NAVAL DISASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20303, 10 July 1929, Page 11

NAVAL DISASTER.

SUBMARINE SUNK.

DRITiSH CRAFT COLLIDE.

ONE A TOTAL LOSS.

OXLY TWO SL'UVIVOKS.

CREW OF TWENTY-TWO.

Ev Telegraph— Press Association —C opyriplit. Australian n,, d N . Press Association. (Received July 10. 1-V> a.m.) LONDON. July :> The Admiralty ."nnounces that the British submarine 1147 «a< stink by submarine Ll2 in St. George's Channel, 12 miles north west of St. David's Head, Pembrokeshire. The sunken craft carried a crew of 22 oflicers and men. Of these there were oil I v two survivors.

The complement of the 1.12 numbered Zb, of whom one man is missing.

The officers of the 1147 included Lieutenant-Commander !!• S. Gardner, Lieutenant 11. W. M'.ir and Sub-

Lieutenant R. G. Cronin. The lost submarine, which was launched in 1918, was attached lo the Sixth Submarine Flotilla, and had been acting as a tender to the depot-ship Vulcan.

The two survivors from tlie 1147 are an officer and a telegraphist. The authorities have not yet v received irformatiou as to the circumstances of the disaster.

I'lie 1147 was one of the several boats ot the II class constructed in 191S by Messrs. Beardmore. They are single-hull boats of the Holland type, with a displacement of about 450 tons, and were built under tiie War Emergency Programme. They are 164 ft. long, with two Diesel engines, and four torpedo tubes, and no mounted guns. Several of the \esscls of this class have, for some time been on the disposal list. The Ll2 is one of the class built fiom 1916 onward. They are from 890 to 1000 tons, with a complement of 36 men. The Vulcan is a sloop, and was recently attached to the Portland submarine flotilla.

The British submarine 1129 suddenly sank in the Devonport Basin on August 9, 1926. The craft at the time was drawing alongside her moorings. Six men, four of them civilians, were carried down with the vessel and drowned. the others either leaping on to the wall of the basin or else diving into the water. In addition to her crew of 22 officers and men the H 29 had on board a number of dockyard workers.

As the vessel went alongside the wall cf the basin the commander noticed that something was wrong and immediately shouted to the lieutenant to close the water-tight doors. Her second officer, Lieutenant M. E. Wcvell, dashed below to close the doors, but apparently was too late, and the water, pouring into the submarine, forced him through the conningtower to the surface, where lie was rescued unconscious. He revived after artificial respiration. An eye-witness stated that the submarine suddenly heeled over to starboard and sank within two minutes.

At the inquest on the victims two officers stated that an order was given to take in water to trim the vessel. The thief stoker misinterpreted, this order and flooded the tanks. The jury found that the men died of suffocation due to the foundering of the ship, which was the result of a misconception of an order. The coroner said it was impossible to blame anyone for the' mistake.