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Re: Attack on Southampton 5/9/39
Posted by:
Platon Alexiades
()
Date: October 06, 2007 08:10PM
Hello Brian,
I think your suggestion that this was attack was probably bogus is correct. I have not seen SOUTHAMPTON's patrol report but I have a friend in Barcelona who has studied closely the operations of the first days of the war and I have enlisted his help (he unfortunately is not linked to the Internet) but he has copies of the logs of SOUTHAMPTON and JERVIS for that particular day:
According to the log of SOUTHAMPTON (position at noon was 59°42 N/00°41 E) at 1215/5 JERVIS attacked a submarine contact with depth-charges. At 1224/5 SOUTHAMPTON went full speed ahead to avoid torpedo attack (the number of torpedoes fired is not mentioned. Curiously enough the log of JERVIS does not mention the attack at all: either the identity of the destroyer which depth-charged the contact is wrong or perhaps the entry is just missing in JERVIS' log. I have checked a fair number of British submarine logs and in some instances they fail to report attacks (which are only reported in the patrol report). I have the KTB of U-20 and this boat was off Utsira on that day (about 70+ miles south of SOUTAMPTON's position and in any case had an uneventful day). Although I have not checked the exact position of all U-boats on that date, I think U-20 was the closest one.
Best regards,
Platon
I think your suggestion that this was attack was probably bogus is correct. I have not seen SOUTHAMPTON's patrol report but I have a friend in Barcelona who has studied closely the operations of the first days of the war and I have enlisted his help (he unfortunately is not linked to the Internet) but he has copies of the logs of SOUTHAMPTON and JERVIS for that particular day:
According to the log of SOUTHAMPTON (position at noon was 59°42 N/00°41 E) at 1215/5 JERVIS attacked a submarine contact with depth-charges. At 1224/5 SOUTHAMPTON went full speed ahead to avoid torpedo attack (the number of torpedoes fired is not mentioned. Curiously enough the log of JERVIS does not mention the attack at all: either the identity of the destroyer which depth-charged the contact is wrong or perhaps the entry is just missing in JERVIS' log. I have checked a fair number of British submarine logs and in some instances they fail to report attacks (which are only reported in the patrol report). I have the KTB of U-20 and this boat was off Utsira on that day (about 70+ miles south of SOUTAMPTON's position and in any case had an uneventful day). Although I have not checked the exact position of all U-boats on that date, I think U-20 was the closest one.
Best regards,
Platon
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
Attack on Southampton 5/9/39
|
Brian V. | 10/01/2007 06:34PM |
|
Re: Attack on Southampton 5/9/39
|
Platon Alexiades | 10/06/2007 08:10PM |
|
Re: Attack on Southampton 5/9/39
|
Brian V. | 10/08/2007 03:32AM |