• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Thetis Down The Slow Death of a Submarine by Tony Booth Thetis Down: The Slow Death of a Submarine. On 1 June 1939 His Majesty​s Submarine Thetis sank in Liverpool Bay while on her diving trials. Her loss is still the worst peacetime submarine disaster the Royal Navy has yet faced when ninety-nine men drowned or slowly suffocated during their last fifty hours of life. The disaster became an international media event, mainly because the trapped souls aboard were so near to being saved after they managed to raise her stern about 18 ft above sea level. Still the Royal Navy-led rescue operation failed to find the submarine for many hours, only to rescue four of all those trapped. Very little is known about what actually happened, as the only comprehensive book written on the subject was published in 1958. Many years have now passed since the Thetis and her men died, for which no one was held to be ultimately accountable. However, a great deal of unpublished information has come to light in archives throughout the United Kingdom and beyond. After four years of painstaking research Thetis; The Slow Death of a Submarine explores in minute detail a more rounded picture of what really happened before, during and after her tragic loss. In doing so Tony Booth​s book also takes a fresh look at culpability and explores some of the alleged conspiracy theories that surrounded her demise. The result is the first definitive account what happened to HMS Thetis ​ and her men ​ a fitting tribute, as the seventieth anniversary of her loss will be on 1 June 2009. Thetis Down: The Slow Death of A Submarine. Maritime disasters are regularly topics catching the attention of maritime interested readers, authors, the media, historians and so on. The loss of HMS Thetis in 1939 was no exception to this rule. It had substantial coverage by the media in the immediate aftermath of the tragic event as well as a small number of naval historians analyzing the event throughout the decades to follow. Nevertheless, the outbreak of World War II overshadowed the tragic events of summer 1939 more or less completely, and even people with a decent knowledge of submarine history might have never heard about the loss of HMS Thetis . Tony Booth’s book adds to the existing historiography on the loss of HMS Thetis . Thus the first question to be asked is if it is just another iteration of a known story or if it brings new details or a new perspective to the table. The short answer to both questions is a definite ‘yes’, but prior to discussing Booth’s specific contribution to the historiography, it might be useful to do a short recollection of what actually happened. HMS Thetis was one of the most modern and advanced British submarine designs when its keel was laid in December 1936. Launched in summer 1938 the submarine was scheduled for its diving tests in 1939 with disaster already looming at the horizon. A first set of sea-trials needed to be abandoned due to some substantial mechanical issues like the steering gear operating in the opposite direction as indicated and issues with the diving planes. Once these problems where fixed the HMS Thetis set sail for its last and fatal voyage. During this trial voyage additional observers and navy official were aboard even when the diving tests started. Initially Thetis could not submerge, and it was checked if the diving cells and torpedo tubes were flooded. As the test-cock for one torpedo tube was blocked due to some paint that was wrongly applicated, the crew thought the tube would be dry and forced it open just to realize that it was flooded and, as the outer door of the tube was open too, the boat was immediately flooded. While the boat sunk to the ground, the crew managed to escape to the aft sections of the Thetis and to isolate this section from the water flooding into the boat. Due to the more than normal number of crew, increasing CO2 levels became an issue and the crew needed to abandon ship through the one usable escape hatch as quickly as possible. As the crew tried to max out the number of crew escaping through the hatch each time and due to some design flaws of the escape hatch (outer hatch of the chamber could only be operated from inside the chamber and not from inside the boat) the escape became inoperable after some men managed to get to the surface. All outside attempts to rescue the men still trapped in the boat failed and when Thetis was finally salvaged, only the dead corpses could be retrieved. The boat was finally recommissioned in 1940 as HMS Thunderbolt with all references to the boat being the original Thetis removed. While Booth’s chapters on the actual loss of the boat are definitely a worthwhile read, the real strength of the book are the chapters dealing with the aftermath of the accident, like the retrieval of the bodies, the Board of Inquiry, the public tribunal and the fights over the findings of the inquiry and the tribunal. Even more interesting is to read how Nazi propaganda used the Thetis accident for a 1943 radio docudrama broadcasted in Germany and written to showcase the irresponsible behavior of the British Admiralty. The loss of the Thetis also directly resulted in certain safety improvements like the so-called ‘Thetis-clip’, that prevents the immediate full opening of the inner door of a torpedo tube and thus limits the volume of water flooding in if a flooded tube is opened, which should not be possible at all, but Thetis had shown this could indeed happen. Despite of Booth’s meticulous research it needs to be noted that there are no footnotes or individual references in the book, but just a short bibliography and a list of archival sources at the end of the book. While this might not be a big issue for the majority of the readers, it is a major drawback for any serious historian as individual statements cannot be verified against the sources. At least a detailed index compensates a little for the lack of individual references when it comes to the usefulness of the book for future naval history research and as a reference book. Another criticism that needs to be noted is the comparably poor reproduction quality of the 40 historical photographs and illustrations included with a good number of details obscured in shades of gray instead of crisp black and white. Even for a book with a low retail price it should have been possible for the publisher to provide a better reproduction quality. When thinking about a recommendation to conclude this review, the first thing that comes to mind is that Thetis Down is a book that will definitely find its place on the bookshelves of naval history buffs and anyone interested in submarines. In addition, it is a book that tells a cautionary tale on how minor technical details can cause ultimate disaster, and thus should be recommended to everyone who is involved in critical construction and/or maintenance processes of submarines and comparable systems where the slightest mistake can easily turn into a matter of live or death for huge number of crewmembers. For the professional historian the book might serve as a nice little compendium on one of the most overlooked naval disasters in peace-time, but will remain a certain disappointment due to the lack of proper detailed references and thus the ability of the book to serve as a springboard to future research. Regardless, given the comparable low cost of the book, this reviewer ultimately recommends the book to the amateur as well as to the professional historian with an interest in submarine history. Booth, Tony. THETIS DOWN: The Slow Death of a Submarine . Pen & Sword Maritime 2019. thetis submarine. Mcintyre but his efforts were beset by bad luck, bad timing and bad judgment. The waiting for some form of rescue, the image of the dreadful deaths, haunts her still and indeed she was reminded of it recently by something in the news and mentioned it to me again. Her resting place is a war grave and a memorial to the 161 men who lost their lives in her, and the diver who died during the Thetis salvage. On 2–3 January, the manned torpedoes entered the harbour and mined the ships there, sinking the cruiser Ulpio Traiano and the freighter SS Viminale. Perhaps due to this lack of cohesive operation, someone – it was never established who – had opened the outer door, or bow cap, of number five torpedo tube, and then forgotten to close it. Submerged for 13 hours, oxygen on board was quickly running out. Woods then decided to undertake one of the many jobs he had on his check- list for that day, to inspect the inside of the tubes and particularly the bow-cap seals, which had previously given some trouble and had leaked badly. In 1939 the Royal Navy suffered its worst ever submarine disaster just 40 miles from where it was built in Birkenhead. My father went into the navy that year and he obtained a copy of a poem about the disaster written by, I think, a relative of one of the men who died. He says, "We've got scenes that are quite realistic in the broadest sense, other scenes which are really quite surreal, scenes which are comic and scenes which I think are very poetic.".

Load more

  4

Copy Link