Latest news with #U-boat
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- General
- Irish Independent
Wreck of Irish fishing vessel sunk by U-boat in World War II finally found off Donegal coast
Just over 85 years after the steam trawler Leukos went missing with 11 young fishermen on board, the wreck of the vessel has been located by diver and submariner John Kearney's commercial submersible in 105 metres of water. Mr Kearney, a former Naval Service diver, is now hoping to contact relatives of those who died in the attack – from Dublin, England and Scotland – with a view to laying a plaque on the wreck after further examination. Mystery has surrounded why the 216-tonne trawler was targeted by the German submarine U-38 (Heinrich Liebe), and whether it was trying to use its neutrality as an Irish-owned vessel to shield five British fishing vessels from enemy fire. Owned by the Dublin Steam Trawling Co Ltd, the Leukos had been working in Donegal Bay close to five vessels from Fleetwood, England, at the time. Video footage which Mr Kearney recorded from his submersible, Atlantic Explorer 2, shows that the bow of the vessel is missing – indicating that it may have been cut in two. The research website states that at 9.13pm on March 9, 1940, the neutral Leukos, under skipper James Potter Thomasson (28), was attacked without warning by submarine U-38 about 48km north-west of Tory. It says that the U-boat spotted six trawlers near Tory, and thought they were forming a patrol line. It says the U-boat had surfaced and fired a shot from its deck gun at the Leukos. The shot is said to have hit the trawler's engine room, and it sank. The U-boat waited one hour and then continued its patrol. On board with Mr Thomasson, who was from Dublin, were fireman Michael Cullen (17) from Ringsend, Dublin, mate William Donnelly (no age recorded) from Blackpool, England, apprentice James Hawkins (17) from Ringsend, Dublin, cook Patricio McCarthy (42) from Dublin and chief engineer Alexander McLeod from Stornoway, Scotland. Also on board were young deckhands Thomas Mulligan and Anthony Pill from Dublin, bosun PJ Scanlon from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, second engineer Bernard Smith (23) from Marino, Dublin, and apprentice Robert Sumler (16) from Dublin. The Leukos was only reported missing on March 12, three days after the sinking, when it failed to return to Dublin. A lifeboat bearing the ship's logo was washed ashore near Scarinish on Tiree on the Scottish west coast on March 21, 1940. Mr Kearney, from Baltimore, Co Cork, has been involved in many search, rescue and recovery operations in Irish waters. Last year, he acquired the first of two commercial Dutch-built submersibles, as the craft offers a much larger window for working at depth than diving. There are many stories about what really happened, as some say that it was torpedoed The Atlantic Submersible 2, which he deployed off Donegal last week, can take three people to a depth of 300 metres for 18 hours. It is currently undertaking a number of searches around the coast for the non-profit company, Fastnet Maritime Heritage, he said. 'I had obtained the drawings of the Leukos, and knew the reported position where it was sunk 12 nautical miles north-west of Tory, so I would say that without doubt this is it. I picked a really calm day last week and began diving at 4am. I could see the rudder, the propeller, the engine space, but the wheelhouse had gone. 'A pod of dolphins met up with us and accompanied us on the dive and to the wreck and halfway back into Lough Swilly.' Mr Kearney says the Leukos hull requires further forensic examination, if funding is forthcoming. Seamus Bovaird, a director of the Inishowen Maritime Museum in Greencastle, Co Donegal, welcomed Mr Kearney's confirmation of the vessel's location, and said the Leukos had 'almost been forgotten about'. 'The crew who came from Ringsend and Dublin would be remembered in this area, and a wreath was laid for it at sea by a Greencastle vessel some years ago,' he said. 'There are many stories about what really happened, as some say that it was torpedoed and others say the U-boat started shelling the fleet, while there is another story that the Leukos tried to ram the submarine.' A total of 18 Irish vessels were sunk during the second world war, the first being the passenger ship Munster in Liverpool Bay in February 1940, a month before the Leukos. The late artist Kenneth King was commissioned by the Maritime Institute of Ireland to paint the Leukos as part of a series organised by the institute's president Des Branigan to commemorate the role of Irish seafarers during 'the Emergency'. Maritime historian Capt Frank Forde reported that 136 people died aboard the 16 ships lost and 14 fishermen died on two trawlers, including the Leukos.
Belfast Telegraph
4 days ago
- General
- Belfast Telegraph
Wreck of Irish fishing vessel sunk by U-boat in World War II finally found off Donegal coast
Just over 85 years after the steam trawler Leukos went missing with 11 young fishermen on board, the wreck of the vessel has been located by diver and submariner John Kearney's commercial submersible in 105 metres of water. Mr Kearney, a former Naval Service diver, is now hoping to contact relatives of those who died in the attack – from Dublin, England and Scotland – with a view to laying a plaque on the wreck after further examination. Mystery has surrounded why the 216-tonne trawler was targeted by the German submarine U-38 (Heinrich Liebe), and whether it was trying to use its neutrality as an Irish-owned vessel to shield five British fishing vessels from enemy fire. Owned by the Dublin Steam Trawling Co Ltd, the Leukos had been working in Donegal Bay close to five vessels from Fleetwood, England, at the time. Video footage which Mr Kearney recorded from his submersible, Atlantic Explorer 2, shows that the bow of the vessel is missing – indicating that it may have been cut in two. The research website states that at 9.13pm on March 9, 1940, the neutral Leukos, under skipper James Potter Thomasson (28), was attacked without warning by submarine U-38 about 48km north-west of Tory. It says that the U-boat spotted six trawlers near Tory, and thought they were forming a patrol line. It says the U-boat had surfaced and fired a shot from its deck gun at the Leukos. The shot is said to have hit the trawler's engine room, and it sank. The U-boat waited one hour and then continued its patrol. On board with Mr Thomasson, who was from Dublin, were fireman Michael Cullen (17) from Ringsend, Dublin, mate William Donnelly (no age recorded) from Blackpool, England, apprentice James Hawkins (17) from Ringsend, Dublin, cook Patricio McCarthy (42) from Dublin and chief engineer Alexander McLeod from Stornoway, Scotland. Also on board were young deckhands Thomas Mulligan and Anthony Pill from Dublin, bosun PJ Scanlon from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, second engineer Bernard Smith (23) from Marino, Dublin, and apprentice Robert Sumler (16) from Dublin. The Leukos was only reported missing on March 12, three days after the sinking, when it failed to return to Dublin. A lifeboat bearing the ship's logo was washed ashore near Scarinish on Tiree on the Scottish west coast on March 21, 1940. Mr Kearney, from Baltimore, Co Cork, has been involved in many search, rescue and recovery operations in Irish waters. Last year, he acquired the first of two commercial Dutch-built submersibles, as the craft offers a much larger window for working at depth than diving. There are many stories about what really happened, as some say that it was torpedoed The Atlantic Submersible 2, which he deployed off Donegal last week, can take three people to a depth of 300 metres for 18 hours. It is currently undertaking a number of searches around the coast for the non-profit company, Fastnet Maritime Heritage, he said. 'I had obtained the drawings of the Leukos, and knew the reported position where it was sunk 12 nautical miles north-west of Tory, so I would say that without doubt this is it. I picked a really calm day last week and began diving at 4am. I could see the rudder, the propeller, the engine space, but the wheelhouse had gone. 'A pod of dolphins met up with us and accompanied us on the dive and to the wreck and halfway back into Lough Swilly.' Mr Kearney says the Leukos hull requires further forensic examination, if funding is forthcoming. Seamus Bovaird, a director of the Inishowen Maritime Museum in Greencastle, Co Donegal, welcomed Mr Kearney's confirmation of the vessel's location, and said the Leukos had 'almost been forgotten about'. 'The crew who came from Ringsend and Dublin would be remembered in this area, and a wreath was laid for it at sea by a Greencastle vessel some years ago,' he said. 'There are many stories about what really happened, as some say that it was torpedoed and others say the U-boat started shelling the fleet, while there is another story that the Leukos tried to ram the submarine.' A total of 18 Irish vessels were sunk during the second world war, the first being the passenger ship Munster in Liverpool Bay in February 1940, a month before the Leukos. The late artist Kenneth King was commissioned by the Maritime Institute of Ireland to paint the Leukos as part of a series organised by the institute's president Des Branigan to commemorate the role of Irish seafarers during 'the Emergency'. Maritime historian Capt Frank Forde reported that 136 people died aboard the 16 ships lost and 14 fishermen died on two trawlers, including the Leukos.
Irish Independent
07-05-2025
- General
- Irish Independent
New gravestones in Kinsale mark today's 110th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania in World War 1
Ship stewards George Cranston and Richard Chamberlain, interred in a double grave, have new stones. The former was previously buried under the misnomer 'Craduck'. Newlywed passenger Margaret Shineman is buried in the same graveyard. The remains of her husband of only two weeks, James, washed up in Co Clare months after the sinking and were interred in Carrigaholt. The Cunard Line passenger vessel was about 20km off the Old Head of Kinsale when it was torpedoed without warning by the German submarine U-20, commanded by Walther Schwieger, on Friday, May 7, 1915. A total of 1,198 people died in the tragedy, with justification for the act of war heavily disputed. The German embassy in the US had taken out adverts proclaiming that passenger ships of belligerent countries were liable to attack in a zone drawn around these islands. Few believed the threat would be carried out and there were only a handful of cancellations before the Lusitania – an Atlantic liner which could easily outrun any U-boat on the surface – left New York for Liverpool on its final voyage. However, it was struck by Schwieger's last remaining torpedo as the U-boat headed home to Germany after a long patrol. The ship sank in only 18 minutes, compared with the two hours and 40 minutes it took the Titanic to sink three years earlier after hitting an iceberg in the mid-Atlantic. Last night, associates of the Signal Tower group, who administer a museum dedicated to the disaster, met at the Old Head to mark 10 years in existence, in the company of some relatives of victims and survivors. There will be a further ceremony today from 2pm, marking the hour of the attack.
NZ Herald
05-05-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Prince George's unexpected appearance offers glimpse of a King in training
'You know, it's very important you are here today,' Alfred Littlefield, a 101-year-old D-Day veteran, told him. 'It's days like this that we should use to talk about things like this, so the younger generation can have some understanding. There aren't many of us left.' Turning to Prince William, Littlefield added: 'You should be very proud'. Prince George's appearance at the Buckingham Palace event was not expected. The King, the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and the Duke of Kent were on the list to be there, along with the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, and a contingent of World War II veterans looked after by the Royal British Legion. After Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis joined the Royal family to watch the military procession in front of the Palace, it was expected that the children would retire for the day. But Prince George, his father said, was 'very keen' to hear more. 'What was it like when you were coming in?', he asked Littlefield, who swam onto a beach during the Normandy landings under heavy shelling. 'Pretty awful,' came the reply. The Princess of Wales introduced him to 99-year-old Charles Auborn, a gunner in the 90th City of London Regiment, saying: 'This is my son George, I was telling you about'. Auborn showed him photographs of the M4 Sherman tanks he operated during the war, with George asking: 'Were they hard to operate? It must have been very tough with the weather'. Dougie Hyde, 99, who joined the Merchant Navy in 1944 aged 18, said afterwards that the Prince — who had asked him if he had ever been shot at or saw a U-boat — was 'very polite and listened with interest'. Laughing, the Princess told one veteran that her son — who likely has a future in the Armed Forces — would 'have to practise his shooting like you'. The event was a small but significant step for the schoolboy Prince, with rare words in front of the cameras and an even rarer appearance outside the full family unit. While the public is used to seeing the young Princes and Princess together at family events — Sandringham, carol concerts and the occasional special engagement — this was the first sign of the first-born Wales at centre stage. Chaperoned closely by his parents, and heard to ask 'Papa' questions throughout the day, the Prince seemed to take it in his stride. Not since the late Queen Elizabeth II was alive have three generations of the Royal family worked together at such an event — the King, his heir, and his heir's heir. It underlined the Royal family's commitment to the Armed Forces, and the thread of continuity they can provide. With the late Queen and Prince Philip gone, the family's first-person experience of World War II service has faded. Their descendants are now determined to keep the nation's memories alive. Prince William, who has fiercely guarded his children's right to privacy and normality, gave the best insight into why this, above all others, was the moment for Prince George to join him. It was 'very important', he told veterans, for his son and all of the 'next generation' to hear their stories.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
How the Coast Guard sank a German U-boat off the North Carolina coast
After the Japanese aircraft carrier raid on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, followed by Germany's and Italy's declarations of war on the United States on the 11th, the three Axis navies adopted different strategies: Italy, seldom venturing out of the Mediterranean Sea, was primarily the British Royal Navy's problem; Japan's formidable fleet sought a buffer zone of islands and a decisive showdown with the U.S. Navy; and Germany's Kriegsmarine was a match for neither the Royal Navy, nor the rapidly growing U.S. Navy, with the exception of its submarine service. Based on its experience in World War I, German Adm. Karl Doenitz's new generation of submarines, operating in well-coordinated 'wolf packs,' challenged Britain's maritime power once more. With America's cargo ships added to their target menu, combat-experienced U-boat captains were dispatched to the Atlantic coast in Operation Paukenschlag, picking off U.S. ships with such ease that for the first half of 1942 that the Americans dubbed the waters between northeastern Virginia and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, as 'Torpedo Junction.' During that time, U-boat captains became so confident that on Feb. 28, 1942, U-578 torpedoed the destroyer Jacob Jones off Cape May, New Jersey; only 11 of its 114-man crew survived. Not until almost two months later, on the night of April 13, did another destroyer, Roper, exact revenge in a long fight off Cape Hatteras. The German U-85 went down with all 46 hands aboard — the first German U-boat sunk by a U.S. Navy ship since America entered the conflict. Despite that success, the expanding Battle of the Atlantic was still not going well for the U.S. Navy. As of May 8, 1942, the Germans had sunk 87 Allied merchantmen along the East Coast and the destroyer Jacob Jones, with just three U-boats lost. The next encounter would involve a branch of American service that was, and often still is, the butt of Navy jokes: the U.S. Coast Guard. On this occasion, that image was about to change. With most of the U.S. Navy's latest warships committed to fighting the Japanese, the Coast Guard supplemented the Atlantic fleet's arsenal with a 'Bucket Brigade' comprised of all the resources it had, including the Icarus, a 1932-vintage 165-foot-long, diesel-powered 'B' class cutter. Its captain, Lt. Cmdr. Maurice David Jester, was born in Chincoteague, Virginia, on May 13, 1889. He enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1917 as a surfman stationed at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. During the 1920s and early 1930s, he enforced Prohibition, hunting rum-runners along the eastern coast, and rose to chief boatswain's mate in 1935. From then through to 1939, he served off California and Oregon. After the Pearl Harbor attack, he was recalled east, where he was commissioned a lieutenant and, in January 1942, received his first command, Icarus. On May 8, Icarus left Staten Island, New York, for Key West, Florida. The following day, the vessel was zig-zagging its way off Cape Lookout, North Carolina, when the officer-on-deck called Jester to the bridge and reported their sonar man had picked up a 'mushy' contact 2,000 yards off the bow in 120 feet of water. Calling all hands to battle stations, 10 minutes later Jester was positioning Icarus to attack in the general direction of the unidentified blip when an explosion erupted 200 yards off the left side — the bogie was enemy, all right, and it had beaten him to the draw. Using his long-acquired knowledge of the region to deduce the enemy's underwater movements, Jester fired five depth charges from his Y-guns in a diamond pattern and noted large bubbles coming up. He followed that up six minutes later with another depth charge attack, followed by two more in a 'V' pattern, which produced more, bigger bubbles. In Cape Lookout's waters, submarine U-352 and its crew were indeed in trouble. Although 31 years old, its captain, Hellmut Rathke had only been commanding a U-boat since Aug. 27, 1941, and as a colleague, submarine ace Erich Topp, commented in a postwar interview, 'Rathke was less than the best option to command a U-boat.' In the course of two patrols in American waters he had thus far sunk precisely nothing. No doubt Icarus offered the prospect of sinking something, but as U-85′s fate showed, the Americans were learning and were not to be underestimated. Rathke struck first, launching two torpedoes at the approaching the cutter, but one missed and the other exploded. Thinking it had struck the target, Rathke surfaced to survey his victim, only to see Icarus still coming on with single 3-inch cannon and 20mm guns blazing — his torpedos had detonated against the sandy bottom of Cape Lookout. Rathke ordered his boat to submerge but found himself with limited room to maneuver or dive amid a deluge of depth charges. With U-352 too badly damaged to escape, Rathke saw no remaining alternative but to order abandon ship. As it surfaced, the sub broached, allowing the crew no exit except via the coming tower. Icarus' crew initially thought them swarming to their 88mm gun and fired their own guns at them until Jester, observing they were not making a surface fight of it, ordered 'cease fire' while U-352 went down for the last time. As Icarus disengaged, Jester radioed the 6th Naval District in Charleston, South Carolina, with the opening precis, 'Contacted submarine, destroyed same.' Fifteen of U-352′s crew were dead, leaving 33, including Rathke, in the water. Unsure of what to do, Jester signaled Navy headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, which advised him to just let the Germans drown. Jester, however, sought a second opinion from the 6th Naval District, which told him to go back and rescue them. Consequently, 40 to 45 minutes after the fight began, Icarus rescued 33 of U-352′s crew, whose arrival in the Charleston Navy Yard marked the first time foreign prisoners of war set foot on mainland American soil since 1815. Awarded the Navy Cross — the first of six earned by members of the U.S. Coast Guard — Jester reserved some serious remarks for his men: 'All stations were manned properly, and without confusion. Their conduct throughout was manifested with enthusiasm, alertness and devotion to duty.' Before they parted company, U-352′s submariners made a point of thanking Jester and his men for the treatment they'd received and even after the war Rathke sent a personal letter of thanks to his former adversary. Icarus and its sister ships of the Coast Guard would contribute much more to the Allied victory in the years to come. Jester retired in 1944 and died of heart disease on Aug. 31, 1957. He, his wife and his son, Clarence Baynard Jester — who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II — are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. U-352 lies where it sank in 110 feet as an artificial reef and historic site, popularly visited by scuba divers.
