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14.2.44 No. 4. SUBMARINE'S RECCED DIVE When the submarine H.M.S. UNSEEN arrived in a home port recently, after completing a 23,000 mile commission, hen "Jolly Rover" bore a strange emblem. her class. It was a, diver’s helmet, symbolising a record dive for any submarine of forced to dive to feet This occurred when she was pursued by enemy destroyers and 145 below the maximum depth for which she was designed. No damage or ill-effects resulted. Since H.M.S. UNSEEN" left a British port in September 1942 for the Mediterranean Her zone of operations, she has accounted for 20,000 tons of enemy shipping. Commanding Officer is Lieutenant M.L.C, Crawford, D.S.C., LAN., of Southsea, Hampshire. For some days, before one of her attacks, the submarine kept observation oh an enemy ship lying half submerged off Sous sc. Then one day a lighter, equipped with a crane, was seen alongside the vessel apparently helping in the salvage operations. What happened then is. described by Sub .Lieutenant H.J. Linden, R.N.V.R., of Knaresborough, Yorkshire, former medical student at Leeds University, now the UNSEEN’s torpedo officer. "We fired one torpedo" he said, "end. when we took a peep at the result we found, no lighter, and the merchant ship was looking much more like a wreck, settling deeper in the water. We had achieved the rare but happy feat of two at one blow." attack a tanker the Following another successful on by UNSEEN, enemy destroyers launched a five-hour depth charge attack, in which the submarine recorded sixty different explosions. Her patrols then took the UNSEEN to the Adriatic where she penetrated a screen of f two destroyers to torpedo a supply ship. "Much to our surprise their was no counter-attack from the destroyers," said Lieutenant Sallis. "They raced away out of it, leaving us to conduct an uninterrupted reconnaissance of the sinking ship. We took off four prisoners, all we had room for, -and left the others with previsions for several days. "While returning with her prisoners the UNSEEN encountered an anti-submarine " schooner which, said Idout on out Sallis, "provided us with probably the most interesting episode of the commission. for a with our machine "We. closed the range and surfaced gun action, opening up while vc our three-inch the schooner’s crew from their guns "brought guns to keep away gun into action. one of machine gun ammunition ""Rather to our surprise, we had only fired pan when over the sue. we saw the crew abandoning ship "by jumping / "We went alongside, 2 two still "We went alongside, and our boarding party found only people on board, had the 57 years old captain, and the 63 years old bo’sun. Unfortunately the submarine had for drifted some distance away from the schooner, and the boarding party to swim it. "Leading Stoker Alfred Symonds', of Weymouth (since promoted to Petty Officer), and over tried to capture as much of the schooner's small armoury as he could, jumped the side with six rifles and three revolvers slung round his neck. Not until he had sunk two or three fathoms with the weight did he decide to abandon his prize, and it was a chagrined stoker who rose to the surface to be hauled inboard, for he had lost his scaboots too." On another occasion the UNSEEN went in pursuit of two large landing craft and sank the leading one with two torpedo hits. "She just blew/ up in. small pieces" said Sub.Lieutenant Linden. "We had only one torpedo left and were determined to make certain of the craft with it. We followed it to the mainland before we could get in our attack. The vessel was moored alongside a jetty. "Away went our only torpedo. It missed the vessel, but hit the jetty, and all that could be seen afterwards was the tangled remains of a jetty, two buildings work demolished, six without roofs, and a very much damaged landing craft. Not bad for a miss.'" Last but largest prize of this campaign came when the UNSEEN eluded an escort of four flak trawlers and torpedoed a 6,000 ton tanker. "That provided us with the biggest, brightest and best explosion of our career," said Lieutenant Sallis. ’ A large proportion of the UNSEEN s crew arc "hostilities only" ratings and, in the words of the commanding officer, "They all did a splendid job of work." The UNSEEN has beer adopted by Llwchwr, Glamorganshire. NAVAL AFFAIRS. NOTE: Photographs available from B.1.P.P.A. 14/2/44 - No. 5 NOT POR PUBLICATION, BROADCAST OR USE ON CLUB' TAPES BEFORE 0830 HOURS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1944. THIS EMBARGO SHOULD BE RESPECTED OVERSEAS BY PREFACING ANY MESSAGE WITH THIS EMBARGO Air Ministry Nows Service Air Ministry Bulletin No. 12919 SCHOOL FOR "ACE" FLIERS D.F.C.s go to learn INSTRUCTING In the West of England a R.a.F. station which has no operational aircraft, probably - has more decorated personnel than any other unit in the country. It is a flying instructors school of Plying Training Command, and it . is not unusual to find 30 or 40 D.F. Cs in the officers' moss there. Most of then are taking; a course. the The unit is unique in another sense. It represents a cross section of opera tional commands at home and overseas. Its "pupils" have a tremendous diversity of experience, ranging from service in the arctic to the Burma jungles. Here are officers from almost every battle front, some still bronzed from tropical all suns, with interesting experiences. The Ranks range from warrant officer to squadron leader. The purpose of the unit is to train operational pilots as instructors. The rest period which the operational pilot gets when ho has finished his tour does not imply inactivity: it usually involves some months on instructional work, and as non of action are, often enough, men of few words, they have to be taught the art of instructing, so that they can pass on their knowledge to others. Pilots who have seen action arc usually disposed, at first, to look askance at teaching jobs, but they soon realise how vital is adouate instruction to the newly- fledged pilots who will shortly be following in their footsteps. Pilots who take a course, are often considerably surprised to find that their flying is far from as smooth and polished as it should be. Operations tend to nalce a pilot's flying a bit "rough", so at this school, flying in Oxfords or Masters, the pilots knock off the edges and assimilate the art of instructing. A typical comment is made by a pilot who has flown on many night sorties in Stirlings: "When I was doing ny elementary training I thought 'what a nice job ny instructor has. ju.ll he has to do is sit there and natter'. Nov; I’n trying to do the sane thing. I realise how difficult it is to do the job properly. /The staff 2 The staff at this school is just as representative of the air fronts as its pupils. The school has had as its commanding officer since its formation* Wing Commander R.J. Gosnell, D.F.C., who did a year’s continuous operations as a Wellington pilot and leader of a squadron in the Mediterranean theatre in 1 • The staff of the school is always changing its composition as its members return to operational duties. The chief flying instructor is a famous fighter pilot, S/Ldr. M.M. Stephens. D.S.O. D. F.C., and two bars, who has seen a great deal of action in'the Mediterranean. He has done about 550 sorties, mostly in fighters or fighter-bombers, and has had, many combats. One of his most exciting experiences, However, was on the ground. after he had shot down a Me109 during the siege of Tobruk he had to bale out, suffering from a cannon-shell wound in the leg. He cane down in no-nan' s-land, about 300 yards from the German lines. A barrage was plastering an area close by, but he decided to try to reach the British lines, over a mile away, This involved his hobbling over rocky, thorny ground for over a mile, but he achieved it. 14.2.44 - No. 6 NOT FOR PUBLICATION, BROADCAST OR USE ON CLUB TAPES BEFORE 0830 HOURS ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1944. THIS EMBARGO SHOULD BE RESPECTED OVERSEAS BY PREFACING ANY MESSAGE- WITH THE EMBARGO Air Ministry News Service Air Ministry Bulletin N0.1288 Air Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas, paying his first visit to Coastal Command 1 squadrons since he recently became the Command s Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Czech and Polish units of the as well as United inspected R.A.F., R.A.A.F. 9 Command., States Navy squadrons operating with the Command. At the station of the Czech squadron, he decorated with D.F.C’s the Czech pilot and. navigator of the Liberator aircraft which sank an enemy blockade-runner in the approaches to the Bay of Biscay on December 27th, 1945* The ceremony took place when r Sir Sholto Douglas was inspecting aircrew and ground, staff of the squadron. At various bases during his tour, the A. 0. C-in-C spent a considerable tine in operations rOons, hangars and workshops, examined aircraft engaged in the Battle of the Atlantic, talked to aircrews and their commanding officers, and watched, ground sections at their work.