SUNKEN SUBMARINE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17246, 12 January 1924, Page 2

SUNKEN SUBMARINE

RESULT OF BEING RAMMED. LITTLE HOPE FOR CREW. By i elegraph—Press Association—Copyright Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received January 12, 10.40 a.m.> LONDON, January 11. It is believed that the submarine L 24 was engaged in a dummy attack on a battleship at the time of the disaster. The Vickers Company built the submarine in 1919. She carried a complement of thir tv-eight and was equipped with three periscopes, one of which was specially adapted for night work. The submarine was 231 feet long and had a speed of 17£ knots on the surface, and 104 knots under water. Lieutenant-Commander Eddis, who was commanding the submarine, served in the El 3 when the latter grounded at Saltho’m, on August 19, 1913. The submarine was later interned at Copenhagen. Lieutenant Donald Howell Barton, second in command was, as a midshipman, commended for bravery at the landing on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. According to the naval authorities a great deal depends upon how the L 24 was struck. There is a remote possibility that the crew were able to close the watertight compartments in which case they may possibly survive forty-eight hours. The L 24 was a mine sower and carried fourteen live mines. A mine sweeping flotilla continues sweeping the whole area. It is the usual practice when the fleet are leaving or entering the Channel for an aerial or submarine attack to take place from Portsmouth or Devonport. It was during such a dummy attack that the Resolution rammed the L 24. The disaster followed a collision between the submarines K2 and Kl2, in which the K2 s bows were smashed in. It is officially estimated that the L 24 is lying in thirty fathoms ot water, eleven miles southward of Portland Hill. Litile hope is entertained lor tne crew. Apparently the submarine was rammed by the Resolution in mist during a very heavy swell. A diving party will descend in tile morning. A lighter, specially adapted lor raising suomannes, is being rushed to the spot to try and salvage the L 24. Ihe disaster occurred during a fog, after the vessels ot tne Atlantic Fleet had altered tney course into the Channel at the beginning of the spring cruise.