Post by Administrator on Feb 9, 2022 13:57:17 GMT
VIA: Royal British Legion - Paris France
On this day, 9th February 1945, the British submarine HMS Venturer, under the command of 25 yr old LT Jimmy Launders, intentionally sunk the German U-864 submarine that was in the Fedje area, Norway. All 73 men died. This was the first time in the history of naval warfare, that one submarine intentionally sank another while both were submerged.
It was HMS Venturer's eleventh patrol out of the British submarine base at Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. Sent to the Fedje area, Venturer was then ordered on the basis of Enigma decrypts to seek, intercept and destroy U-864 which was in the area. U-864 was carrying a cargo of 65 tonnes of mercury as well as Junkers Jumo 004B jet engine parts (used in the Messerschmitt Me 262) to Japan,a mission code-named Operation Caesar.
On 6 February 1945, U-864 passed through the Fedje area without being detected, but on 9 February Venturer heard U-864's engine noise. Launders had decided not to use IC since it would betray his position and spotted the U-boat's periscope as her captain looked for his escort. In an unusually long engagement for a submarine, and in a situation for which neither crew had been trained, Launders waited 45 minutes after first contact before going to action stations. Launders was waiting for U-864 to surface and thus present an easier target. Upon realising they were being followed by the British submarine and that their escort had still not arrived, U-864 zig-zagged underwater in attempted evasive manoeuvres, with each submarine occasionally risking raising her periscope.
Venturer had only eight torpedoes as opposed to the 22 carried by U-864. After three hours Launders decided to make a prediction of U-864's zig-zag and released a spread of his torpedoes into its predicted course. This manual computation of a firing solution against a three-dimensionally manoeuvring target was the first occasion on which techniques were used and became the basis of modern computer-based torpedo targeting systems. Prior to this attack, no target had been sunk by torpedo where the firing ship had to consider the target's position in three-dimensional terms, where the depth of the target was variable and not a fixed value. The computation thus differs fundamentally from those performed by analogue torpedo fire-control computers which regarded the target in strictly 2D terms with a constant depth determined by the target's draught.
The torpedoes were released in 17-second intervals beginning at 12:12, and all taking four minutes to reach their target. Launders then dived Venturer suddenly to evade any retaliation. U-864 heard the torpedoes coming, dived deeper, and turned away to avoid them. The first three torpedoes were avoided, but U-864 unknowingly steered into the path of the fourth. Exploding, U-864 split in two, and sank with all hands coming to rest more than 150 metres (490 ft) below the surface. Launders was awarded a bar to his DSO for this action.
Unfortunately, the German submarine U-864 has been leaking around 8lb of toxic Mercury since it was sunk, up until it was recently discovered in 2018. The Norwegian government undertook at £25 million project to bury the submarine which is a war grave, in sand. The project was completed in 2020.
On this day, 9th February 1945, the British submarine HMS Venturer, under the command of 25 yr old LT Jimmy Launders, intentionally sunk the German U-864 submarine that was in the Fedje area, Norway. All 73 men died. This was the first time in the history of naval warfare, that one submarine intentionally sank another while both were submerged.
It was HMS Venturer's eleventh patrol out of the British submarine base at Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. Sent to the Fedje area, Venturer was then ordered on the basis of Enigma decrypts to seek, intercept and destroy U-864 which was in the area. U-864 was carrying a cargo of 65 tonnes of mercury as well as Junkers Jumo 004B jet engine parts (used in the Messerschmitt Me 262) to Japan,a mission code-named Operation Caesar.
On 6 February 1945, U-864 passed through the Fedje area without being detected, but on 9 February Venturer heard U-864's engine noise. Launders had decided not to use IC since it would betray his position and spotted the U-boat's periscope as her captain looked for his escort. In an unusually long engagement for a submarine, and in a situation for which neither crew had been trained, Launders waited 45 minutes after first contact before going to action stations. Launders was waiting for U-864 to surface and thus present an easier target. Upon realising they were being followed by the British submarine and that their escort had still not arrived, U-864 zig-zagged underwater in attempted evasive manoeuvres, with each submarine occasionally risking raising her periscope.
Venturer had only eight torpedoes as opposed to the 22 carried by U-864. After three hours Launders decided to make a prediction of U-864's zig-zag and released a spread of his torpedoes into its predicted course. This manual computation of a firing solution against a three-dimensionally manoeuvring target was the first occasion on which techniques were used and became the basis of modern computer-based torpedo targeting systems. Prior to this attack, no target had been sunk by torpedo where the firing ship had to consider the target's position in three-dimensional terms, where the depth of the target was variable and not a fixed value. The computation thus differs fundamentally from those performed by analogue torpedo fire-control computers which regarded the target in strictly 2D terms with a constant depth determined by the target's draught.
The torpedoes were released in 17-second intervals beginning at 12:12, and all taking four minutes to reach their target. Launders then dived Venturer suddenly to evade any retaliation. U-864 heard the torpedoes coming, dived deeper, and turned away to avoid them. The first three torpedoes were avoided, but U-864 unknowingly steered into the path of the fourth. Exploding, U-864 split in two, and sank with all hands coming to rest more than 150 metres (490 ft) below the surface. Launders was awarded a bar to his DSO for this action.
Unfortunately, the German submarine U-864 has been leaking around 8lb of toxic Mercury since it was sunk, up until it was recently discovered in 2018. The Norwegian government undertook at £25 million project to bury the submarine which is a war grave, in sand. The project was completed in 2020.