The Twilight of the U-Boats by Bernard Edwards

Author:Bernard Edwards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781783379453
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2003-07-22T04:00:00+00:00

The convoy continued until the afternoon of May 4th, when a warning was received that enemy submarines were in the vicinity, and during the night s.s. Harbury was torpedoed on her starboard side. Our alarm was given for ‘Action Stations’ immediately, and the 2nd Engineer, who was not on watch at the time, voluntarily went down into the engine-room to assist the 4th Engineer as necessary. Ten minutes later, at 2256 when in position 55°00′ N 42° 58′ W, whilst steaming at 7½ knots, on a course of 192° (approximately) we were struck by two torpedoes. The weather was overcast, visibility good but very dark, rough sea with heavy swell, SW wind, force 5.

Both torpedoes struck almost simultaneously on the port side, the first one in the vicinity of the engine-room, whilst the second torpedo struck in way of the foremast. The explosion was not very violent, and there appeared to be more of a dull thud. I did not notice a flash, neither was there a column of water thrown up, although I later learned from the survivors of another vessel that they saw a big flash. Neither the submarine, nor the track of the torpedoes was observed.

I was in the wheelhouse at the time, and was surprised to find that apparently there was practically no visible damage. Even the glass of the windows of the wheelhouse was unbroken, the only visible damage being that one of the port boats was destroyed, the hatches from No. 1 hold were blown away, No. 4 hatches were damaged, and No. 4 raft had carried away. The ship listed very heavily to port, submerging the holes in the ship’s side, thus making it impossible to see the extent of the damage.

Owing to the heavy list I ordered ‘abandon ship’. A W/T message was sent out, and the rockets fired, one of which failed to function. I endeavoured to ring the engine-room telegraph but found that it was jammed, although the engines must have stopped when the first torpedo struck, as it was the first torpedo which flooded the engine-room and caused the deaths of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Engineers. I did not consider there was sufficient time to put the boat’s wireless set into a lifeboat so it was left behind.

We carried four lifeboats, so having lost one port boat, the three remaining ones were manned and launched successfully, being clear of the ship within 8 minutes. The only trouble experienced was that the painter of my boat was blown away, and the boat drifted away from the ship’s side, so we had to jump for it. We had been in the boats 10/15 minutes when I saw the ship disappear. She went down by the head, and sank approximately 20 minutes after the first torpedo struck …

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