.
Quinn, H.
Quinney, G.
Radford, R.
Raine, G.H.
Ramsay, W.D.
Rann, F.
Razey, A.E.
Read, R.V.
Reed, W.G.F.
Reid, D.
Restell, A.E.
Reynolds, D.A.
Richards, W.M.
Ridsdale, G.H.
Riley, J.
Ritchie, R.C.
Roberts, A.
Roberts, F.W.
Roberts, T.O.
Robertson, N.G.
Robertson, R.U.
Robins, C.F.
Rollo, D.
Roper, S.D.
Ross, G.I.McL.
Ross, T.W.
Roupell, M.P.

Rouse, P.
Rowell, A.W.
Roxborough, T.
Royal, W.D.
Ruck, W.S.
Russell, W.F.E.
Rustell, S.
Rutherford, J.J.
Rutter, W.
Ryall, M.G.
Ryan, M.J.
Ryan, W.D.
Sa-ib-a, L.
Sandford, F.W.C.
Sandham, G.M.
Savage, C.H.
Savage, W.J.B.
Scarlett, A.
Schiavone, E.
Schofield, R.
Scott, W.
Searle, J.G.
Seaton, E.F.
Seeley, E.J.
Senlor, F.
Sharp, R.
Shaw, S.
Shepherd, G.
Sheppard, E.W.
Sheriff, J.G.
Shorrock, K.W.
Short, W.
Sibley, A.
Sibley, C.
Simmons, J.S.
Simmons, O.A.J.
Simpson, G.R.
Simpson, J.R.
Simpson, R.H.
Simpson, S.
Sinclair, G.W.
Sinclair, W.
Slade, S.J.
Slawson, W.
Small, W.
Smith, C.J.
Smith, D.E.
Smith, D.H.
Smith, G.
Smith, G.W.
Smith, H.
Smith, J.A.
Smith, R.
Snellock, R.A.
Sorley, J.N.
Spalding, R.F.J.
Sparrow, L.
Spelman, D.B.T.
Spence, W.G.
Spencer, A.K.
Spencer, C.J.
Spencer, H.
Spencer, W.H.
Spicer, H.H.
Squires, L.G.
Stables, G.
Stanbridge, H.W.
Standen, G.H.
Stanley, A.G.
Stanley, C.J.
Stannard, W.E.
Steele, C.A.
Steele, R.F.

Stemp, N.H.
Stephens, H.
Stephens, M.W.
Stephenson, J.G.
Stevens, H.J.
Stevenson, E.J.
Stevenson, J.
Stewart, D.C.C.
Stewart, H.
Stokes, H.J.
Stokes, J.L.
Stone, W.F.
Strickley, H.F.
Summersby, F.
Sumner, P.
Sutherland, H.J.
Talbot, F.G.
Tanner, B.C.
Targett, T.H.
Taylor, D.
Taylor, E.G.
Taylor, R.J.
Taylor, S.
Taylor, W.M.
Tee, J.G.
Tester, C.A.
Thirkell, R.
Thomas, R.A.
Thompson, J.
Thompson, R.
Thompson, R.
Thomson, J.
Thorne, L.F.
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Tidey, A.E.
Tiplady, T.
Todd, G.
Touse, J.W.
Townsend, T.H.
Trayfoot, A.G.
Treleaven, C.N.E.
Trenholm, T.W.
Trevett, E.M.
Trussler, L.G.
Tuckwood, W.S.
Turner, S.V.
Tutton, R.E.
Usmar, H.W.B.
Vass, B.
Vass, D.
Vass, H.
Vass, H.
Vine, J.
Wadsworth, A.H.
Wakefield, H.
Walker, C.
Walker, D.
Walker, E.
Walker, F.
Wallace, A.J.
Walton, J.H.
Ward, G.
Ward, G.
Ward, R.D.
Warner, L.J.
Warriner, J.B.
Waterfield, W.A.
Waterman, V.P.
Watkins, S.M.
Watson, G.
Watson, J.
Watson, R.H.
Watson, W.

[moscowexile]

My old next door neighbour, Tommy, served in the RN and was in Scapa when the Royal Oak was torpedoed. He told me that the old World War I "battlewagon" was nothing more than a floating barracks, too antiquated to put to sea and that the majority of those that died on board were new, green ratings.

My neighbour served in the navy throughout the Second World War; for the bulk of his war service he was a submariner.

He was also my workmate. He retired in 1980 when he was 65 years old; I was only a 30-year-old "lad" then. We both worked in the local coal mines. I used to be surprised at how many of my older workmates down the pit had been submariners during WWII.

My old mate, Tommy, had joined up immediately at the outbreak of the war so as to escape the drudgery of life "down the pit", volunteering for the RN. Not long after he had joined the Senior Sevice, coal mining was made a "restricted industry", namely one from which the manpower could not be drafted as it was too vital for the war effort.

He explained to me that the RN used to sort out the "pit lads" for "the silent service". The navy logic was simple: it was expensive to train a submariner and, no matter how well a trainee submriner had done during his induction and training, if he cracked up under the claustrophobic conditions of a WWII submarine, all that training had been a waste of time and money. Miners, they reckoned, would find living in a cramped, stuffy steel tube a piece of cake.

It seems, judging by the number of ex-submariners that I met working down the pit, that they were absolutely correct.

Tommy must be dead now, although he was still alive and kicking in 2003 when I last was in the UK.

He was a tough old nut.

[Kipparikalle]

It's nice to know that you have War Veterans as your neightbours.

And honor to the mens lost on that ship, I can't imagine the horror when being deep in the ship, the only way out is blocked by a door that got stuck on its place due to the blast of torpedoes, and watch as the water rises around you.

And honor to everyone lost on war(s)

[Freiwillige]

Yea I kind of whondered if I should not have posted all of the names of those lost but my excitment of sinking the Royal Oak was tempered by the research that followed that mission. After all there are 3 Martins on that ship and I am a Martin. Kinda strikes close to home if you know what I mean. A very sombre feeling.

Here's to those who were lost.

[quote]"He told me that the old World War I "battlewagon" was nothing more than a floating barracks, too antiquated to put to sea and that the majority of those that died on board were new, green ratings."

I beleive she was sea worthy and was out with the fleet right before the incedent.
Also Had Prein been to Scapa a few days earlier he would have caught the majority of the northern fleet at anchor. A great what if scenario.

I found out that she had just been out to sea looking for the Scharnhorst early oktober but her sea speed of less than 20 kts was holding up the fleet and also she was battered by the winter storms and was in bad shape when she returned to scapa.

[moscowexile]

Oh she was seaworthy, all right, but slow and well past her "sell-by" date. She was antiquated because the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty prevented the construction of "state-of-the-art" big-gun capital ships: the Kriegsmarine tore up the Washington Treaty when Bismark and Deutschland etc. were built.

In fact, all capital, big-gun ships were past their sell-by date in 1939. But the "big-gun" admirals yearned for a classic surface fleet action, another Trafalgar as it were, just as they did in round one, 1914-1918.

The penny finally dropped for the British "big-gun" admirals when H.M.S. Prince of Wales and H.M.S. Repulse were sunk by Japanese aircraft in 1942; the U.S. navy still lined up its beautiful, magnificent battleships in "Battleship Alley", Pearl Harbor until December 1940, in preparation for the day when they too might have to have a surface "Schlagfest" with the Imperial Japanese fleet.

With the U.S. navy too, the penny also quickly and bloodily dropped about the the role of navy "wings" and at Midway neither fleet saw each other, the contest being determined by airpower.

My former neighbour told me that many of the Royal Oak ratings were "boy sailors": in the Royal Navy you could become a "boy sailor" at 15.

"Jack" Cornwell VC was only 16 when he died of wounds received at the Battle of Jutland, 1916: he was a gun-layer on the cruiser H.M.S. Chester with a rating of "Boy Sailor First Class". Jack Cornwell stayed at his post, a 5.5 inch gun, even though the rest of the crew had been slain and he had received mortal wounds in his chest from shell plinters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cornwell

Like the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor, H.M.S. Royal Oak remains to this day a 29,000 ton tomb.

[bigboywooly]

Aye the Oak was seaworthy but deemed too slow to keep up with the rest of the fleet
Luftwaffe ariel shots had shown the bulk of the home fleet in Scapa before U 47 got her orders
Unfortunately the fleet had sailed in response to a German ploy to bring them out
The Oak was left behind and the fleet docked at Loch Ewe leaving the old Oak as the only major target left in Scapa by the time Prien got there