A SUBMARINE'S ESCAPE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 142, 13 December 1939, Page 12

A SUBMARINE'S ESCAPE

After the success of the GermEu. drive into Poland and the cutting of the Polish war vessels off from their bases, the surviving submarines, or, more properly, submarine minelayers, were forced to surrender. The Zbik, which had been at sea for three weeks and had exhausted her supplies, surrendered to the Swedes and was disarmed and interned. The Zbik is a sister-ship to the Wilk, which escaped with the Orzel to England. The Orzel was not in quite the same plight, for her visit to Tallinn, in Estonia, is now revealed to have been for the purpose of landing the captain, who had collapsed through illness. Her escape was made possible, as was revealed a day or two ago, by the action of- the 20----year-old engineer and sub-lieutenant, who, knowing nothing of navigation, led a small band of members of the crew to the ship, from which all maps and books had been removed, save one containing the navigating lights of the Baltic, overpowered the guard, and put to sea. After this Russian and German planes and ships hunted for the vessel for some. time. It will be recalled that the escape of this submarine, which the Estonians said they had fired upon, was one of the reasons for the shortness of temper revealed by the Russians in dealing with Estonia when presenting their demands for concessions from that State. Estonian, explanations of the incident were thought unsatisfactory in Moscow. The Orzel. the adventurous voyage of which must have ended about a month ago, is a new ship and was built in the Netherlands. She is of 2200 h.p., doing 19 knots on the surface, and mounts one 4.2 in gun and one I.6in gun. The Wilk was built in 1932, is of about 1000 tons, does 14 knots when not submerged, and mounts one 4in and one 2-pounder gun and six 21.7 in torpedo tubes. She can also carry 40 mines.