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1.
Between 30th December and 5th January there were 400 sorties flown
against Malta.
2. It will be recalled that Triumph
hit a mine in the North Sea early in the war but survived.
3. Duino struck a mine later the same day and sank.
4. After long negotiations through neutral countries, it had been
agreed that the Italians should be allowed to send four liners
round the cape to evacuate their nationals from East Africa. Part
of the deal was that they should provide their own fuel for the
voyage. Lucania was carrying this fuel. Captain Simpson considered
he had issued clear instructions and Lieutenant DSR Martin RN
was relieved of his command. After a period in hospital, he was
flown back to the United Kingdom to explain his actions personally
to the Foreign Secretary. He did not return to the Mediterranean
but was given another command in Home waters.
5. This was the German SH (Mob 5), a hand trained magneto striction
echo ranging set fitted with relative bearing indicators only.
It was normally used in conjunction with hydrophones that gave
an accurate bearing. It was inferior to the British Asdic but
a great advance on earlier hydrophones used by themselves. It
could, however, only be used at slow speeds and was used to pinpoint
submarines detected by hydrophone. Personnel were trained at the
German antisubmarine
school at Gotenhafen and the repair establishment at
Wessermunde.
6. One torpedo ran 45 degrees to starboard.
7. She was challenged by an army sentry who, to the Army authority’s
fury, made no report but allowed an officer to land and proceed
overland to the submarine base for assistance.
7a. He was accustomed to sleep on the bridge.
8. Unbeaten,
Upholder,
P35,
P36,
P34,
P39,
Upright,
Sokol, Una
and Urge.
9. Thorn,
Thrasher,
Torbay,
Turbulent
and Proteus.
10. She was carrying supplies to Africa.
11. The other two were Upright
on passage home to refit and Una
returning to Malta from patrol off Kerkenah.
12. The torpedoes were the older Mark IV, the depth settings of
which could not be altered in the tube. They were set to 12 and
14 feet, as cruisers might be targets.
13. Sent to the Mediterranean from the Baltic through the French
canals.
14. This is by far the most likely cause of Upholder’s
loss, although she was some distance from where she should have
been. It is, however, possible that she was mined a day or two
earlier off Tripoli.
15. This was the second submarine to survive striking a mine,
the other being Triumph
in the North Sea early in the war.
16. P36,
P39,
Glaukos and Urge.
Pandora
and Olympus
were at Malta on store carrying duties and were not based there.
17. Sokol, Upright
and Unbeaten.
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18. P39
was actually lost in March, and Pandora,
P36
and the Greek Glaukos in April.
19. Urge
in April and Olympus
in May.
20. Pandora
and Olympus.
21. Glaukos.
22. Una,
P31,
P34
and P35.
23. Medway
looked after fifteen large submarines in China before the war
and now only had a total of ten.
24. Thrasher,
Proteus,
Turbulent,
Taku,
Porpoise
and Thorn.
25. P42,
P43
and P44.
26. Except a working up patrol by P44
off Alboran Island in the western Mediterranean.
26a. Including boats at Malta up to 1st September 1941 when the
Tenth Flotilla was formed.
27. These figures do not include the Malta submarines in early
1941,
which were technically part of the First Flotilla before the Tenth
was formed.
28. The very extensive air operations such as bombing enemy airfields
are not described in this account not because they are not thought
to be important but because it is desired to highlight the submarine
operations. The air reconnaissance available included radar fitted
aircraft as well as others for photographic reconnaissance.
29. This plan was drawn up by Captains Ruck Keene and Simpson
on the suggestion of Rear Admiral Edelsten, the Chief of Staff
of the Mediterranean Fleet and approved by the new C-in-C, Admiral
Sir Henry Harwood.
30. The author finds the account of this action in “The War
at Sea” somewhat unsatisfactory. It suggests that the submarines
were unable to get in to position, which is quite untrue. The
enemy battleships passed right through the Tenth Flotilla’s
patrol line. The mutual interference between torpedo bombers and
submarines is not even mentioned.
31. Many more torpedoes had fortunately been sent overland to
Haifa.
32. Bragadin.
32a. Captain Simpson would, had he been alive, have vehemently
contested these views and could have pointed out that some of
the losses were nothing to do with the basing of the Tenth Flotilla
at Malta; for example Olympus
and Pandora
were supplying Malta and not operating from there. Nevertheless
his assertion that the U-class could not operate from Alexandria
except in the Aegean does not bear examination. They could certainly
have operated off Cyrenaica and the west coast of Greece from
Alexandria. The First Flotilla submarines could have taken their
place in the central Mediterranean even off Tunisia where it was
no shallower or difficult for large submarines than off Benghazi
or in the Gulf of Sirte.
33. Figures interpolated from “The War at Sea” Vol II
– Roskill.
34. Only the Victoria Cross or a Mention in Despatches may be
awarded posthumously. Had Lieutenant Commander Tomkinson survived
he would almost certainly have been given a third bar to his DSO.
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