I stumbled upon this remarkable story, anyone else familiar with this?

[butterfly]

I happened upon a small amount of paperwork accredited to a Naval officer, mainly the inter-war, second war period. On the face of it, nothing particularly exciting. Perhaps two things stand out, a framed photograph of a handsome Officer and some hand written notes relating to a claim for items lost during the sinking of a ship he was on. The majority of the other items are nondescript, but tie the pieces together, letters from brother etc....

However..... when one looks into the ship he was on the remarkable story unfolds........ Lt. Cdr. Arthur Oliver Watson was the most senior surviving officer of the sinking of the light cruiser HMS Dunedin. He was responsible for writing a report which reveals much more than the sinking of a ship......

http://www.hmsdunedin.co.uk/watson-report/

When reading about the plight of the survivors, I immediately made the comparison to the well documented sinking of the USS Indianapolis; this is perhaps the Royal Navy's equivalent, so, why have I not heard of this before?

The log of U124 which sunk HMS Dunedin, is also revealing, she initially fired three torpedos at an inclination of 75 degrees (torpedo log), two of which struck the ship; running time for these torpedos was recorded at 5 minutes 37 seconds and 5 minutes 55 seconds respectively - which gives the overall run of the torpedos in excess of 5,000 meters, the very limit of the G7e's range. Thats over 3 miles, unbelievable!!! link-

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...8Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=u124 hms dunedin&f=false


Much more about the ship and crew can be found on the website dedicated to HMS Dunedin, from which the first link was taken ; http://www.hmsdunedin.co.uk/

I now have reason to believe that the ferocious fish that attacked the survivors may have been the 'Cookie cutter shark', at least it appears to fit the description very well indeed. But from what I have seen recordings of attacks upon humans are almost non-existant - so perhaps I have also stumbled upon something else? - here is a link to the shark in question........https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCbny4l-sXY and another link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...shark-attack-live-human-worry-scientists.html

I have ordered a copy of the book 'Blood in the Sea', which tells the story of HMS Dunedin, and will perhaps reveal more on this remarkable story.

I am sure there are many, many stories of heroic survival and each is remarkable in itself, however I felt compelled to share this one as I was captivated by it having never come across it before.

I hope you find it as fascinating as me.

regards Kev

 

[butterfly]

The comparisons to the sinking of HMS Dunedin and the USS Indianapolis make for interesting reading. From the data I have at hand I made a rough comparison, though much is subject to speculation as data varies from source to source and numbers are often estimated at time of sinking etc. However, taking all this into consideration the similarities are striking........


Kev

 

[butterfly]

From what I can ascertain, the torpedo strike on Hms Dunedin was only surpassed by that on the aircraft carrier Hms Ark Royal in terms of running distance. (both in excess of 5,000 meters) The running time for the strikes on Hms Dunedin were 5 minutes and 37 seconds and 5 minutes and 55 seconds; the running time for the torpedo which struck the Ark Royal was timed at 6 minutes and 06 seconds.
The difference however is that Hms Dunedin was an 'intended target', whereas, the Ark Royal was hit 'by chance', by a torpedo aimed at another vessel, (miscalculation of target speed, by two knots, meant that the four torpedoes ran well wide of their intended target, the Battleship 'Malaya' and ran on, into the path of Ark Royal - one of which hit, resulting in her sinking)

To calculate and execute a successful attack on a ship which is zig-zagging at this range is remarkable, it also perhaps demonstrates the effectiveness and efficiency of the German torpedo by 1941. Below is a link to more details on torpedoes which gives further details on the range etc of the type G7e.
http://www.uboataces.com/weapon-torpedo.shtml

regards Kev

 

[AMMOTECHXT]

My father had a book, written in 1952 and first published in 1953, his copy dated 1954, called `The survivors' by Ronald McKie, subtitled `A grim tale of disaster at sea'. HMAS Perth had a crew of 682 when it became involved in the Battle of Sunda Strait - a stretch of sea between Java and Sumatra - in March 1942. 353 of them died in the battle or in the days that followed, many of those who initially survived the sinking were eaten by sharks. A further 100 died in Japanese captivity. 229 survived to return to Australia. `The survivors' is McKie's interviews with ten of the crew who survived WW2.