By Crasterfarian
In the last post we looked at the tragic wreck of the Tadorne, a trawler that succumbed to the rocks of Howick in thick fog. This story bears an uncanny similarity, only 5 years later.
A lot of people don’t realise that submarines were an active part of World War I. There was a submarine base at the Port of Blyth during both world wars, it was known as HMS Elfin. The submarines from here patrolled the North Sea during both conflicts. My story refers to one boat in particular, HMS G11, and a Victoria Cross recipient!
HMS G11 was, not surprisingly, a G Class submarine. They were designed by the Admiralty in response to the Germans advancing their U-Boat fleet technology by construction of twin hulled boats.
- She was one of six G Class boats built by Vickers at their Barrow-in-Furness yard, her keel being laid down in 1915.
- She was launched on 22nd February 1916 and commissioned on 13th May that year.
- With a full complement of 30 submariners, her length was 187 feet, beam of 22 feet 8” and a mean water draft of 13 feet 4”.
- Her displacement on the surface was 703 tons and 837 tons submerged.
- She was powered on the surface by Twin Vickers 800hp two stroke diesel engines that propelled a single shaft each.
- Her submerged powertrain was twin 420hp electric motors giving her a surface speed of around 14 knots and a submerged speed of 9 knots.
- She was armed with 3” Deck gun and 3 torpedo tubes. Twin 18” bow tubes, with 8 torpedoes and a single 21” stern tube with two torpedoes gave this lady a real sting in the tail.
Her primary role was to patrol the North Sea and hunt and sink German U-Boats. She was patrolling the Dogger Bank when the Armistice was called on the 11th November and was ordered to make her way back to port. On the 22nd of November, whilst trying to make the Port of Blyth in thick fog, she overshot her destination due to a dead reckoning navigation error and disaster ensued.
G11‘s underwater log system had been disabled meaning their actual fixed position could not be accurately ascertained. The underwater log uses hydraulic pressure acting on an electromechanical unit called a rodmeter which protrudes through the side of the vessel giving a very accurate real distance travelled reading.
Her temporary commander, Lieutenant Commander George Fagan Bradshaw, had been used to commanding smaller vessels and, underestimating her speed and therefore her positon, overshot Blyth by some 30 miles.
She ran aground, at full speed, onto the merciless and jagged rocks between the Bathing House and Cullernose Point in thick fog and very heavy seas.
The speed of the impact ripped her keel open and Commander Bradshaw ordered the crew to abandon ship onto the rocks through the bow escape hatch. A rope was fixed to the rocks to help the submariners escape, but during the evacuation two men were lost to the fury of the North Sea. A stoker named Pliny Foster and a telegraphist, George Philip Back, were drowned. Only the body of G P Back was recovered and he is interred at the Church of St Peter and Paul at Longhoughton.
G11’s normal Commander was the highly decorated Lieutenant Richard Douglas Sandford VC. He had been awarded the VC only months before from an action on 22nd & 23rd April 1918 during a special mission with a skeleton crew into occupied Europe.
He placed his submarine C3, laden with explosives, into the piles of a viaduct at the port of Zebrugge before lighting a fuse and detonating her, bringing the viaduct crashing down.
Sandford had remained behind to light the fuse himself after ensuring all his crew had evacuated to safety. He was seriously injured in the action and spent some time in hospital at Deal with wounds to his left thigh and right hand. He had then missed this patrol with G11 due to typhoid and died in hospital in North Yorkshire the day after his beloved G11 ran aground. He was only 27.
Parts of the wreck were salvaged between the wars and it was eventually blown up just prior to the outbreak of World War II. Very little remains to this day.
There are tantalising glimpses of some parts at very low tides and the main escape hatch used by the fleeing submariners can still be seen wedged into the rocks below the coastal path. Smaller items adorn the beaches at Howick and near the Bathing House. This image looks like it was part of the bow keel.
If you’re ever beachcombing the area around the Bathing House look out for parts of the wreck and pass a thought to the men who never made it home after Armistice.
Lest we forget.
With love from the Crasterfarian XX
