Transcript HMS Pathfinder - Joint Service Sub Aqua Diving Centre

Centenary Dive
 Jane Maddocks
 BSAC NDC Nautical Archaeology Adviser
 Dave lock
 BSAC NDC Diver Training Lead
Team
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Mark Callaghan
Jason Hall
Sophie Heptonstall
Sarah Jepson
Dave lock
Jane Maddocks
Andy Proctor
Mike Rowley
Maggie Surrage
Dave Wakelam
HMS Pathfinder
 Sentinel Class Scout Light Cruiser
 Designed to be eyes and ears of fleet
 One of four pairs built to general specification
 Sister ship HMS Patrol
 Built by Camel Laird, Birkenhead
 Laid down August 1903
 Launched July 1904
 Commissioned July 1905
 Cost £297,000
Specifications
 2900 Tons displacement
 379 ft x 38.6 ft x 13 ft
 Armour plate
 Deck = 1.5” – 5/8”
 Hull belt = 2”
 Conning tower = 3”
 2 x 4 cyl triple expansion engines
 Normand-Laird boilers
 16,500 i.h.p.
25 knots
 14330 i.h.p.
25.22 Knots (Trials)
 Coal capacity = 160 tons – 410 tons
 Crew complement = 268
Armament
 9 x 4” guns
 6 x 6 pdr guns
 2 x 18” Torpedo tubes
Achilles Heel
 Period of evolving technology
 Need for speed
 Destroyer Flotilla Leader
 Triple expansion engines
devour coal
 Limited bunker capacity
 160 – 410 tons
 Very limited range
Service Record
 Atlantic Fleet
 Channel Fleet 1906
 Home Fleet 1907
 Beginning of WW1
 Leader of 8th Destroyer Flotilla
 Based Rosyth, Firth of Forth
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Home port of Beatty’s “Cats”
 Capt. Francis Martin-Peake
th
5
September 1914
 Routine patrol off Isle of
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May
Leading 8th Destroyer
Flotilla
Destroyers altered
course towards Isle of
May~ midday
Pathfinder continued on
SSE course
At 5 knots due to lack of
coal
Carl Hans Lody
 25th August 1914
 Staying in area
 Takes bus to Firth of Forth
every morning
 30th August 1914
 Letter to Germany
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“4 ships in repair dock”
“Other ships heading to sea”
 SM U-21 ordered to target area
 6th November 1914
 Shot as spy in Tower of London
SM U-21
 Type U-19 Class
 Built Kaiserliche Werf, Danzig.
 Laid down 1910
 Launched 8th Feb. 1913
 Commissioned 22nd Oct. 1913
 KapitanLeutnant Otto Hersing
SM U-21
 64.1 m x 6.1 m x 3.58 m
 2 x MAN 8 cyl. diesels
 1st U Boats with diesels
 2 x AEG Double Motordynamos
 15.4 knots surfaced
 9.5 knots submerged
 4 x 50 cm Torpedo Tubes
 1 x 88 mm SK L/30 gun
 4 Officers + 25 Crew
th
4
September 1914
 SM U-21 penetrated Firth of Forth
 As far as Forth Bridge
 Fired on by Carlingnose shore battery
 Retired back to sea
th
5
September 1914
 SM U-21 On surface charging
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batteries
Lookout spots smoke on horizon
Identifies slow moving warship
Submerged for attack
Warship turns away
Surface to recharge
Warship reverses course
Submerged for attack
1543 hrs fired 1 torpedo from 2000
yards
HMS Pathfinder
 Torpedo spotted ~ 1545 hrs
 Lt-Cdr Favell - evasive action
 Torpedo struck forward of bridge
 Explosion triggers second massive
explosion in forward magazine
 Bow section blown off from bridge
forward
 Sinks in 4 minutes
Aftermath
 Pathfinder becomes the 1st
ship to be sunk by submarine
launched motorised torpedo
 Explosion heard and seen
ashore
 Fishing boats, Destroyers and
Lifeboat raced to scene
 18 survivors
 (Including Capt. Martin-Leake)
 4 subsequently died
Aldous Huxley wrote:
 From Northfield House, St. Abbs
 “We actually saw the Pathfinder
explosion – great white cloud with its
foot in the sea. The St. Abbs’ lifeboat
came in with the most appalling
accounts of the scene. There was not
a piece of wood big enough to float a
man and over acres the sea was
covered with fragments – human and
otherwise.”
News Management
 Official Admiralty Position
 “Submarines lack ability to sink surface warships with a
torpedo”
 First official statement
 “Struck mine”
 Scotsman Newspaper
 Eye witness accounts by fishermen
 Admiralty Intelligence
 Claimed U-Boat cornered and sunk by cruisers
Reality
 22 Sept 1914 SM U-9 sank
 HMS Aboukir
 HMS Hogue
 HMS Cressy
SM U-21 & Otto Hersing
 May 1915 Sank
 HMS Majestic
 HMS Triumph
 February 1916 Sank
 Admiral Charner
 36 Allied ships
 Sank 1919 in North Sea
 On tow for interment
Diving HMS Pathfinder
 www.marinequest.co.uk
 ~ 12 Miles N of Eyemouth
 Upright & complete
 From bridge to stern
 Max. depth 68 m
 Min. depth 57 m
 Bow ~ 1 Mile North
Diving HMS Pathfinder
 Protection of Military Remains Act 1986
 No entry
 No interference
 No removal of artefacts
John Liddiard
John Liddiard
John Liddiard
Diving HMS Pathfinder
 Appropriate diving platform
 Individual self sufficienct within team
 Thermal & Urination issues
 Matched to preference & experience
 Team diving
 Common gases
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10/50 diluent
20/30 Deep Bailout
80% Shallow Bailout
 Emergency gas
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20/30 @ 55 m
80% @ 10 m
 Drop tanks in boat
 All return to shot line for ascent
 Diver to boat signal protocol
Diving HMS Pathfinder
 Emergency manager/s
 Emergency gas deployment
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Drop tanks
In-water safety divers
 Casualty evacuation procedure
 Recompression facilities
 In-water recompression?
 Therapeutic Oxygen
 Therapeutic Oxygen trained people
 First Aid
 Understanding of potential diving ailments
Diving HMS Pathfinder
80% @ 10m
Piston clip
& Prussic
loop
Strobe
58m
Tokens
Missing divers
procedure
20/30 @ 55m
61m
68m
MOD Permission
Wreath & Flag
Relatives
 Malcolm Stern
 Nephew of William Stern
 RN K/5331
 1st Class Stoker
 1st Jewish casualty of WW1
Relatives
 John Magee
 Grandson of Richard Magee
 Master at Arms
 RN 164813 ch
Relatives
Thank you
Mike Rowley