- Author
- Auten, Harold, VC, Lieutenant Commander, RN
- Subjects
- WWI operations
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- March 1997 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
In a previous issue of `Review’ (September 1996) we published the success story of the `Q’ ship, HMS ‘Stonecrop’, in WWI. In the `O’ boat service, it was luck which decided the issue. The victor of today might well be the vanquished of tomorrow. The following is the sad sequel to ‘STONECROP’s successful action with U88 on 17 September, 1917
A few minutes after 1300 on the following day, `Stonecrop’ was making her way quietly through the water on a northerly course some distance off the west coast of Ireland. At 1310 the captain, Commander Blackwood, who had been on the bridge, retired to his cabin for lunch. The officer of the watch was about to be relieved when the track of a torpedo was observed on the starboard bow coming direct for the ship. It was too late to do anything; the torpedo was close to them and coming on at an awful speed. It struck the ‘Stonecrop’ in the fore submerged flat or in the wireless flat, just before it, and resulted in a terrific explosion. The fore submerged flats and the wireless office were wrecked, and five ratings killed. The bridge and wheel house were demolished, the wheel, compass and voice-pipe were blown into a state of hopeless chaos. Six out of eight howitzer hatches collapsed, or were blown overboard. Number one hatch and the spare lifeboat were wrecked. The steel ports of the 12-pounder gun house were bent and dropped about a foot.
Commander Blackwood had just finished washing when this explosion took place. In his report he states “this was all the damage I actually saw, but there was probably a good deal more. I was knocked down and got a slight shock, but got on the bridge and found the ship settling by the head, and put the telegraph to `stop’; but it had been wrecked.
In spite of the terrible nature of the explosion, and the fact that a number of the crew had been killed, all went to their appointed stations; and the `panic party’got away in the approved manner. The concealed guns’ crews lay down aboard the sinking ship hoping for a chance to let fly.
Not a sign of the submarine had been seen, and at about 1.30, or some fifteen minutes after the explosion, the ‘Stonecrop’ began to settle still further by the head. Seas began to break over her forward, and she sank lower and lower. Finally numbers one and two howitzer wells filled and, as Commander Blackwood remarked, he could tell by the feel of her that she was going.
A little later a periscope was sighted on the starboard bow, distant about three thousand yards, and again a little later on the port beam. Commander Blackwood still hoped to get a shot from his remaining torpedo, but the submarine never got far enough aft on the port side to enable him to do this. At 2.20pm the ship started rapidly to settle down by the head, and the lieutenant in charge of the 12-pounder gun forward, together with his crew, were forced out of their position, where they had lain for upwards of an hour, despite the fact that seas were breaking over them and that they were in a state of considerable danger.
The fore part of the vessel soon became totally submerged, and five minutes later a big sea carried away the bridge rails and screens.
Commander Blackwood ordered all those who were forward to jump overboard, which they did. He remained on the ship until he could no longer stand upon the bridge, when he followed the crew over the side.
The after end of the ship was in charge of Lieutenant Smiles, the First-Lieutenant. This officer saw all his men to their stations after the explosion had occurred, and caused to be shut every watertight door that was capable of being closed. He then went into his 4-inch gun position aft, where he found that the gun screen had dropped a little, but had not disclosed the gun, thanks to the rope-preventers on them.
He next had the Lewis gun and Maxim gun brought aft into No. 6 hatchway, where they would be ready if a submarine broke surface sufficiently near to render them effective. There he remained with his men, sifting waiting and hoping for a chance to have a shot at the Hun before his own ship sank. The voice-pipe being smashed completely isolated him from Commander Blackwood and the party forward. The only way in which he could see what was happening was to peer through a little crack, which gave him a limited vision.