HMS G9
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HMS G9 was a British G class submarine, one of eight British submarines lost to "friendly fire" in World War I.
Commanded by Lieutenant Commander The Hon. Byron Plantagenet Cary, Bt. [link], she was sunk by the destroyer HMS Pasley after mistaking Pasley for a U-boat in foul weather on the night of 16 September 1917 and firing two torpedoes at her. The first struck Pasley on her starboard quarter, but too acutely to detonate; the second passed astern. On seeing the submarine’s wash, Pasley’s officer of the watch Midshipman Frank Wallis, put his boat hard to starboard and rammed G9 just aft of amidships all but cutting her in two, and she sank scarcely two minutes later.
G9 had sailed Scapa Flow on 9 September to patrol an area between the Shetlands and Norway. On 15 September, she was ordered north to between latitudes 60.30 N and 61.30 N to keep her clear of the fleet on exercises en route from Rosyth to Scapa. Meanwhile, Pasley had been attempting to round-up merchantmen detached from the convoy she was escorting in the appalling weather from Aspo Fjord in Norway to Lerwick, and had resorted to displaying a single white light halfway up the mast.
Weathering heavy seas and blinding rain squalls, Cary sighted Pasley’s light. Forewarned a U-boat was operating in the area, he attacked. Presumably realizing the error soon afterwards, Cary ordered the connection of the cruiser arc light to challenge the destroyer, but the signal was made too late to prevent Pasley ramming the submarine.
After the collision, the crew on G9 were ordered to assemble beneath the conning tower. Stoker William Drake saw one man climb the ladder above him, and followed. Although caught in the stomach by the lower conning tower door, which had probably been ordered shut in the hope of keeping the boat buoyant, Drake managed to struggle free and reach the bridge, only to be swept off as the boat sank beneath him.
Of the five or six men in the water, Drake was the only one to reach Pasley, which had stopped to rescue survivors. Weakened by the effort and numbed by the cold water, he was unable to pull himself up on the lifeline lowered, and was only rescued after Able Seaman Henry Old clambered over the side of the destroyer to secure a running bowline around him; he was then hauled aboard and taken below. Still unconvinced of his attacker's identity, Pasley's captain Commander C. G. Ramsey went below to question the survivor. Finding Drake laid on his stomach to help rid his lungs of seawater, Ramsey kicked the soles of his feet and demanded to know his nationality. Drake replied "British, Sir"; Ramsey's response is unprintable here.
At the Inquiry held four days later aboard HMS Indomitable at Scapa, the Court decided no blame could be attached to Pasley, concluding "That the process of reasoning which led the captain of H M Submarine G9 to mistake HMS Pasley for a U-boat is, and must remain, unexplained".
The findings were forwarded to the Commander in Chief, Grand Fleet, Admiral David Beatty, who remarked that the incident was "...one of those that are inseparable from war", but deplored the delay in introducing improved signalling facilities on submarines, particularly the substitution of the slow, unreliable and cumbersome cruiser arc light [link] with Aldis lamps.
The captain of HMS Pasley, Commander Charles Gordon Ramsey, later rose to the rank of Admiral, was knighted, and served as aide-de-camp to King George VI; he died in 1966. Stoker Drake remained in the submarine service, and also served in World War 2; he died in 1974 aged 80.
See also
References
- Evans, A. S. (1986). Beneath the Waves - A history of British submarine losses. Kimber, London. ISBN 0718306015
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