The Last Dawn E-Book

David Turner

• Herausgeber: Birlinn
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 121

Beschreibung

On 14 October 1939, HMS Royal Oak, one of the British navy's top battleships, was destroyed at the Royal Navy's main anchorage at Scapa Flow, Orkney. The audacious attack, by a German U-boat, was the first major blow against Britain of the Second World War. Over 800 lives were lost, including sailors as young as 14. This book is a revealing account of the tragedy. Told through declassified photographs and naval records, as well as statements from survivors, it is a dramatic and moving reassessment of one of the most shattering events in British naval history.

Leseprobe

The eldest son of a senior civil servant to the Admiralty, David Turner was born in Plymouth and left the city with his brother after it was bombed by the Luftwaffe in the early days of World War II.

After attending Wellingborough, Glossop and Urmston Grammar Schools, he was trained at RAF Cranwell and continued his association with aviation until leaving British European Airways in 1954. Qualified in engineering and marketing, he has held several senior posts in industry, including the British Steel Corporation. He has lived in the north-west of England for many years and has contributed to radio and television programmes in England and Scotland.

Previous pages. HMSRoyal Oak.

Permission: The Trustees of the ImperialWar Museum, London FL 12252

This edition published in 2022 byOrigin, an imprint of

Birlinn LimitedWest Newington House10 Newington RoadEH9 1QS

www.birlinn.co.uk

First published by Melrose Books, Ely in 2004 as The Ultimate Sacrifice

Subsequently published by Argyll Publishing, Glendaruel in 2008 as Last Dawn

Text copyright © David Turner 2008 and 2022

The right of David Turner to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher

ISBN: 978 1 78885 288 3

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Typeset by Mark Blackadder

Printed and bound by Gutenberg Press Ltd, Malta

Foreword – Rear Admiral M.B. Alabaster

Preface to the 2022 edition

Preface to the first edition

HMSRoyal Oak – profile plan

Introduction

HMSRoyal Oak Inquiry

1. The Lost Years

2. The Life of Ralph Lennox Woodrow-Clark RN

3. The Sinking of the Royal Oak

4. Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien and the U-Bootwaffe

5. The Roll Call of the Royal Oak

6. Rescue

7. Funeral of the Royal Oak Crew

8. Boys on HMSRoyal Oak

9. Survivors of HMSRoyal Oak

10. Scapa Flow and the Churchill Barriers

11. ‘Spies’ at Scapa Flow

12. World War II British Battleships

HMSRoyal Oak timeline

Epitaph

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

IN MEMORY OF MY LATE UNCLE

Commander Ralph Lennox Woodrow-Clark RN 1905–1939

This book is also dedicated to the many officers and men who lost their lives, the survivors, and their families and relatives.

More than eighty years have passed and with them the rationale for great battleships such as HMSRoyal Oak. In their place, the navies of the world have embraced technology and developed new ships to meet very different challenges. Some of these challenges are centuries old but with a modern twist; for example, piracy, safe passage for commercial trade and homeland defence. However, others – such as the need to counter the threat of global terrorism – require completely new thinking and methods. Accordingly, the Royal Navy, although considerably smaller now than in HMSRoyal Oak’s day, remains at the forefront of modern maritime thinking, with new ships and submarines entering service each year.

However, such ‘hardware’ is useless without the wherewithal to use it effectively, and it is the ethos of sailors, Royal Marines and members of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary that now – as it did in 1939 – underpins the modern Royal Navy. That ethos – a mixture of loyalty, professionalism and leadership – is itself built on the sacrifices, losses and victories of previous generations.

This is why David Turner’s book is important. It not only serves to remind us of the 835 men who died on HMSRoyal Oak, but also the sacrifices of those men and women of all three services who are serving around the world today. Their ethos, as well as the memory of HMSRoyal Oak, will endure.

M.B. AlabasterRear Admiral (Rtd), Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland, 2008–11

‘Lest we Forget’80th Anniversary

When the tragedy of the sinking of HMSRoyal Oak at Scapa Flow in World War II finally passes out of direct human memory, we, as a nation, will say farewell to a generation of people who, for all their human failings, gave and lost so much in the pursuit of a war, the effects of which we still feel today, and some of the lessons of which still have not been learned.

Commencing on 7 October 2019, a series of events to mark the eightieth anniversary of the sinking of HMSRoyal Oak took place in Orkney. A service of remembrance was held at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall on Sunday 13th, and later that day there was a poppy-planting session at the Royal Oak Memorial Garden at Scapa. In all, 1,239 wooden poppies were planted – one for each crew member aboard on the night of the sinking. There was a strong Royal Navy as well as a local presence, but there was no-one who had been on board the ship that fateful night in October 1939: the last survivor, Arthur Smith, had died in December 2016.

That evening at the King Street Halls, Kirkwall, a presentation entitled ‘An Evening with HMS Royal Oak’ was hosted by the Royal Oak Association, the Royal Oak Eighty Survey (a collaboration between the local civilian survey team headed by Emily Turton, the Royal Navy Northern Dive Group and the Royal Oak Association) and the Lord Lieutenant of Orkney.

The day of the anniversary itself began with a service at the Garden of Remembrance at Scapa. A further act of remembrance over the wreck of the Royal Oak itself followed, during which 835 red carnations and a number of biodegradable wreaths were placed in the water.

Also during that week, the Royal Navy Northern Dive Group carried out their annual survey of the wreck and replaced the Royal Naval ensign, and a special display of objects from the ship was displayed at the Orkney Museum in Kirkwall. Entitled ‘Remembering HMSRoyal Oak 1939–2019’, the exhibition featured a plethora of relics from the ship and ran until 26 October.

It was always thought that 833 crew members lost their lives during the tragedy, but recent information has come to light which increases that tally to 835 – a potent reminder of the sacrifice of so many men and boys at the start of what turned out to be the most devastating conflict the world has ever seen.

David TurnerMay 2022

Ships are the biggest mobile structures on Earth, and to this status the battleship added another dimension. Battleships had to stay afloat in the face of attacks from torpedoes, bombs, mines and shells. In addition, they had to withstand the tremendous shock of firing their own ordnance, as well as provide a home for their crew.

The battleship dominated the oceans for less than a century but left a legacy of action and power even after the disasters that showed how vulnerable they could be. A nation’s strength was often determined by the number of its battleships. The aircraft carrier, a despised rival, usurped the position of the battleship as a capital ship within months of the outbreak of World War II.

This book is the story of the first great tragedy of World War II, told to remember the 835 men of the battleship Royal Oak who made the supreme sacrifice on 14 October 1939. Her loss left parents, wives, children and whole families mourning the loss of dear sons, loving husbands, gentle fathers and close relatives.

My uncle, Ralph Lennox Woodrow-Clark, met his end that night on the Royal Oak, and this book is dedicated to his memory.

David Turner

HMSRoyal Oak – profile plan

Architectural drawing of HMSRoyal Oak, stamped 1936, during repair at her port of origin, Devonport. The Royal Oak was laid down on 15 January, launched in the November of that year and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 15 January 1916. She saw service at the Battle of Jutland, which proved to be the last capital-ship big-fleet battle of the twentieth century. Permission: National Maritime Museum.

The Royal Oak is now a war grave. The sinking, during the early weeks of World War II, was a national disaster. Although she was over twenty-five years old, the battleship was considered to be robust and strong enough to resist enemy attack. This faith proved to be unfounded.

The Royal Oak was the last and largest battleship to be built at Devonport. She was nearly 600ft long with a maximum width of 100ft. She was armed with eight 15-inch guns contained in four turrets, plus an assemblage of twelve 6-inch guns, eight 4-inch anti-aircraft guns and four 21-inch torpedo tubes. The warship was well armoured with 13 inches of steel that extended 5ft below her water line. She was capable of 20 knots at top speed powered by 40,000 horsepower oil-fuelled engines. A crew of nearly 1,100 men was needed.

Lieutenant Ralph Lennox Woodrow-Clark in dress uniform.

It was a dark and cold winter evening on 14 October 1939. I was nine years old and had arrived home from school to find my mother crying in the kitchen of our house at Laira in Plymouth.

I asked, “Why are you crying, Mummy?” She told me that the BBC Home Service had reported late that morning an announcement by the Secretary to the Admiralty:

It is with regret that I have to announce that the battleship HMSRoyal Oak has been sunk, it is believed by U-boat action. Fifteen survivors have been landed.

My uncle, Ralph Lennox Woodrow-Clark, my mother’s elder brother, was a senior officer on board the Royal Oak when she was torpedoed and sunk at Scapa Flow. His grave is in the Lyness Royal Navy Cemetery on the island of Hoy between Mill Bay and Ore Bay. Educated at the Royal Naval Colleges of Dartmouth and Greenwich, his future had promised promotion to the highest ranks.

I made a promise to my mother that one day I would visit his last resting place. It was to be a further sixty-four years before I was able to fulfil that promise.

The untimely death of my uncle became even more harrowing to his family and friends when it became known that he had been promoted to the rank of commander and was due to take up a new post in one of His Majesty’s Royal Navy capital ships.

U-boat Warfare, 17 October 1939

Mr A.V. Alexander:

(By private notice) asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will make a statement in regard to the sinking of the battleship Royal Oak and also on the progress of the U-boat warfare?

The First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr Churchill):

The battleship Royal Oak was sunk at anchor by a U-boat in Scapa Flow at approximately 1.30 a.m. on the 14th instant. It is still a matter of conjecture how the U-boat penetrated the defences of the harbour. When we consider that during the whole course of the last war this anchorage was found to be immune from such attacks, on account of the obstacles imposed by the currents and the net barrages, this entry by a U-boat must be considered as a remarkable exploit of professional skill and daring. A Board of Inquiry is now sitting at Scapa Flow to report upon all that occurred, and anything that I say must be subject to revision in the light of their conclusions.

It appears probable that the U-boat fired a salvo of torpedoes at the Royal Oak, of which only one hit the bow or anchor chain. This muffled explosion was at the time attributed to internal causes, and what is called the inflammable store, where the kerosene and other such materials are kept, was flooded. Twenty minutes later the U-boat fired three more torpedoes, and these striking in quick succession caused the ship to capsize and sink. She was lying at the extreme end of the harbour, and, therefore, many officers and men were drowned before rescue could be organised from other vessels. The lists of survivors have already been made public, and I deeply regret to inform the House that upwards of 800 officers and men have lost their lives. The Admiralty immediately announced the loss of this fine ship. Serious as this loss is, it does not affect the margin of security in heavy vessels which remains ample. Meanwhile an intensive search of the anchorage has not yet yielded any results. It is clear, however, that after a certain time the harbour can be pronounced clear, as any U-boat would have to rise to the surface for air or perish. All necessary measures are being taken to increase the precautions which in the late war proved effectual. For the rest I must await the report of the Board which is now examining the event in full technical detail …

Neville Chamberlain’s War Cabinet in 1939.

In the back row, left to right, are:

Sir Kingsley Wood (Secretary of State for Air)

Winston Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty)

Leslie Hore-Belisha (Secretary of State for War)

and Lord Hankey (Minister without Portfolio)

Seated in front, left to right, are:

Lord Halifax (Foreign Secretary)

Sir John Simon (Chancellor of the Exchequer)

Neville Chamberlain (Prime Minister)

Sir Samuel Hoare (Lord Privy Seal)

and Lord Chatfield (Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence).

Mr Alexander:

May we on this side of the House join with the First Lord of the Admiralty in his general tribute to the personnel of the Royal Navy and the Mercantile Marine? May we also add our very deep sympathy with the relatives of those who have lost their lives in the sinking of the Royal Oak? May I ask the First Lord whether he is aware, as I am sure he must be, that the circumstances which he has been bound to report are very disturbing, and that perhaps we ought to know whether, at the outbreak of the war, there was or was not a systematic survey carried out at the place quoted to ensure that it still remained a safe naval anchorage? May I also ask whether we can be assured now that during the whole of the period since that survey there have been maintained properly at all times the boom defences required?