Submarine Courageous - Cold War Warrior (Continued)
The result is not the glorification of one submarine, nor is it too serious or, even worse, too frivolous. It is not a history of the deep Cold War, the Falklands campaign, liaising with the US submarine force or of flotilla weapon development, although all of these events serve as the essential backdrop.
What it does do is to try and answer that perennial question. What is it like to be banged up in a metal cylinder under water for weeks on end? What is the interaction between the people on board (different from a surface warship) and how are the natural tensions created by living in such a hostile environment handled and dissipated? How do intelligent men, often doing repetitive and sometimes boring tasks, fill their time and maintain their equilibrium?
In the Foreword, a former submariner, the present First Sea Lord, concludes that good fellowship is as important as good leadership. Communication and feed-back takes place in all directions, downward and upward through the chain of command and sideways across branch and trade specialisation. When all this is accompanied by good humour and dedication to the overall task, then what you get is an effective Ship’s Company. This captures that spirit of interdependence where a failure of knowledge or concentration by any man at the wrong time can jeopardize the whole ship. In fact it is probably not possible to do full justice in words to the experience of a long submerged patrol.
The key question is of course, who wants to read the book, which has been beautifully presented in hardback, but at £30 is not cheap? The answer is that it will stir the memories of submariners of all generations and anyone else inquisitive enough to wonder what these people get up to in their underwater world. It is probably best dipped into a bit at a time.
Any profits from sales will go to the Courageous Society and assist in the improvement of the submarine as a museum attraction. Michael Pitkeathly deserves an award. Without him the book would not have been written, and this particular Cold War warrior might now be as derelict and forgotten as the other decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines of her era.
HMS ‘Ursula’ - The Chorley and District Submarine
A comprehensive account of the service history and crew of HMS ‘URSULA’; Famous in its day, this World War Two ‘baby’ Submarine, was the sole survivor of the original group of pre-war built ‘U’-Class vessels.
Further more, ‘URSULA’ was an ‘adopted’ vessel of one of the hundreds of Warship Week National Savings campaigns. She was sponsored by the people of Chorley and District in Lancashire and a contingent of the crew paid their respects there in 1943.
Although many know about the stories of ‘UPHOLDER’, ‘THRASHER’ and the actions of the famous 10th Submarine Flotilla, few know the history behind this Submarine, which has just as eventful a story to tell.
Drawing on a wide range of Royal Navy, social and historical records, combining fact with witness accounts, the overall account is illustrated with photographs and supported with quotes from those who were part of the action.
Every aspect of this little-acknowledged boat from Royal Navy history is covered for the first time in one publication. From its original conception as a training vessel, to firing the first British Submarine torpedoes of the war, to taking the first German Prisoners by British Submarine in the war, surviving a near fatal collision and later transferring into the control of the Soviet Navy- this is the story of ‘URSULA.’
“I am sure that your ‘URSULA’ project will not be superfluous…”
“I do complement you on your excellent research into the ‘URSULA’ saga!...It brings back happy memories to see pictures of ones colleagues again…All I can say is that they were a splendid, loyal, efficient crew of dedicated men. Best of luck. Yours, Barklie Lakin (‘URSULA’ Lieutenant 1938-39 & ‘URSULA’ Captain 1942-43)”
“Readers of this very true realistic story about Ursula will be enthralled at the exploits, which included torpedo attacks, gunnery attacks, boarding parties, depth charging, special forces operations, and even impersonating a U-boat; serving in Home Waters, Norwegian, Mediterranean, Arctic and Baltic.”
Supporting the story are the actual views, comments and the parts they played in these exploits by ex-members of the wartime crew.
This book should be read by anyone interested in World War II and the Civilian support for the services and also Submarine warfare as seen by those who took part.”
Mr John Frederick Green (‘URSULA’ Telegraphist 1942-43)
Limited Edition 1st Print Run of 150 Copies
Retail price: £12.95 (inc. £3.00 p&p)
242 page, paperback with over 230 greyscale and colour photos
Cheques payable to:
STUART CLEWLOW 18 Empress Way, Euxton,Chorley, Lancashire PR7 6QB
saclewlow@yahoo.com Tel: 07840 922382
Israel 2010
By Terry Spurling
On 20th May 2010 Mike Kirk and Terry Spurling flew from Manchester to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. The prime treason for the trip was to attend the 47th Conference of the International Submariners Association.
Whilst I wished to attend the Conference, the main reason for my travel was to re-visit the many Israeli Submariners and Base Staff who I had spent a great deal of time with during the build and sea trial phases of the Project 540 Submarines in the 70s.
On arrival I was picked up by an old friend, Dan Tzur, who deposited me at the Conference Hotel in Natanya. He then informed me that he and his wife Nilly would be picking Betty and I up the next morning, very early, for a visit to the Dead Sea and Massada.
For those not familiar with Massada, it is a cliff top fortress originally built by King Herod ( yes - that King Herod) but gained fame as the final strong hold of the Jewish Zealots in their fight against the Romans after the sacking of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The Zealots held out for a number of years against the Roman Siege, until the Romans eventually built a ramp up to the entrance to Massada and broke into the Fortress. They found that all the Jewish personnel were dead. It turned out that they had all decided to die rather than face Roman slavery. Each man had killed his entire family before drawing lots to decide who of the remaining men should die last. They then killed each other until the last man committed suicide. A place very well worth a visit.
The next day we were picked up by Dan and Nilly for an all day visit to Ceasarea. It turned out that one of our friends, Avram Peer - the last Head of Commission on the P540 Programme, had trained as a relief tour guide for Caesarea. We had a most pleasant day and saw much more than would normally be the case for the average tourist. Much could be said about Caesarea, but this is not the place – think Ben Hur and the Hippodrome Chariot Races and you’ll get a flavour.
The ISA Conference itself was due to start on Sunday 23rd May with a cocktail party and registration. As each of us registered we were given a “goodies” bag along with details of each of the next three days’ activities.
Over 300 Members of the ISA registered – 150 Russian Submariners turned up with SA representatives from USA, Argentine, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Italy, Japan and, of course, Israel.