HMS Seal (N37) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

HMS Seal was one of six ships of the Grampus-class

Grampus class submarine

The Grampus-class submarines were a group of minelaying submarines built for the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. These boats are sometimes referred to as the Porpoise class from the single prototype, HMS Porpoise built in 1932. Five boats to a modified design were built between 1936 and 1938...

mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

-laying submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

s of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. She served in the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

and was captured by the Kriegsmarine

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

and taken into German service as U-B. She was the only submarine the Germans captured at sea during World War II.

Seal was laid down at the Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

on 9 December 1936, launched on 27 September 1938 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 24 May 1939. During her entire British career, her commander was Rupert Lonsdale

Rupert Lonsdale

Rupert Philip Lonsdale was a British submarine commander, prisoner of war and Anglican clergyman. He was forced to surrender his boat in World War II after he had succeeded in rescuing her and her crew from the sea bed after she struck a mine. He was honourably acquitted at the inevitable...

, for whom it was his second command.

Early career

On being commissioned, Seal went for acceptance trials at Dartmouth and in Tor Bay. On the day of her first successful deep dive, 1 June 1939, news arrived of the loss of HMS Thetis

HMS Thetis (N25)

HMS Thetis was a Group 1 T-class submarine of the Royal Navy which served under two names. Under her first identity, HMS Thetis, she commenced sea trials on 4 March 1939. She sank during trials on 1 June 1939 with the loss of 99 lives...

undergoing trials at Liverpool, a personal setback for the crew who had lost many friends. Seal moved to Gosport to complete torpedo trials.

On 4 August she sailed to China to join HMS Grampus

HMS Grampus (N56)

HMS Grampus was the lead ship of her class of mine-laying submarine of the Royal Navy. She was built at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 25 February 1936. She served in the Second World War off China before moving to the Mediterranean Sea. She was sunk with all hands by the Regia Marina on 16 June...

and HMS Rorqual

HMS Rorqual (N74)

HMS Rorqual was a British mine-laying submarine, one of the six ship class of Grampus-class of the Royal Navy. She was built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched 27 July 1936. She served in the Second World War in the Mediterranean and in the far east...

via Gibraltar, Malta and the Suez Canal. However on the outbreak of World War II she was detained at Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

and made two ad hoc patrols watching the Italians whom it was feared might be towing German submarines while Italy was still not at war. She returned home, escorting a damaged destroyer in the Mediterranean. Back in the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

she carried out one patrol near the Dogger Bank and received her first attack from German aircraft. She then augmented a convoy escort to Halifax, Nova Scotia

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

— a 14-day crossing. She was back in time for Christmas leave and was based at Elfin, a temporary establishment at Blyth, Northumberland

Blyth, Northumberland

Blyth is a town and civil parish in southeast Northumberland, England. It lies on the coast, to the south of the River Blyth and is approximately 21 kilometres northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne...

. She settled to a North Sea patrol routine as part of the Norwegian campaign being based at Rosyth

Rosyth Dockyard

Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which primarily undertakes refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels.-History:...

. One night in February, Seal was given an extra set of personnel - an armed boarding party - and was assigned to take part the hunt for the Altmark

German tanker Altmark

Altmark was a German oil tanker and supply vessel, one of five of a class built between 1937 and 1939. She is best known for her support of the German commerce raider, the "pocket battleship" and her subsequent involvement in the "Altmark Incident"....

. However Seal played no part in what turned out to be the Altmark incident

Altmark Incident

The Altmark Incident was a naval skirmish of World War II between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany, which happened on 16 February 1940. It took place in what were, at that time, neutral Norwegian waters...

. Admiral Horton met Seal on one of her returns to Rosyth and commented "You're too damn clean for a war-time boat. Something must be wrong". However he revised his opinion when he reviewed the log-books to "you must have a damn good crew".

By the beginning of April 1940 the Germans had invaded Norway, and Seal was operating off the Norwegian coast. Lonsdale decided to enter Stavangerfjord, a hazardous operation and reached the port of Stavanger

Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

using the novel Asdic equipment. There were four merchant ships in the harbour, but they all carried neutral flags; Lonsdale's requests to attack a seaplane base and land a shore party to sabotage the railway met with firm refusals; and the German naval craft they encountered had too shallow a draught for Seals torpedoes to hit. The disappointed crew returned to Rosyth, narrowly escaping a torpedo attack at the same place and time as that in which HMS Thistle

HMS Thistle (N24)

HMS Thistle was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched in October 1939.-Career:Thistle had a short wartime career with the Royal Navy....

was lost.

Loss in Kattegat

Having been at sea for a year, and suffering some damage from a close scrape with a merchant ship, Seal was due to return to dry-dock at Chatham. However her sister ship HMS Cachalot

HMS Cachalot (N83)

HMS Cachalot was one of the six ship class of Grampus-class mine-laying submarine of the Royal Navy. She was built at Scotts, Greenock and launched 2 December 1937. She served in World War II in home waters and the Mediterranean...

had been rammed and needed serious attention in the dry-dock. Some repairs to Seal were carried out at Blyth, Northumberland, and she was required to take over Cachalots minelaying duties. She was assigned to Operation DF 7, a mine-laying mission in the Kattegat

Kattegat

The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...

between Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

and Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. This was a particularly daunting task, especially for a submarine the size of Seal. Captain Bethall, the commanding officer of the flotilla failed to persuade Admiral Horton to reconsider his orders.

On 29 April Seal left Immingham

Immingham

Immingham is a town in North East Lincolnshire, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary...

laden with fifty mines. On entering the Skagerrak

Skagerrak

The Skagerrak is a strait running between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea.-Name:...

, she met HMS Narwhal

HMS Narwhal (N45)

HMS Narwhal was one of the six ship class of Grampus-class mine-laying submarine of the Royal Navy. She was built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched 29 August 1935. She served in the Second World War in home waters...

just leaving the area having stirred up German defences by scoring six hits with six torpedoes. Seal was running at shallow depth to maintain speed and conserve energy, when she was spotted by a German Heinkel He 115

Heinkel He 115

The Heinkel He 115 was a World War II Luftwaffe seaplane with three seats. It was used as a torpedo bomber and performed general seaplane duties, such as reconnaissance and minelaying. The plane was powered by two 720 kW BMW 132K nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engines...

on 4 May at about 02:30 am. She dived to ninety feet and was slightly damaged by a bomb. Later that morning Lonsdale discovered German anti-submarine trawlers searching for them around her target area and he had to divert to the secondary target area. At about 09:00 am Seal started to lay down the 50 mines and completed that mission some 45 minutes later.

Seal turned and headed for home, with the trawlers heading after her. Lonsdale took an evasive course, and used the Asdic to identify when the trawlers were stopping to listen. Then at 3:00 pm he spotted a patrol of nine German anti-submarine MTB

Motor Torpedo Boat

Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"...

s heading from a different direction. There were too many hours of daylight left, and the Kattegat was too shallow to allow a submarine as large as Seal to go deep and run for it. Lonsdale evaded detection by following a zig-zag course and at around 6:00 pm settled the submarine in stop-trim at the bottom of the sea. Unknown to the crew they had gone into an uncharted minefield. One of the submarine's hydroplanes caught a mine stay-cable and at about 06:30 pm, the attached mine was swept by the current onto the stern of the boat. There was a huge explosion and Seal was severely damaged.

A painful increase in air pressure indicated that a large amount of water had entered the submarine. The crew's evening meal was catapulted round the mess rooms and the remaining chaos showed that the boat had tilted bows upwards at about ten degrees. All the watertight doors were quickly sealed and all crew accounted for, after two who had been trapped in the after end of the boat managed to make their way to the control room. To the crew's surprise however the pursuing ships did not notice the explosion and had moved away. After various inspections and repairs, the crew had to wait until 10:30 pm when it was dark enough for an attempt to be made to raise the submarine.

At 10:30 pm, the ballast tanks were "blown" and the main motors started, but the stern stayed firmly stuck on the sea bed. The bows rose at a sharp angle, and the attempt had to be abandoned. By this time the air quality had deteriorated badly. Pumping carried on and emergency repairs were made to start the pump to blow air into the rear trimming system. For a second attempt to surface, the 11-ton drop keel was released. This meant that the submarine would have been unable to submerge again. More high pressure air was used to blow remaining tanks, but again the attempt was unsuccessful. Carbon-dioxide poisoning was having an accelerating effect on the crew and a third attempt was called for, using the engines and main ballast. This again failed to lift the boat.

At 1:10 am Lonsdale, a devout Christian, called his crew to prayer and led them in the Lord's Prayer

Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...

. The crew then responded to his order for them to move as far forward as they could to try to tip the balance, though many fainted or were sick. While thoughts went to using the Davies escape gear, it was realised that it would take several hours to escape by this method and there was a risk of flooding the entire craft before more than a few could escape. The engineers found they could open a salvage-blow and a final attempt was made to raise the submarine. The motors caught fire but this went out for lack of oxygen. The batteries were nearly empty and the high pressure air exhausted. The engineer realised there was one air pressure group left with a tiny amount of air, which was some way up the companionway. He reached the valve and opened it, and the submarine started to move upwards.

Seal made it to the surface at 1:30 am, and after the pressure was released, the fresh air caused blinding headaches to the crew that had suffered oxygen deprivation. Lonsdale clambered to the bridge, and sighting land, decided to try to make for Swedish waters. The confidential papers were consigned to the sea bed, and the Asdics were also destroyed and the pieces thrown overboard. Lonsdale sent a message to the Admiralty. "Am making for the Swedish coast". With the cipher books destroyed, Lonsdale did not receive two replies - "Understood and agreed with. Best of luck" and "Safety of personnel would be your first consideration after destruction of the Asdics". If these had been received they would have saved him a considerable amount of anguish over his subsequent decisions. The rudder was damaged and the boat impossible to steer, but it was found that it could be made to go in reverse. Fair progress was made, but mud had entered the lubricating system and the one working engine seized up.

At 02:30 Seal was spotted on the surface and attacked by two German Arado Ar 196

Arado Ar 196

-See also:-Bibliography:* Dabrowski, Hans-Peter and Koos, Volker. Arado Ar 196, Germany's Multi-Purpose Seaplane. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 1993. ISBN 0-88740-481-2....

s and another Heinkel. Lonsdale on the bridge, under fire, tried to fend them off with the Lewis gun

Lewis Gun

The Lewis Gun is a World War I–era light machine gun of American design that was perfected and widely used by the British Empire. It was first used in combat in World War I, and continued in service with a number of armed forces through to the end of the Korean War...

s, but these both jammed. With Seal unable to dive and without motive power, some men wounded and no remaining defences, he had no alternative but to surrender. The white messroom table-cloth was hoisted on the mast. Leutnant Schmidt brought his seaplane alongside and required the Captain to swim to him. On his 35th birthday, Lonsdale swam to the seaplane, and shortly after, the Chief Petty Officer swam to the other Arado. The crew waited on the submarine for the anti-submarine naval trawler

Naval trawler

A naval trawler is a vessel built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes. Naval trawlers were widely used during the First and Second world wars. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust boats designed to work...

UJ-128, to arrive at 06:30. It was expected that the boat which was holed and listing would sink of its own accord, but attempts were made to scuttle her. The German boarding party took the crew off, and the submarine was towed to Frederikshavn

Frederikshavn

This article is about a Danish town. For the German town, see Friedrichshafen, and for the Finnish town, see Fredrikshamn .Frederikshavn is a Danish town in Frederikshavn municipality, Region Nordjylland on the northeast coast of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. Its name translates to...

.

The mine belt laid by the Seal sank one German freighter (Vogesen, 4241 BRT) and three Swedish ships between 5 May and 5 June for a total tonnage of nearly 7000 BRT.

Under German control

Seal underwent temporary repairs at Frederikshavn to make her sea worthy, and was then towed to Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

. Admiral Carls believed Seal was a war-winning asset and insisted that she be made operational, despite the probability that three superior new German U-boats could be built for the same cost. The equipment and armour were completely incompatible and it would not be possible to obtain spares. Nevertheless, repair was undertaken and in the spring of 1941 she was commissioned into the Kriegsmarine as U B under the command of Fregattenkapitän Bruno Mahn. Mahn, at 52 years old, was the oldest German submarine commander on duty in World War II. She was used as a propaganda exhibit and training boat, but it took until late 1942 for Krupps to fabricate the whole mechanical system. Practice runs revealed so many snags and the financial costs were so unrealistic, that by the middle of 1943 she was paid off, stripped and abandoned in a corner of Kiel dockyard. Later she was hit and sunk in the same allied air raid that sank the Hipper. The only value the German navy derived was to identify that the British torpedo firing device was of superior design and this design was introduced in the German navy.

Crew

The crew were subjected to routine interrogation in an atmosphere of mutual respect with their German captors. The officers and ratings were separated and held as prisoners of war in a succession of camps until April 1945. The submarine had been adopted by the village of Seal

Seal, Kent

Seal is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The parish is located in the valley between the North Downs and the Greensand ridge to the north east of Sevenoaks town....

when it was commissioned, and during their imprisonment the crew received considerable support from the villagers.

Two members of the crew managed to escape. Early on, the petty officers and ratings were held at Stalag XX A at Toruń

Torun

Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus....

in Poland. Petty Officer Barnes took part in a mass break out and with a soldier managed to make contact with the Polish underground. They made it to the Soviet border, but the Soviet border guards failed to understand them, robbed and stripped them and told them to run for it. Shots rang out and no more was heard of Barnes, although the soldier made it home.

One of the engineers, Don "Tubby" Lister, made a series of escapes and was eventually sent to Oflag IV-C

Oflag IV-C

Oflag IV-C, often referred to as Colditz Castle because of its location, was one of the most famous German Army prisoner-of-war camps for officers in World War II; Oflag is a shortening of Offizierslager, meaning "officers camp"...

at Colditz Castle

Colditz Castle

Colditz Castle is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. Used as a workhouse for the indigent and a mental institution for over 100 years, it gained international fame as a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II for...

. Realizing how hard it would be to escape from there, he and another ERA (Engine Room Artificer), W. E. "Wally" Hammond (from the sunken submarine HMS Shark

HMS Shark (54S)

HMS Shark was a Royal Navy S-class submarine which was launched on 31 May 1934 and fought in the Second World War. Shark is one of 12 boats named in the song "Twelve Little S-Boats"....

), insisted on being moved on the grounds that they were not officers. The ruse worked, and they were moved to a more open camp. They escaped from there in late 1942 and made the several hundred mile journey to Switzerland and then home. Lieutenant Trevor Beet was determined to fulfill his duty as an Officer and to attempt escape. After three failed attempts he was transferred to Colditz Castle for the rest of the war.

The bulk of the officers and petty officers had been consolidated into a naval camp at Marlag where for most of the war they led a fairly quiet existence. However by April 1945 the allies were at Bremen

Bremen

The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

fifteen miles away and they were marched off to Lübeck

Lübeck

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...

. During the journey the column came under attack from allied Spitfires. Shortly after they arrived there the war came to an end and they returned to England. Apart from Barnes and Able Seaman Smith who disappeared overboard when the submarine surfaced, the entire crew survived.

Lieutenant Commander Lonsdale was the only British captain to surrender his ship to the enemy in the entire war and he and the officer he left on board, Lieutenant Trevor Beet, faced the inevitable court-martial in 1946; they were honourably acquitted.

Sources

Warren, C. E. T, and Benson, James (1964). Will Not We Fear: The Story of His Majesty's Submarine "Seal" and of Lieutenant-Commander Rupert Lonsdale. London: Harrap.

External links

A short 1940 Kriegsmarine propaganda film, in German:

http://www.splashvision.com/Video/5899_Captured-British-Submarine-is-Converted-to-a-U-boat-(1940).html

The story of HMS Seal and the captivity of her crew

http://www.cavillconnections.co.uk/seal.html

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.