THE CHINA MAIL, JUNE 2, 1989.
British Submarine Disaster Feared
FAILS TO COME UP AFTER A DIVE
One Hundred Men On Board
London, To-day.
Anxiety was being felt in London last night over
the fate of the new British submarine Thetis. After diving during her trials off Birkenhead yes-
terday she has not been seen again.
Thetis was reported “a few hours overdue," and it was announced that the Admiralty are “taking all possible steps."
AIR PATROLS
Cammell Laird's, builders of the submarine, stated she has on board 20 members of their staff "His Majesty's warships are now and a number of Admiralty ex-in perts.
the position where the sub- marine was last reported. Air
The submarine left Cammell | patrols Laird's yard at 10 o'clock yesterday morning accompanied by a tug.
"SOMETHING AMISS"
organised by the R.A.F. were carried out before dark and will resume operations at daylight to-morrow.
OTHER BRITISH SUBMARINE TRAGEDIES
Disasters to submarines of the Royal Navy since the Great War have taken a toll of 218 lives.
The full list is as follows: Submarine L-24 sunk off Port- land on January 10, 1924, in colli- sion with the battleship Resolute, with a loss of 48 lives.
Submarine M-1 sunk in collision in the English. Channel on No- vember 11, 1925. Dead totalled 69.
Submarine H-47 in collision with sister submarine L-12 on July 9, 1929, when 21 were lost.
Submarine Poseidon sunk in colision with Chinese steamer Yuta off Weihaiwei on June 9, 1931, with a loss of 20 lives. This was the first occasion, when the Davis escape apparatus was suc- cessfully used.
Submarine M-2 sunk off Port- land Bill on January 26, 1932, with a loss of 60 of her crew.
"The 6th Destroyer Flotilla, the has never been tested in a real emer- 1st Minesweeper Flotilla, sub-
gency, and up to now has been kept It is understood that the Ad-marines and H.M.S. Belfast are
a secret. miralty later received a message | proceeding at full speed to render from the tug that something was all assistance possible. amiss.
All warships in the vicinity have been sent to the scene to join in the hunt, and other naval boats within a reasonable radius are dashing to the spot.
Thetis was .commissioned at Portland on March 4. She has a service complement of 53 officers and men and is 265 feet in length and has a tonnage of between 1,000 and 1,500.
She carries one 4-inch gun and six torpedo tubes and has a speed of over 15 knots. She cost £350,000.
DAVIS ESCAPE APPARATUS
Every submarine in the Royal Navy
since the Poseidon disaster in Chin- ese waters off Weihaiwei has been fitted with two specially constructed escapo hatches by which in an emergency the crew may.. escape through airlocks.
Sufficient sets of Davis - sub- - merged escape apparatus, supply
ing oxygen, are provided in every submarine for every member of
the crew.
buoys
In addition, every submarine is atted with two special indicator which can be released from the inside and come to the surface to show the submarine's position to surface craft.
AT LEAST 57 ON BOARD An Admiralty statement issued at 11 o'clock last night said: "The Admiralty regrets to announce that the submarine Thetis, which Was
carrying out acceptance trials in Liverpool Bay, dived at 1.40 p.m. and has failed to appear.
"She is manned by a naval crew ratings, and
of five officers other officers
there were also
on board and certain of the build ers technicians, the exact number of whom is not yet known.
"Captain I.A.P. MacIntyre, Chief of Staff to the Rear-Admiral, Sub- marines, has proceeded in H.M.S. Winchelsea to take charge of opera- tions."-Reuter.
3-HOUR MANOEUVRE.
London, To-day, Before diving, the Thetis carried out a number of surface evolutions successfully.
The submarine dived at 1.30 for which manoeuvre an underwater was to last three hours, but did not come to the surface at 4.30, when she should have appeared.
An Admiralty statement issued at midnight says that five officers and 48 men were on board, while a statement by Cammell Laird's says that 30 employees of the yard were in the submarine.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
At midnight it was stated at the Admiralty that it was believed the submarine was in Liverpool Bay about 15 miles east of Holyhead.
A radio message from the tug Vigilant said that the had probably covered 25 miles below the surface, and the tug expected it. would be three hours before she reached the scene of the accident.
submarine
SAFE FOR 35 HOURS
The Admiralty believes the sub- marine can remain under water for about 35 hours.
The Thetis belongs to the "Tri- ton" class and was launched on June 29 last year as the second submarine of this class built at the order of the Admiralty placed in 1986.
only
Construction, however, was begun on December 21, 1936.
The submarine's speed is stated to be 25.9 knots on the surface and 15 submerged.
the
According to the Admiralty the “UNTOWARD INCIDENT". submarine is believed to be at a depth of 22 fathoms. The Cam- The Navy List designates mell Laird tug, Vigilant, is still near Triton type as a "patrol type for the spot where the sub-general service.". marine submerged, while the de- First news of the disaster came stroyer H.M.S. Brazen has reached to Cammell Laird's in a telegram the approximate spot where thefrom the Admiralty at 9.45 last submarine had last been located. night_stating it was believed some The destroyers which are dash-untoward incident had occurred. ing to the scene are of the Tribal Trang-Ocean. class and are equipped with special apparatus for locating the wreck. Other units are proceeding to the spot from Weymouth.
Part of the crews of these war ships were on shore leave and were recalled by announcements thrown on cinema screens.
IN LIVERPOOL BAY? An Admiralty announcement says the rescue warships are all equipped with the most up to date submarine salvage equipment, some of which
MISHAP THEORY
on
* London, To-day. It is now understood that als together there are 100 men board Thetis. If so, the submarine has sufficient air to remain sub- merged for 86 hours,
ESPIONAGE IN
AMERICA
WASHINGTON, TO-DAY. THERE IS A GREAT DEAL MORE ESPIONAGE ON THE WEST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES THAN EVER BE- FORE, ACCORDING TO MR. MURPHY, ATTORNEY-GEN. ERAL.
Mr. Murphy announced yester- day that the Department of Jus- tice is tightening up counter- espionage activities on the West Coast, where a number of mili- tary and naval aviation bases have made special vigilance ne- cessary. Reuter.
YEN SLUMP
Shanghai, To-day. The yen displayed further weakness this morning, buyers paying as low as 93 National cents-Reuter.
has put her electrical equipment out of action, as there are several wrecks in the vicinity of the spot where she dived. Reuter.
LOCATED
London, To-day.
It has just been announced at the offices of Cammell Laird's at Birkenhead that Thetis has been located.
The secretary of the com ̈ ̈ pany told the waiting crowd of relatives and friends of the men on board and a burst of cheering rang out, with cries of "Thank goodness, at least that's something."
The secretary told Reu- ter the submarine was lo- cated by means of a mark bomb dropped from an aeroplane.
"I cannot tell you the posi- tion of the vessel," he added.
Twenty-one warships besides other surface craft, have been converging on Liverpool Bay in order to scour a wide area, using searchlights and flares.
Amateur wireless operators listening on short-wave sets state that last night they heard salvage boat messages to the effect that the position of the Was seven miles submarine was from the Mersey Bar, lying in 30 fathoms of water.
This meant that the sunken craft is about 25
from
Liverpool, nearesort, than
was thought.Reuter.
THE OFFICERS
According to the April Navy List, Thetis is commanded by Lieutenant- Commander G. H. Bolup,
Thetls-is believed to have sunk In 22 fathoms, but the exact pagi-
Other officers on board are believ tion is not yet, known and every effort le being made to locate hered to be Lt - Chapman Lt. F. Officials fear Thetle may have G. Woods, Lt, WAW.Poland and struck a submerged object which Engineer -Commander R. D. Glen.