General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: U-776's Trip to London!
Posted by:
Terry Andrews
()
Date: August 13, 2002 04:07PM
<HTML>Hi Joe
As meantioned already I have a copy of the log of U-776 on her last 61 day tour of the UK. it makes excellent reading and like James mentions it is part of our social history as well.
U-776 was under the command of Lieutenant P.B. (Sam) Marriott for her tour of the ports and her entry into the River Thames makes a compelling story!
The full story of her tour is in my forthcoming book (plug, plug).
But needless to say I shall tell you the part of her trip up the Thames.
Crewmembers from HM Submarine GRAPH, (ex U-570) manned U-776 on her tour.
On Monday 21 May 1945, U-776 slipped her moorings at Portland and headed out to sea. while passing St. Catherine,s Head and rounding the Isle of Wight a westbound Cunard liner steamed close by, dipping her ensign to U-776 as she passed by. Once within the well buoyed mine swept channel and through the Dover Strait U-776 slowed down to reach at sunset the Nore Light Vessel where she tied up for the night.
At dawn on May 22nd, a pilot was embarked and U-776 sailed up to Tilbury to awiat the flood tide. Setting forth with a new pilot up the River Thames and her british crew standing on the forward deck wearing typical Royal Navy white submarine sweaters U-776 passed below Tower Bridge. She was joined by two escort tugs and a boatload of Press photographers. Onllokers and sightseers crammed the embankments and bridges that spanned the River Thames; Westminster bridge was so crammed with sightseers that they even blocked the progress of crossing trams.
With Marriott refusing proffered assistance from the tugs he stopped in midstream short of Westminster Bridge to move astern at an angle stemming the flood tide till he was able to pass over wires to two waiting Thames watermen and gently secure alongside Westminster Pier. This was where the Admiralty had insisted that U-776 should stay for the next 10 days, as they put it "so that members of the public could view The boat better." Of course in reality it was done so as to rub salt into the defeated Kriegsmarine, and also as a triumph for Churchill, it being of course outside the House's of Parliament.
But here is where the fun begins. The wounds and insults to which the Admiralty were hoping to inflict against her former enemy, turned a bit sour. and instead put egg on the faces of the Admiralty, because U-776 was to have the last laugh!
I digressed back to the story... Now before U-776 came alongside Westminster Pier, Sam Marriott on hearing where he was to berth from the Admiralty had made aprotest that he believed it unsafe to berth a round-hulled U-boat that drew 16 feet on an outside river bend in water that dried out to ten feet at low tide. A Staff Officer from the Admiralty who was waiting to greet Marriott on docking however rejected his protest as They the Admiralty knew best and also that The Admiralty claimed that U-776 would settle into the muddy bottom of the river.
but this contradicted all known experience that on an outside bend, any mud present would long have been washed away to leave a bare gravel bottom.
With Marriott unconvinced and fearing the worst the officers were ordered to double up wires of far larger diameter than usual. The pontoon to which U-776 had moored however had only two substantial bollards on which both brest and spring wires had to be attached. Marriott and most of the crew in the meantime had gone ashore leaving the second Coxswain and five others on duty watch aboard.
By the time Marriott had returned to U-776, with a further 3 hours of ebb tide left to surge past till low water U-776 was already aground. Quite unaware of the growing problem meanwhile the milling crowds looking on from the embankment remained packed solid. Soon however taut wires started to sing at the strain and after the gangway had been put back on the pontoon as a precaution U-776 was already listing by five degrees. With Marriott on the bridge he told the men on the casing to clear off quickly and suggested that they take shelter in the comparative safety of the far side of the conning tower. Soon after a two and half inch wire spring parted, quickly followed by a second wire with a crack like thunder. This caused the whole U-boat to judder.
it seemed impossible that, as the falling tide exposed more and more of the hull, the remaining breasts, quivering at the stress of taking the full strain, would continue to hold; the onlookers were likely to witness the dramatic spectacle of a capsizing U-boat. When it finally happened the forward wire broke with a rendering thump while those aft held, but instead wrenched from the pontoon the bollard to which they were tied, catapulting it out to splash into the Thames.
With a mighty lurch U-776 rolled over on its side till its roll was arrested with a jerk when the drowned hydroplane hit the bottom; as a wave spread out across the Thames towards County Hall. U-776 eventually stopped listing at over fifty-eight degree's. Three hours would elapse before the flooding tide would refloat U-776. When afloat once more, U-776 was ignominiously towed to a buoy beside Blackfriars Bridge in the Pool of London. She was eventually towed back to Westminster Pier where she was cleaned up to prepare her for a visit from the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill the following day.
It would seem at last That Churchill would see inside a U-boat at last?
But in an ironic twist of fate however U-776 never did receive a British Prime Minister because that same afternoon the Coalition War Government had fallen, and Winston Churchill tendered his resignation to the King and agreed to continue with a caretaker government until a General Election could be held.
As a result of this the visit to U-776 was cancelled.
The following day Thursday May 24th 1945, U-776 was moved to No. 1 Berth, North Quay, Western Dock, London Docks. U-776 was opened to the public between 9 am and 6 pm and it was estimated that they would have 2,000 daily visits. But these figures were to prove grossly wrong, because on the first morning's opening, over 9,000 were waiting in a long patient queue.
And so continues the remarkable yet untold story of U-776's last mission.
The full story is told in my book, so you will have to buy a copy!
I have some excellent picture's taken of U-776 coming alongside Westminster Pier and also of her in the Western Dock. which will be included in the book.
Hope you enjoyed the story of her first visit to London.
Best regards
Terry Andrews.
The U-Boat Chronicles.</HTML>
As meantioned already I have a copy of the log of U-776 on her last 61 day tour of the UK. it makes excellent reading and like James mentions it is part of our social history as well.
U-776 was under the command of Lieutenant P.B. (Sam) Marriott for her tour of the ports and her entry into the River Thames makes a compelling story!
The full story of her tour is in my forthcoming book (plug, plug).
But needless to say I shall tell you the part of her trip up the Thames.
Crewmembers from HM Submarine GRAPH, (ex U-570) manned U-776 on her tour.
On Monday 21 May 1945, U-776 slipped her moorings at Portland and headed out to sea. while passing St. Catherine,s Head and rounding the Isle of Wight a westbound Cunard liner steamed close by, dipping her ensign to U-776 as she passed by. Once within the well buoyed mine swept channel and through the Dover Strait U-776 slowed down to reach at sunset the Nore Light Vessel where she tied up for the night.
At dawn on May 22nd, a pilot was embarked and U-776 sailed up to Tilbury to awiat the flood tide. Setting forth with a new pilot up the River Thames and her british crew standing on the forward deck wearing typical Royal Navy white submarine sweaters U-776 passed below Tower Bridge. She was joined by two escort tugs and a boatload of Press photographers. Onllokers and sightseers crammed the embankments and bridges that spanned the River Thames; Westminster bridge was so crammed with sightseers that they even blocked the progress of crossing trams.
With Marriott refusing proffered assistance from the tugs he stopped in midstream short of Westminster Bridge to move astern at an angle stemming the flood tide till he was able to pass over wires to two waiting Thames watermen and gently secure alongside Westminster Pier. This was where the Admiralty had insisted that U-776 should stay for the next 10 days, as they put it "so that members of the public could view The boat better." Of course in reality it was done so as to rub salt into the defeated Kriegsmarine, and also as a triumph for Churchill, it being of course outside the House's of Parliament.
But here is where the fun begins. The wounds and insults to which the Admiralty were hoping to inflict against her former enemy, turned a bit sour. and instead put egg on the faces of the Admiralty, because U-776 was to have the last laugh!
I digressed back to the story... Now before U-776 came alongside Westminster Pier, Sam Marriott on hearing where he was to berth from the Admiralty had made aprotest that he believed it unsafe to berth a round-hulled U-boat that drew 16 feet on an outside river bend in water that dried out to ten feet at low tide. A Staff Officer from the Admiralty who was waiting to greet Marriott on docking however rejected his protest as They the Admiralty knew best and also that The Admiralty claimed that U-776 would settle into the muddy bottom of the river.
but this contradicted all known experience that on an outside bend, any mud present would long have been washed away to leave a bare gravel bottom.
With Marriott unconvinced and fearing the worst the officers were ordered to double up wires of far larger diameter than usual. The pontoon to which U-776 had moored however had only two substantial bollards on which both brest and spring wires had to be attached. Marriott and most of the crew in the meantime had gone ashore leaving the second Coxswain and five others on duty watch aboard.
By the time Marriott had returned to U-776, with a further 3 hours of ebb tide left to surge past till low water U-776 was already aground. Quite unaware of the growing problem meanwhile the milling crowds looking on from the embankment remained packed solid. Soon however taut wires started to sing at the strain and after the gangway had been put back on the pontoon as a precaution U-776 was already listing by five degrees. With Marriott on the bridge he told the men on the casing to clear off quickly and suggested that they take shelter in the comparative safety of the far side of the conning tower. Soon after a two and half inch wire spring parted, quickly followed by a second wire with a crack like thunder. This caused the whole U-boat to judder.
it seemed impossible that, as the falling tide exposed more and more of the hull, the remaining breasts, quivering at the stress of taking the full strain, would continue to hold; the onlookers were likely to witness the dramatic spectacle of a capsizing U-boat. When it finally happened the forward wire broke with a rendering thump while those aft held, but instead wrenched from the pontoon the bollard to which they were tied, catapulting it out to splash into the Thames.
With a mighty lurch U-776 rolled over on its side till its roll was arrested with a jerk when the drowned hydroplane hit the bottom; as a wave spread out across the Thames towards County Hall. U-776 eventually stopped listing at over fifty-eight degree's. Three hours would elapse before the flooding tide would refloat U-776. When afloat once more, U-776 was ignominiously towed to a buoy beside Blackfriars Bridge in the Pool of London. She was eventually towed back to Westminster Pier where she was cleaned up to prepare her for a visit from the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill the following day.
It would seem at last That Churchill would see inside a U-boat at last?
But in an ironic twist of fate however U-776 never did receive a British Prime Minister because that same afternoon the Coalition War Government had fallen, and Winston Churchill tendered his resignation to the King and agreed to continue with a caretaker government until a General Election could be held.
As a result of this the visit to U-776 was cancelled.
The following day Thursday May 24th 1945, U-776 was moved to No. 1 Berth, North Quay, Western Dock, London Docks. U-776 was opened to the public between 9 am and 6 pm and it was estimated that they would have 2,000 daily visits. But these figures were to prove grossly wrong, because on the first morning's opening, over 9,000 were waiting in a long patient queue.
And so continues the remarkable yet untold story of U-776's last mission.
The full story is told in my book, so you will have to buy a copy!
I have some excellent picture's taken of U-776 coming alongside Westminster Pier and also of her in the Western Dock. which will be included in the book.
Hope you enjoyed the story of her first visit to London.
Best regards
Terry Andrews.
The U-Boat Chronicles.</HTML>
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