Saturday 7 January 2012

January 7th - On This Date


1909 C31 Submarine HMS C31 laid down
1915 E36 Submarine HMS E36 laid down
1995 Victorious Submarine HMS Victorious completed
1940 HMS Undine HMS Undine was on her fourth war patrol in January 1940 when her asdic failed due to a leak. At 0940 on 7th January, Undine sighted what was thought to be three trawlers 20 miles west of Heligoland; but were in fact German minesweepers. Undine unsuccessfully attacked the leading vessel; minutes later there was a large explosion followed by others as the minesweepers opened fire. Undine was at 50 feet and proceeding blind due to the loss of asdic. After 5 minutes of no further attacks Undine raised her periscope as she did so an explosion shook the submarine, blowing her upwards and rendering the hydroplanes useless. Without the use of the hydroplanes escape would have been impossible and the order to abandon ship was give. Whilst the crew entered the water, to be picked up by the minesweepers, demolition charges were set and the submarine scuttled.
1940 HMS Seahorse HMS Seahorse sunk

On 26th December 1939 HMS Seahorse sailed from Rosyth for patrol off the east coast of Denmark. Four days later she shifted position to the entrance of the Elbe. She did not return on her due date of 9th January 1940. It was first thought that she had been mined but German records, examined after the war, suggested she was the victim of the German First Minesweeper Flotilla which reported a sustained depth charge attack on an unidentified submarine on 7th January 1940. Thanks to the research of Mr Bob Coppock of the RN Historical Branch, it is now accepted that Seahorse was mined while moving between Zones E and B in the Heligoland Bight. The wreck has been discovered off the Danish coast.
1941 Rover HMS Rover attacks the Italian merchant Edda with four torpedoes about 15 nautical miles west-north-west of Tobruk, Libya. All torpedoes missed and Rover was damaged by depth charges from the Italian torpedo boats Clio und Castore.
1960 Polaris Launch of first fully-guided flight of Polaris missile at Cape Canaveral (flew 900 miles)

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