Sub Commander set to shore

[August]

Originally Posted by edjcox

The boat was leaving the harbor in shallow water on the surface during very bad weather with wind / waves

The boat was being escorted by British surface vessels (these ende up spotting and help rescue crewman.

The Subs lifelines were probably being dismatled and taken down in preparation for extended subsurface operations.

The crewman normally are required to wear lifevests during any deck operations.

I understand they were not tethered to the boat and as a result the errant wave washed them off deck and then waves pinned them to the boats side causing injury and as we now know two deaths.

Waves were pretty intense and cross chopped causing extreme difficulty. Water temperature was very cold...


We always tethered those on deck. Except Conning tower... Tethers were easily used to return sailors to boat even if unconcious.

Not sure but I guess deck operations protocls were not followed for some reason...

From what I understand the dead sailors were indeed tethered to the deck and after going over the side were repeatedly bashed against the hull by the wave action. The two that survived were divers and were not tethered.