1939 Attack on Scapa Flow

this episode of the history guy brought to you by audible [Music] the early part of the second world war the period between september of 1939 when france and britain declared war on germany in may of 1940 when germany invaded the low countries in france was a period of relative inactivity that the allies called the phony war and the germans called sitzkrieg but it wasn't like nothing went on there were some small land actions the allies set up the north sea blockade the german kriegs marine was at sea including the pocket battleship grash bay doing commerce raiding but perhaps the most shocking and audacious attack of the period was made by a german submarine inside the harbor that was the base of the british home fleet the 1939 attack on scapa flow deserves to be remembered a big thank you to the good folks at audible for supporting our channel and sponsoring this video you know this christmas is going to be particularly special for many of us because last christmas many of us could not get together and that makes it more meaningful than ever to give a really thoughtful gift at christmas like the hours of entertainment and education and well just good things that you can talk about that you get with a subscription from audible buy one for someone you love or buy one for yourself and right now you can take advantage of a special limited time offer of sixty percent off your first three months that's just five dollars and ninety five cents a month and for more information go to audible.com history guy or text history guy to 500 500. i really enjoy audible it has the largest selection in the hundreds and hundreds of audiobooks on a huge variety of subjects and you get one free credit a month as well as unlimited access to the plus catalog which is full of audio books and podcasts and audible originals in audible's just great you listen to it anywhere it has free apps for your smartphone or your tablet so you can listen while you're cleaning or while you're cooking or while you're driving or while you're on the treadmill i've been listening to peter padfield's war beneath the sea and what an incredible audiobook it gives amazing details about the submarine and anti-submarine strategies of all the major combatants of the second world war from the broad strategies and planning to the reality of the terrifying cramped sweat stained life of a world war ii submariner i have really enjoyed this audiobook it has amazing detail if you're interested in world war ii submarine history like the topic of today's history guy episode it is well worth your time and on audible it is 25 hours of entertainment for just a single credit so take advantage of that special limited time offer of 60 off your first three months you can cancel at any time but you're not going to want to for more information go to www.audible.com historyguy or text history guy to 500 500 of course the link is in the description prior to world war one most of the royal navy's bases were in the southern part of the isles to defend the english channel naval buildup from germany in the early 20th century convinced the admiralty that a northern base was necessary despite that determination of final choice for where that base should be wasn't made until the outbreak of war when scapa flow was chosen over several other options scopaflow had been used as a base in various war exercises but in 1914 it was unfortified admiral john jelico in command of the grand fleet based at scapa flow was understandably concerned about the possibility of a german u-boat attack in the harbor throughout the first months of the war scapaflow was reinforced with defensive emplacements and over 60 ships were sunk to be used as block ships in the many entrance channels these block ships could control or deny passage were often used to support submarine nets or booms such as chains cables and nets meant to prevent a ship from passing these approaches were further fortified by the use of minefields concrete barriers and artillery fear of submarine attack was so serious that on september 1st 1914 a lookout who claimed to see a periscope set off a panic causing much of the fleet at scopaflow to sail immediately out to sea with some ships even opening fire upon what they judged was a periscope no submarine was actually present on november 23rd 1914 the germans made their first effort in an attack on scapa flow when the u18 entered the harbor around 11 am u-18 had followed a steamer through the defenses and was able to enter without difficulty but unfortunately for the germans the fleet wasn't there reacting to submarine reports that identified at least three in the area the admiralty had ordered on november 22nd that the fleet be dispersed to other anchorages as the fortifications were not yet complete unable to find a target the submarine attempted to leave when it was spotted at 12 10 a trawler the dorothy gray was able to ram the ship's periscope destroying it the ramming also damaged the u18s steering gear in hydroplanes and she was unable to maintain depth the captain was forced to surface and surrender the destroyer hms gary rescued survivors however the german scuttled the sub before she arrived the royal navy kept the capture of the ubud a secret hoping that the germans would decide that the formidable defenses had taken the sub out no further syria's attack came until 1918 when the ub-116 attempted to enter the harbor but was detected and sunk with all hands famously scopiflow was also the site of the 1919 scuttling of the german fleet after having surrendered the 74 ships of the german high seas fleet were interned at scapa flow awaiting the results of the treaty of versailles and received no certain word on the fate of the fleet german rear admiral ludwig von reuter had had the fleet scuttle to prevent it from falling into allied hands in the interwar years scapalo's defenses were neglected block chips collapsed and were salvaged leaving large openings for a potential attack despite that the base had a reputation for being impregnable a vast fortress for the british fleet in fact british command was not entirely unaware of the conditions of scapa's defenses in 1938 they determined that there was a 300 to 400 foot wide clear passage in kirk sound and a 2 000 ton vessel was said to have made it through the channel as early as 1932. in may of 1939 the admiralty responded concerns about the defenses writing that no risk at present exists of submerged entry into the sounds and that further expenditure of blocking cannot be justified in june admiral wilfred french admiral commanding orkneys and shetlands warned that the passages would be usable by a submarine even offering to command a sub to prove it the outbreak of war found the convinced upper command to sink more block ships and one was chosen to sink into the kirk sound channel but none had been sunk by mid-october after the declaration of war in september and at the beginning of the phony war german commanders were looking for ways to weaken the british blockade and strike fear into their civilians on october 1st 1939 carl dennis was made a rear admiral and commander of the submarines he was one of the primary developers of wolf pack tactics and a u-boat captain during the first world war one of his first goals was an attack on scapa flow i hold that penetration at this point he identified kirk's sound on the surface if the turn of tide would be possible without further ceremony he reported based on images acquired by the luftwaffe donuts chose gunter preen as the captain to lead the attack who he said possessed all the personal qualities and professional abilities required preen joined the reichsmarine in 1933 and served aboard submarines from 1936 including during the spanish civil war it's given command of the newly built u-47 in 1939. preen agreed to the mission dubbed special operation p and left for scapa flow on october 8th aboard u47 the mission was top secret and the briefings were made in person to where the british intercepted any information even the crew was kept in the dark until october 12th when the sub was only a few miles from its target the attack was complicated thanks to poor planning by german command a number of ships had been sent out to draw the home fleet out of scapa flow which was successful but meant that there were few targets in scapa flow admiral charles forbes of the home fleet was concerned about an air attack on the anchorage in order returning ships to disperse instead one ship that remained at scapa flow was the battleship hms royal oak launched in 1914 she had failed to keep up with the rest of the fleet chasing the german ships and had suffered damage and storms on her way back to skapa flow royal oak was left its kappa flow partially to reinforce the base's anti-aircraft defenses the crew of the u-47 didn't know this and abandoned all of their most valuable equipment including their enigma machine prior to the mission so it wouldn't risk capture and could receive no updates from command the raid had been planned for the night of october 13th to coincide with a particularly high tide and a night that would have no moon but when the u-47 surfaced that night its crew was surprised to find aurora borealis eliminating the knight prince chose to continue and the submarine prepared to zigzag past the three block ships and kirk's sound even with a high tide and a clear path the sound was not easy to navigate and is known for rip tides and difficult currents high tide would allow the sub to sail over the boom cables but preen arrived later than was intended and as the sub passed over the cable on the surface a deep scrape indicated that they hadn't quite cleared it and the sub became stuck the raid might have ended right there but brain had left water in the ballast tanks so the sub could sail as low as possible the tanks were emptied and the sub floated free sub was also briefly illuminated by the headlights of a taxi on shore but the driver robbie tullock didn't see them at about 12 27 a.m on october 14th preen wrote in the log we are in scapa flow despite the light from the aurora view from the periscope was poor and preen chose to surface for attack printing was shocked to find the anchorage nearly empty they sailed southwest to the flow for a time without citing any targets before reversing cores preen did not apparently site the four warships anchored in that direction including the newly commissioned lake cruiser belfast instead they sailed toward the anchored royal oak which was cited at about four thousand meters bring correctly identified the oak as a revenge-class battleship and cited another ship beyond it which he thought was a renowned class although actually she was only a seaplane tender hms pegasus with the british cop completely unaware preloaded his four bow torpedo tubes for attack just before 1am all four were launched two missed entirely and a third got lodged in its tube the final torpedo hit the oak six minutes later the hit woke the crew but there was apparently little visible damage although the starboard anchor cable had been severed the command of the elk suspected that something had exploded in the ship's inflammable stores which stored things like kerosene an order was sent to check the temperature in the magazine storage as high temperature with the ignition of cordite used to propel shells unaware that the ship was under attack much of the crew went back to sleep frustrated preen reversed the u-47 and fired the stern tube which also missed but remarkably after finding four torpedoes the u-47 hadn't set off any alarm pre-ordered the four tubes reloaded and lined up for another shot three more torpedoes were fired and finally the attack was successful at 1 16 am all three hit the ship and exploded flames shot skyward blue yellow red preen later recalled damage of midships was considerable causing a loss of power chordite in the magazines exploded shortly after filling the ship with blue fireballs the ship listed 15 degrees putting open portals underwater 13 minutes after she was hit the royal oak slipped beneath the surface the ship had lost many of her life rafts in the storms the day before and sang so quickly the few reached the upper decks those that did face frigid temperatures the ship's pinnacle a light boat carried aboard was launched but overloaded capsizing 300 meters from the ship the daisy 2 tender had been tied up beside the oak and her near position allowed her to immediately begin rescue operations 386 men were pulled from the water captain john gatt of the daisy 2 was awarded the distinguished service cross for his actions ultimately 424 crew from the oak survived but the cost was great 835 crew died aboard the ship or later of their wounds including rear admiral henry blagrove 134 of the dead were boy seamen not yet 18 years old the largest single life of boys semen by the royal navy in a single action though never officially confirmed after the attack boy seaman were largely pulled from frontline service preen in the u-47 immediately retreated at high speed i passed the southern block ship with nothing to spare 215 we were once more outside in fact the british didn't even pursue they were confused at what had happened and it took some time for them to determine that the culprit was a u-boat preen was awarded the highest award possible the knight's cross of the iron cross pinned on by hitler himself hitler called the attack the proudest deed the german u-boat could possibly carry out premium became known as the bowl of scapaflow darnitz used the attack to successfully argue for increased u-boat production in england the attack was demoralizing the loss of so many children shocked the country in winston churchill newly first lord of the admiralty was stricken with the loss poor fellows poor fellows trapped in those black depths he's reported to have said he also reported that despite the tremendous loss of life the loss of royal oak did not materially affect the general naval position in the house of commons churchill reported the loss we shall suffer and we shall suffer continually but by perseverance by taking measures on the largest scale i feel no doubt that in the end we shall break their hearts barriers now known as churchill barriers were constructed to block paths into the anchorage with work beginning in 1940. they were built in part by captured italian pows the barriers still exist acting as roads between the islands in 1939 american journalist john gunther called the attack the most extraordinary feat of the war so far preen because of his success was an instant celebrity in germany a a ghost written autobiography was produced for propaganda value although preen found it riddled with inaccuracies pring continued to serve aboard the u-47 which disappeared march 7 1941 presumed to have been the victim of hms wolverine although circumstances of its sinking are still unclear despite its success the attack was of dubious material value much more important was its impact on morale as a propaganda tool despite warning command of the anchorage's defense's weaknesses admiral wilford french was forced to step down after the attack and his career was essentially ended scapaflo's defenses were quickly strengthened and the anchorage was not threatened by u-boats again despite the ship sinking in relatively shallow water the remains of most of those lost aboard the royal oak were never able to be recovered and today the wreck is a protected war grave those laws are remembered each year in a ceremony where royal navy divers place the white ensign underwater near the ship's stern i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of forgotten history and if you did enjoy feed the algorithm by making a comment or clicking that like button if you have suggestions for future episodes please send those to our suggestions email box check out our webpage at thehistoryguy.net and of course we're on facebook instagram and twitter you can book a special message from the history guy on cameo and check out our merchandise at teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 77,635

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, wwii, scapa flow, hms royal oak, submarines

Id: Dj5SWogQkEU

Length: 15min 19sec (919 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 17 2021