TNA ADM 199 792

Collection details

TNA ADM 199 792

Admiralty records concerning Operation Dynamo and the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, covering 1940–1941.

Holding archive: TNA
Collection reference: ADM 199 792

View the archive catalogue entry ↗

Source: The National Archives, Kew, ADM 199/792. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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Page	Image	OCR text	OCR tags
394	Log in to enlarge	Compitential 49 9339 ROOM 90, ARCHWAY BLOCK (s), ADMIRALTY, S.W.1. 1940 9th August, 1940. No. 2/2 A.B./40. ENQUIRY INTO THE LOSS OF H.M.S. WAKEFUL IN OPERATION "DYNAMO". Sir, With reference to Admiralty Letter N.L.6245/40 dated 1st August, 1940, be pleased to submit to Their Lordships the following report resulting from an enquiry held by me into the circumstances attending the loss of H.M.S. WAKEFUL on the 29th May, 1940. 2. Commander Ralph Lindsay Fisher, R.N., the Senior surviving Officer of WAKEFUL who was in command of that Ship, was examined on 8th August, 1940, and stated that WAKEFUL was hit by a torpedo at 0045 in the vicinity of the forward boiler room. A vivid flash was seen and the ship split in two, the two midship ends sinking in about fifteen seconds. 3. In view of the immediate sinking of the ship, it is not possible to furnish any detailed information as to the behaviour of material but the subsequent position taken up by the vessel described as follows by Commander Fisher may be of interest from the constructional point of view:- "The fore part of the ship, bow upwards, remained protruding some sixty feet out of water at an angle of about 60° from the horizontal, and the after part similarly stern upwards. About an hour and a half later the stern submerged but the bow was still standing up and this was its position when I left the scene." 4. The Asdic gear was intact when the ship sank and was abandoned by those who survived. 5. As regards any lessons which may be learnt from the loss of WAKEFUL, the remarks contained in my Report No. 1/1 A.B./40 of 9th August, 1940, on loss of GRENADE, here also apply, although it is almost certain that in this case, there would not have been time to destroy the Asdic Dome even by a remote control method of firing the charge. My remarks as to the desirability of some method of rendering S.Ps and C.Bs useless, as mentioned in my Report quoted above, again also apply. 6. The necessity for the provision of escape scuttles was, unfortunately, only too strongly emphasised in the case of/ Secretary, Admiralty, S.W.1.	Fisher May Senior

Raw OCR

Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 394.

Compitential
49
9339
ROOM 90, ARCHWAY BLOCK (s),
ADMIRALTY, S.W.1.
1940
9th August, 1940.
No. 2/2 A.B./40.
ENQUIRY INTO THE LOSS OF H.M.S. WAKEFUL
IN OPERATION "DYNAMO".
Sir,
With reference to Admiralty Letter N.L.6245/40
dated 1st August, 1940, be pleased to submit to Their
Lordships the following report resulting from an enquiry
held by me into the circumstances attending the loss of
H.M.S. WAKEFUL on the 29th May, 1940.
2. Commander Ralph Lindsay Fisher, R.N., the Senior
surviving Officer of WAKEFUL who was in command of that Ship,
was examined on 8th August, 1940, and stated that WAKEFUL
was hit by a torpedo at 0045 in the vicinity of the forward
boiler room. A vivid flash was seen and the ship split in
two, the two midship ends sinking in about fifteen seconds.
3. In view of the immediate sinking of the ship, it
is not possible to furnish any detailed information as to
the behaviour of material but the subsequent position taken
up by the vessel described as follows by Commander Fisher
may be of interest from the constructional point of view:-
"The fore part of the ship, bow upwards, remained
protruding some sixty feet out of water at an
angle of about 60° from the horizontal, and the
after part similarly stern upwards. About an
hour and a half later the stern submerged but
the bow was still standing up and this was its
position when I left the scene."
4. The Asdic gear was intact when the ship sank and
was abandoned by those who survived.
5. As regards any lessons which may be learnt from
the loss of WAKEFUL, the remarks contained in my Report
No. 1/1 A.B./40 of 9th August, 1940, on loss of GRENADE,
here also apply, although it is almost certain that in this
case, there would not have been time to destroy the Asdic
Dome even by a remote control method of firing the charge.
My remarks as to the desirability of some method of rendering
S.Ps and C.Bs useless, as mentioned in my Report quoted
above, again also apply.
6. The necessity for the provision of escape scuttles
was, unfortunately, only too strongly emphasised in the case
of/
Secretary,
Admiralty,
S.W.1.