The 60th anniversary of a naval tragedy was marked with a commemorative ceremony earlier today.
Submarine HMS Truculent sank after colliding with a Swedish oil tanker in the Thames Estuary.
Sixty-four men – including servicemen and 18 Chatham Dockyard workers – lost their lives.
The memorial service was organised by the Medway branch of the Submariners Association as a tribute and a mark of respect for those who were killed.
More than 170 guests attended the service at the St George’s Centre, Chatham.
HMS Truculent was lost after collided with the merchant ship the Divina oil tanker while making its way back to Sheerness following a refit in Chatham Dockyard.
Survivor Frederick Henley’s memories of the terrible incident have been published on the Sheerness Heritage Centre website.
It reads: “It had been an uneventful day. With 18 civilians aboard – fitters, electricians and son on from the naval dockyard – we mustered 79 men.
“Few would survive the horror that was to come.
“I was a leading seaman at the time, and the Royal Navy was my life.
“After two or three years on subs, I thought I knew the ropes.
“But when the order came from the bridge to bring up the Manual of Seamanship, I was a bit surprised. I had never known anybody to want that particular textbook – a pretty hefty volume – before.
“It was a cold, dark night, the sky pricked with brightly shining stars. I didn’t see the tanker ploughing inexorably towards us.
“I had no means of knowing that the officers on the bridge had been puzzled by the arrangement of lights on an approaching ship and had sent for the seamanship manual to check them.
“As events were to prove, the manual did not help either them of HMS Truculent – but it certainly saved my life.”
Only 20 survivors were picked up, 15 by the tanker five more by the Dutch ship Almdjik.
Those who were not rescued were swept away by the strong currents and died due to the hypothermia.
The submarine was salvaged more than a month later, where it was beached on Cheney Spit before being moved further inshore the following day.
After being refloated on March 23, 1950, the submarine was towed back to its original destination of Sheerness, before being sold and broken up for scrap.
As a result of the collision between the submarine and the merchant ship, a port control system was developed.
The ‘Truculent Light’ was also developed, which is an extra all round white light on the bow of British submarines to ensure that they remain visible to other shipping traffic.
The submarine was commissioned at the end of 1942 and played a key role in the war efforts.
Despite spending most of the time in Pacific waters, HMS Truculent did spend the early part of 1943 in the waters around Britain, sinking a German U-boat on its first war time patrol.
POSTED: 12/01/2010 16:42:10
Bookmark with:
Email to a friend: