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Re: Persic Sunk, September 6, 1918
Posted by:
Franklyn K. Brown
()
Date: June 01, 2004 06:31AM
To Michael Lowry. Thanks for your input.
I think I have learned how to navigate the thread of this website, finally.
If you have been following my frequently faltering footprints you will see that we may be closing in on an updating of the UB 87 Persic incident report.
"Danemark" has provided me with a transcript of the War Diary of UB 87 for September 6, 1918, but it is in German. I am having it translated into English. In the meantime I followed up on the comments made by "JP" (something I should have done in the first place) about the coordinates I took from the U. S. Navy's "History of the Submarine Chasers of the World War" (1920), and I believe there was a typographical error made in either the original report or in the "History".
The nine subchasers that attacked the Persic were operating out of Devonport (Plymouth), England. I doubt if their patrol area extended as far north as the Isle of Skye, off western Scotland. It appears that the attack was astually made near the Scilly Islands, near the western entrance to the English Channel, as in the UB 87 War Diary I was able to detect a reference to St. George's Channel. This is in the vicinity of Land's End, the extreme southwest corner of England.
The Navy's report (or "History") seems to contain at least two errors. One, the coordinates are not correct, and Two, the chasers did not destroy the submarine. The latter supports the wisdom of the policy of the British Admiralty in that they would acknowledge a "kill" only upon presentation of hard evidence. Oil and air bubbles were not adequate.
Do you know if there is any record in the history of the Persic giving the coordinates of the torpedoing ? Do you have any idea of the origin of the name "Persic" ?
Franklyn
Franklyn
I think I have learned how to navigate the thread of this website, finally.
If you have been following my frequently faltering footprints you will see that we may be closing in on an updating of the UB 87 Persic incident report.
"Danemark" has provided me with a transcript of the War Diary of UB 87 for September 6, 1918, but it is in German. I am having it translated into English. In the meantime I followed up on the comments made by "JP" (something I should have done in the first place) about the coordinates I took from the U. S. Navy's "History of the Submarine Chasers of the World War" (1920), and I believe there was a typographical error made in either the original report or in the "History".
The nine subchasers that attacked the Persic were operating out of Devonport (Plymouth), England. I doubt if their patrol area extended as far north as the Isle of Skye, off western Scotland. It appears that the attack was astually made near the Scilly Islands, near the western entrance to the English Channel, as in the UB 87 War Diary I was able to detect a reference to St. George's Channel. This is in the vicinity of Land's End, the extreme southwest corner of England.
The Navy's report (or "History") seems to contain at least two errors. One, the coordinates are not correct, and Two, the chasers did not destroy the submarine. The latter supports the wisdom of the policy of the British Admiralty in that they would acknowledge a "kill" only upon presentation of hard evidence. Oil and air bubbles were not adequate.
Do you know if there is any record in the history of the Persic giving the coordinates of the torpedoing ? Do you have any idea of the origin of the name "Persic" ?
Franklyn
Franklyn