The Ministry of Defence said all known documents relating to the Lancastria have been available at the National Archives at Kew since the early 1970s. Mr Napier is also wearing the Lancastria commemorative medal which was awarded by the Scottish Government in June 2008 in recognition of those who were aboard the vessel that day. The Why don't they recognise it? The British press did then cover the story, including front pages of the Daily Herald (also on 26 July) and Sunday Express on 4 August; the latter included a photograph of the capsized ship with its upturned hull lined with men under the headline "Last Moments of the Greatest Sea Tragedy of All Time". It was a few weeks after the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Dunkirk, and Walter and Charlie were still in occupied Europe with an estimated 150,000 other British servicemen. In fact the casualty figures, especiallyin perspective, are moreshocking and although 59 merchant seamen were lost on theLancastria(4), 126 merchant sailors perishedduring the whole of the previous fortnights Dunkirk evacuation. RMS Lancastria was a British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World War. The initial cover up at the time of the war is perhaps understandable, because it could be used as propaganda by the Germans. In April 1940, she was one of twenty troopships in Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of troops from Norway, and was bombed on the return journey although she escaped damage. Some of those left behind were women of the ATS, The story of the brave men rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk in May and June 1940 is well known, but less often told is the story of the nurses on the hospital ships that brought thousands of wounded servicemen back to the safety of England. [41], The Government of the United Kingdom has not made the site a war grave under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, stating that it has no jurisdiction over French territorial waters. Franconia was assigned to Lorient while Lancastria continued toward St. Nazaire but because of the tidal channel on the Loire estuary Lancastria had to anchor in the Charpentier Roads about 5 nm (nautical miles) southwest of the actual port. In 2011, a memorial was dedicated in Clydesdale, Scotland, where the ship was built. RMS Lancastria (later HMT Lancastria[ Note 1]) was a British Cunard [ 2] liner commandeered by the government for war, sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II with the loss of over 4,000 lives, possibly many more [ 3]. Interestingly, 2040 or 2041 should also be when restricted British documents on the Pearl Harbor attack are made public. Lancastria Association of Scotland made a further request in 2009. [25] As Lancastria began to capsize, some of those who were still on board managed to scramble onto the ship's underside. The Lancastria Tragedy: Sinking and Cover-Up, June 1940. On the day the Lancastria sank, Walter - who was from Dundee and serving with the Royal Engineers - was in the company of his friend Charlie Napier from Inverurie. On 17 June 1940, whilst being used as part of Operation Aerial to evacuate civilian refugees and British military personnel from France, it was anchored about 5 miles from the coast of St Nazaire. The death toll accounted for roughly a third of the total losses of the British Expeditionary Force in France. Raye Dancocks explains . Hold No. Oxford University-trained historian and author of more than a dozen books Jonathan Fenby stated that 1,738 perished (Fenby 2005, p. 247), but as there are no official figures published, there are great discrepancies in the numbers calculated by a variety of authors, and other estimates range from 2,000 to 9,000. Under the British Official Secrets Act, the report on the Lancastria cannot be published until the year 2040. The French had a front row seat to the destruction, but the British people were kept in the dark. They were told that release under the FOIA would not be given because of several exemptions. Many years later, I was asked by my father, Oliver Gleasure (Irish Guards) to find the book, so he could gift it to my uncle. 2 held about 800 RAF personnel. The RMS Lancastria was a British ocean liner, owned by the Cunard Line. 2: Their Finest Hour , Geoffrey Bonds 1959 Lancastria, John Wests 1988 The Loss of Lancastria, Brian Crabbs 2002 The Forgotten Tragedy: The Story of the Loss of HMT Lancastria, Jonathan Fenbys 2005 The Sinking of the Lancastria: Britains Greatest Maritime Disaster and Churchills Cover-up, Jacques Perruchon and Jacques Leroux 2005 Juin 1940 sur les ctes charentaises: ces trangers qui ont refus notre dfaite, Hugh Sebag-Montefiores 2006 The Sinking of the Lancastria in Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man, Jonathan Fenby and James Goodes 2008 The Sinking of the Lancastria, John Hanleys 2013 The Last Boat, Chair of the HMT Lancastria Association Raye Dancocks 2011 The Lancastria a Secret Sacrifice in World War Two, Graham Frasers 2015 Lancastria: The forgotten tragedy of World War Two, and the Lancastria Archive. The RMS Lancastria was hit by three or four bombs dropped from a Junkers JU 88 bomber; 15 to 20 minutes later, she lay a the bottom of the sea. The article said the soldiers sang popular World War Two songs "Roll Out the Barrel" and "There'll Always be an England" as the ship went down. This isnt just a result of an inaccurate muster ofpersonnel embarked but in the main part by Churchillsdecision by to impose a news blackout stating that the newspapers havehad enough of disastrous news of late meant that the whole catastrophe wasnt reported to the rest of the world until an article appeared in theNew York Pressseveral weeks later. The evacuation of more than 300,000 Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, between May 26th and June 4th 1940, After the Dunkirk evacuation, pockets of military personnel were left behind in France who had to make their way to the French ports for evacuation as best they could. Official notice of this disaster may not be forthcoming, but the descendants of those who died still honor the victims today and you can find some interesting history here www.lancastria.org.uk, For Sale: English Electric Lightning Jet Interceptors. The notifications are not legally enforceable; hence, news editors could choose not to abide by them but, generally, accede to these notices. S.S. "LANCASTRIA" : Lists of R.A.F. Launched on the Clyde, Scotland, in 1920 by William Beardmore and Co as the Tyrrhenia for the Anchor Line, a subsidiary of Cunard, the 16,243 ton, 578 foot long liner could carry 2,200 passengers in three classes. She was bombed at 15:48 by Junkers 88 aircraft from II. "We want recognition that this was the biggest sea disaster ever," she said. Survivors were taken aboard other evacuation vessels, the trawler Cambridgeshire rescuing 900. The details that are known about the event have all come from witness statements. She sailed scheduled routes between Liverpool and New York until 1932, and was then used as a cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea and Northern Europe. German bombing raids shifted the focus away from the sea and onto the mainland, and the nations attention also shifted to fresh challenges and atrocities. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Aerial. However, themovetowardswar went initially quite slowly. [48], The Lancastria Association of Scotland has members throughout the UK, France and the rest of Europe as well as members in North America, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. With the sea thick with oil, German planes strafed survivors trying to keep afloat. [51] The front of the medal depicts Lancastria with the text "HMT Lancastria 17th June 1940". This shrouded details of the disaster in secrecy as Churchill wanted to cover up the grisly details of the loss of life from an already severely demoralized British public. All Digitized Passenger Lists For the RMS Laconia Available at the GG Archives. We'd like to use additional cookies to remember your settings and understand how you use our services. Read about our approach to external linking. people who designed and built them. The ship was among twenty others that participated in the evacuation of 2,653 British, French, and Polish troops from Norway when Operation Alphabet began on May 24,1940. . At the end of the day, some 2,477 survivors were picked up from the sea. Ushered down to decks E and F at the very bottom of the ship they nevertheless clutched their life jackets probably entertaining athought thatthesewould make good pillows.Ominously however, the troopswere warnednotto leave their confinedquarters. Following the sinking of the Lancastria, Prime Minister Winston Churchill imposed a media blackout. Fewer than 2,500. We don't know.". "I think my grandfather was haunted by that," added Mark. casualties and survivors with related. Lancastria survivor Charles Napier with a copy of the newspaper which reported the news of the Lancastria sinking. useful bibliography and discussion. Lancastria memorial plaque at Liverpool Pier Head. The RMS Lancastria was a British Cunard liner sunk by enemy action on 17 June 1940 with the loss of an estimated 4,000 plus lives. Estimates of total survivors were hard to quantify though. She was sunk off the French port of St. Nazaire while taking part in Operation Ariel, the evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation. Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 30. [13][14], At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Lancastria was in the Bahamas. Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? RMS Lancastria (centre) at Funchal, Madeira, c. 1930. Naval Institute is maintaining and preserving the former Naval Historical Foundation website so readers and former NHF members can still access past issues of Pull Together and other content. The medal is in recognition of the endurance of survivors and ultimate sacrifice of the victims. Your email address will not be published. Crew members were either discharged or sent on leave.[15]. And at15:55 on the 17 June the first bombs fell almost simultaneouslyfrom a German bomber causing theLancastriato catch fire and capsize; hundreds would have been killed immediately whilst others struggled in the oil-coveredsea.In a act of pure evil JU 88s weremachine-gunning survivors from the air many of them women and children but amidst the carnage smaller vessels did their best to assist,the anti-submarine trawlerCambridgeshirepicking up no less than 900. 2023 BBC. [citation needed], The MoD stated in 2015 that "as the French Government has provided an appropriate level of protection to Lancastria through French law and it is formally considered a military maritime grave by the MoD, we believe that the wreck has the formal status and protection it deserves. Read tagging guidelines. Lancastria was sunk on 17 June 1940 off the French port of St. Nazaire while taking part in Operation Aerial, the evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation. It was too much for the people to take. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Naval Historical Foundation 1306 Dahlgren Avenue, SE Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374 1-202-678-4333 info@navyhistory.org. But Charlie had also survived. Now aged 77 and living in Malvern, Worcestershire, she will be joined by her husband, her children and her grandchildren at a ceremony in Saint-Nazaire on 17 June to mark the tragedy. Lancastria 17th June 1940 & Operation Aerial", "NMC Lay a wreath at the Memorial for The Lancastria", "The 75th anniversary of the sinking of HMT Lancastria", "Lancastria: Service for Britain's worst maritime disaster", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RMS_Lancastria&oldid=1152389814, Sunk by German Bombers on 17 June 1940 off, This page was last edited on 29 April 2023, at 23:38. Lancastria was free to depart and the captain of the British destroyer HMSHavelock advised her to do so; but, without a destroyer escort as defence against a possible submarine attack, Sharp decided to wait for Oronsay before leaving. There are 1,472 names on his list of the deceased, extracted from the War Graves website, but theCommonwealth War Graves Commission records 1,816 burials with more than 400 in France (Fenby 2005, p. 234) and the Lancastria Association identifies 1,738 individuals that died aboard the ship . Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 30. Around 700 missing from the British Expeditionary Force are commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial. Is climate change killing Australian wine? "I think that is probably the reason he never went to any of the company reunions. Seventy five years after the sinking of the Lancastria - Britain's worst maritime disaster in history - why is the tragedy largely forgotten? The letter added: "These relatives do not have a clear understanding of what happened as documentary evidence, they are told, remains unavailable; and possibly will not be revealed until 2040, which is of no comfort; indeed it adds to their distress as the relatives, themselves, will not be alive.". [20] People were crowded into whatever spaces were available including the large cargo holds. Under the Official Secrets Act, the report on the Lancastria cannot be published until the year 2040. She made her maiden voyage, GlasgowQuebec CityMontreal, on 19 June 1922.[6]. To this day, Adrien, aged 86, has no idea how many people perished, and it is unlikely that he ever will. At the outbreak of the Second World War she was requisitioned for use as a troop carrier and was refitted in New York, her company colours painted over in battleship grey. [3], The immense loss of life was such that the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, immediately suppressed news of the disaster through the D-Notice system,[33] telling his staff that "The newspapers have got quite enough disaster for today at least". Retreat to Victory. Lancastria was attacked, apparently by five Junkers Ju 88 dive bombers, and the ship capsized, and sank within twenty minutes mid-afternoon on June 17 off the French port of St. Nazaire. [22], A fresh air raid began at 15:50 by Junkers Ju 88 bomber aircraft from Kampfgeschwader 30. Help us improve catalogue descriptions by adding tags. Many men jumped into the sea wearing life jackets and broke their necks when they hit the water, others were killed as they hit the hull of the ship. About 124,000 troops were assembling and the Admiralty had dispatched some 30 merchant vessels of all sizes to the rescue. Required fields are marked *. The late edition of The Scotsman on July 25 1940 featured a six-paragraph story buried on the middle of page five. Remembrance. The British Government has requisitioned the RMS Lancastria to assist with evacuation of troops from the European mainland. [31], There were 2,477 survivors, of whom about 100 were still alive in 2011. She was 578 ft. in length and 16,000 gross tons, designed to accommodate 2,200 passengers in three classes. On Saturday, 13 June, relatives of those who were on the Lancastria will gather for a ceremony at the Scottish memorial at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, near to where the ship was built. [3] It is the greatest ever loss of life in the sinking of a single British ship, claiming more lives than the combined losses of the RMS Titanic (1,523 passengers and crew) and RMS . [6] The D-notice, or Defence Notice, also called DA-notice (Defence Advisory Notice), was a unique British government instruction devised in 1912. It was fourth English pounds. [10][11][12] The passengers on this voyage included Admiral of the Fleet Roger Keyes, Field Marshal William Birdwood and Commodore Edward Unwin. Harrowingenough in itself the grey-paintedship was anchored out in the Loireestuarywith personnel ferried out in various small boats itcan be well-imagined thatthese hungry, traumatisedand wounded peoplewere so relieved to be transportedto asafe place.But asmore and more embarkedbelow decks the vessel became hopelesslyovercrowded, indeed a communique was sent stating that the ship should embark as many as possible irrespective of international rules (1). He was a very quiet man, and his recalling of the Lancastria tended to come only after a couple of pints.". After a short overhaul, she left Liverpool on 14 June under Captain Rudolph Sharp (born 27 October 1885) and arrived in the mouth of the Loire river estuary on 16 June. The loss of His Majesty's Troopship Lancastria on 17 June 1940 still resonates 80 years on from the disaster. She sailed scheduled routes from Liverpool to New York until 1932, and was then used as a cruise ship in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. Anchored 11 miles south-west of St Nazaire. The medal ribbon has a grey background with a red and black central stripe, representative of the ship's wartime and merchant marine colours. With the outbreak of the Second World War, she carried cargo before being requisitioned in April 1940 as a troopship, becoming the HMT Lancastria. There were 2,477 survivors, of whom about 100 were still alive in 2011. A senior lecturer in British politics at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris, Thibaud Harrois, said that the German advances in 1940 caught almost everyone by surprise and led to the Battle of Dunkirk. Early on the morning of the 17th June 1940 three Royal Navy Reserve officers came aboard and asked her captain, Rudolph Sharp, how many people the Lancastria would be able to uplift. She was first used to ferry men and supplies between Canada and the United Kingdom. It is famously known that the battle ended with the enormous undertaking of evacuating the British troops from French soil. Brogden's account states that one bomb landed close to the funnel and entered No. The British Government has refused to make the site a war grave under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 although documents obtained under the Freedom of Information show that it could be done. On the morning of May 1st 1915 the Lusitania left New York behind. The Lancastria was carrying up to 9,000 troops when it was bombed by German planes and sunk outside the port on 17 June 1940. The Lancastria Association names 1,738 people known to have been killed. [3][4], The ship was launched in 1920 as Tyrrhenia by William Beardmore and Company of Dalmuir on the River Clyde for the Anchor Line, a subsidiary of Cunard. Their names may be lost to history, but they are not forgotten. Let us know. Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. Many of those in the water drowned because there were insufficient life jackets, or died from hypothermia, or were choked by fuel oil. When he eventually returned to England, he was ordered - along with the other survivors - to not speak a word about the Lancastria. "[30] Rudolph Sharp survived the sinking and went on to command the RMSLaconia, losing his life on 12 September 1942 in the Laconia incident off West Africa. [7] On 10 October 1932 Lancastria rescued the crew of the Belgian cargo ship SS Scheldestad, which had been abandoned in a sinking condition in the Bay of Biscay. When Nazi planes dropped their bombs, Walter and Charlie were separated in the chaos. He believes Walter and Charlie found some life jackets on the Lancastria to use as pillows on the way home. Walter was in the water for around four hours before he was picked up. According to some accounts, these were heard to be singing 'Roll Out the Barrel' and 'There'll Always Be an England', though some survivors strongly deny this. Osborne said of the sinking: "It was kept secret at the time for reasons of wartime secrecy, but I think it is appropriate today in this House of Commons to remember all those who died, those who survived, and those who mourn them.
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