HMS Thetis memorial

[Gareth JonesParticipant @garethjones79649]

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the loss of the submarine HMS Thetis while undergoing sea trials in Liverpool Bay. At 1:00 pm today, 75 years to the hour after she left the Mersey on her last voyage, a memorial was dedicated to those who lost their lives in the tragedy. At the same time the crews of the Llandudno and Moelfre lifeboats laid wreaths at the location of the disaster.

The erection of the memorial is largely due to the work of Derek Arnold whose father was one of the 4 survivors of the accident. 99 others lost their lives when Thetis sank and a further person was killed while diving on the sunken submarine in an attempt to salvage it. This is still the largest peacetime loss of life in a Royal Navy submarine.

The submarine encountered problems when attempting to dive and during the investigation of these problems, number 5 torpedo tube door was opened, inadvertantly flooding the front two compartments of the submarine. Although no one was injured at this stage, subsequent rescue operations failed and only 4 men managed to escape using the Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus. Because the submarine was carrying twice its normal crew, including workers from the builders, Cammel Laird, other companies involved in its construction, the Admiralty and a Mersey Pilot, the air supply was used up in a very short space of time and the remaining people on board suffocated before they could be rescued.

The reasons for the accident happening and the subsequent failure of the rescue attempts are many and varied. The conclusions of the investigations and the way in which the survivors and their relatives were treated after the accident is still a very sore point locally, even today. A number of books and plays have been written about the tragedy and the book Thetis Down by Tony Booth gives a comprehensive description of events before and after the sinking.

The cover of the memorial service booklet

Derek Arnold giving the opening address.

The memorial and the ships bell from Thetis, before the unveiling. The memorial is on the riverside walk, just north of the Woodside Ferry terminal in Birkenhead.

The memorial being unveiled.

The main memorial plaque giving details of the events. On the other side of the plinth is the list of the names of those who lost their lives, and the four survivors.

Two Mersey pilot vessels that laid alongside during the service. The pilot who lost his life in the accident should have left Thetis before she dived but elected to stay on board.

My personal connection with Thetis is that she was eventually salvaged and beached in Moelfre Bay on Anglesey, before being towed into Holyhead where the remaining bodies where removed. At the time my father worked in the dockyard in Holyhead and was one of the volunteers who assisted in this work and the preparation of Thetis before it was towed back to Birkenhead. As a small boy I can remember him telling me what a terrible job that was and showing me the memorial which still stands in the cemetary in Holyhead where many of the men were buried.

Thetis was repaired and rebuilt and subsequently entered service as HMS Thunderbolt, undertaking active service in the Atlantic and Mediteranean. She was lost with all hands after being sunk by the Italian Navy corvette Cicogna on 14th March 1943.

[Gareth JonesParticipant @garethjones79649]

[Author]

Posts