10 NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2009
Plan for
Fleet Air Arm memorial dedicated
‘Little
A NEW Fleet Air Arm memorial trees with a grove of four rowan
has been unveiled and trees commemorating the four
Ships’
dedicated at the National FAA recipients of the Victoria
Memorial Arboretum in Cross.
Staffordshire. It commemorates the 6,000-
TV film
The ceremony was led by plus members of the Fleet Air
Rear Admiral Simon Charlier, Arm and its predecessor, the
head of the Fleet Air Arm, Royal Naval Air Service, who
and attended by serving and have been killed since the
THE BBC is planning to make a ex-serving members of the FAA service was created 100 years
documentary on the Little Ships and their families. ago.
of Dunkirk and would like to The memorial is in the form A flypast featuring Harriers
speak to Royal Navy veterans who of a plinth of Portland stone from the Naval Strike Wing
took part in the evacuation. supporting a granite aircraft formed part of the day’s
Linda Sands is the producer/ carrier, set in an avenue of oak programme.
director for the one-hour BBC4
project, which is due to be filmed
and broadcast next year.
Linda is keen to make contact
with those on the ships during
Operation Dynamo in 1940,
including Royal Navy personnel
who commanded the Little Ships.
Initial contact would be in the
form of a chat so that Linda can
get an idea of their experiences,
with a view to following up some
individuals at a later date on
camera.
Linda can be contacted at
linda.sands@bbc.co.uk or at
028 9033 8270 (work) or 07876
754606.
Operation Dynamo, in the early
● (Above) Vic Read, former aircraft engineer, at the dedication of the Fleet Air Arm Memorial at the
summer of 1940, was instigated
National Memorial Arboretum (see left). In the background is the Royal Navy hot air balloon, one of the
when Allied troops became
air assets deployed at the ceremonies Pictures: LA(Phot) Pete Smith, FRPU (East)
trapped by the German Army’s
thrust to the Channel coast.
With the threat of a significant
part of the British Army being
captured or destroyed, a hastily-
assembled flotilla of warships and
merchantmen was sent across the
Channel to bring the soldiers to
U-boat victim discovered
safety.
Although a large proportion of
the work was done by warships
THIS colourful shape is one earned Schulz the Knight’s Cross,
– many of them destroyers – in a
of the thousands of victims
the German equivalent of the VC.
carefully co-ordinated operation,
of the Battle of the Atlantic
News of the award reached
it was the Little Ships which swallowed up by the ocean
Schulz on April 4 1941 – just as
captured the public imagination.
nearly seven decades ago.
he was trailing his next victim.
Many small craft made the trip
Despite the obvious U-boat
And now the last resting place
across the Channel, largely crewed
threat off Freetown, Marlene sailed
of the steamer Marlene can be
by RN and Reservist personnel,
alone, her master Henry Lascelles
formally marked on mariners’
and were most commonly used to
zig-zagging as a precaution.
charts, thanks to the efforts of
After five hours stalking the
ferry troops from the beaches out HMS Enterprise.
steamer, Schulz fired a torpedo,
to the warships, while overhead Enterprise is conducting a
which missed. He spent two
the RAF went head-to-head with prolonged survey of West African
hours manoeuvring to get a better
the Luftwaffe. waters, in particular the coastline
position, and this time he stopped
More than 330,000 troops of Sierra Leone.
Marlene dead in the water.
were spirited away from under And there, some 70 miles west
Schulz surfaced to finish off
the noses of the Germans, with of the capital Freetown, her echo
the crippled vessel with his deck
a further 220,000 being rescued sounder picked up a large man-
● HMS Enterprise’s sonar scan of the SS Marlene in 80 metres of water off the west coast of Africa
gun, sending a dozen rounds into
from other ports, though at least made structure 80 metres down on
the hulk. It took a third torpedo in 1941 to be officially charted. to perform,” said Lt Nick Taylor, As for Schulz and U124, he
5,000 men died and more than the edge of the continental shelf.
to finally sink her. At just past Thanks to Enterprise’s work, Enterprise’s oceanographic officer, would become Germany’s 17th
230 ships were lost. Further investigation using the
midnight on April 5, the ship sank, the Marlene’s wreck can now “as a calibration target while we highest-scoring ace, while the boat
sidescan sonar revealed the contact
taking 13 of her 60 crew with her. be formally recorded on future were conducting an upgrade to would become the fourth most
Air bursaries
was a 450ft ship, largely intact
Marlene was originally listed Admiralty Charts. our echo sounder. successful German boat of the
apart from a damaged stern, resting
as lost at 8˚15’N, 14˚19’W “She may have lain broken on “That ensures that all the data war. She was sunk with all hands
announced
on her starboard side. The seabed
– co-ordinates which were the sea bed for 68 years, but the collected meets the stringent – with another ace at the helm,
around the site was scattered with
determined to be too vague back SS Marlene had one final duty criteria of a modern survey.” ‘Jochen’ Mohr, in April 1943.
THE Royal Aero Trust has
debris, possibly remains of her
announced its bursary scheme
deckhouses and masts.
● S130 is moved into the restoration shed at Torpoint
for young people for the 2010
A check with the UK
season.
Hydrographic Office in Taunton
The bursaries include the Peter
revealed the wreck to be that of the
Cruddas Foundation Scholarship
ageing steamer Marlene, bound
worth up to £1,000, two further
for the UK from Calcutta carrying
bursaries each worth up to £750
8,700 tons of cargo, include 1,500
and additional bursaries worth up
tons of pig iron.
to £500 each.
It was her misfortune to steam
They are available to UK
across the path of U-boat ace
citizens aged between 16 and 21
Kapitänleutnant Georg-Wilhelm
who wish to further their interest
Schulz in U124 on April 4 1941.
in either air sports or aviation. The German boat had been
Closing date is March 31 2010, stalking shipping off Africa for six
and further details are available at weeks since leaving Lorient, sinking
www.royalaeroclubtrust.org five freighters. The successes
Unique S-boat saved for restoration
SIX decades ago this fearsome craft scything P5230 – did what she had done during the war: £1) who already owns Panther, Sherman and
through the waves at speed was a sight which harry and pursue the foe, swapping cameras for Cromwell tanks in an ‘arsenal’ of some 200
struck terror into the heart of many a mariner. guns, and British warships for Soviet ones. vintage vehicles.
And it could be a sight once more thanks to The flotilla of converted S-boats was used “From the moment I saw this resilient lady,
£3m plans to restore the sole surviving S-boat to gather intelligence on the Red Fleet, taking I knew I had to see her restored – and at sea
of World War 2. photographs and picking up other useful again,” said Mr Wheatcroft.
S130 is a survivor of numerous skirmishes information, then escaping the Soviets’ clutches “We are committed to making it happen.
and clashes with Allied forces in the North at high speed. It will take time, attention to detail, lots of
Sea and Channel between 1943 and 1945, Later the boats were used to insert agents money and help, but it’s too important an
including interrupting the infamous Exercise into the Soviet-occupied Baltic states under the opportunity to miss for our ancestors and
Tiger D-Day rehearsal at Slapton Sands. banner of the ‘British Baltic Fishery Protection future generations.”
They were known as E-boats by the Allies Service’, employing German former S-boat The boat is now in the hands of specialist
(‘E’ possibly stands for ‘enemy’) but, more crews to carry out the missions – under the restorers in Torpoint, but aside from the
accurately, S-boats by the Germans (‘S’ for White Ensign. considerable amount of money needed to
schnell – fast). Efforts to infiltrate the Baltic with agents renovate S130, the team is also keen to hear
With the collapse of the Third Reich, the largely failed, but the intelligence gathering from any Coastal Forces veterans who served
boat fell into British hands – and was brought proved extremely successful until the unit was in S-boats during their RN days to make the
to HMS Hornet in Gosport, where she began disbanded and the boats were handed over to restoration as accurate as possible.
a second life. the nascent Bundesmarine. More details are available from the Wheatcroft
British engineers stripped the boat’s S130 finally served as a training boat, paying Collection at The Farm, Lutterworth Road,
weaponry, fitted new radar kit and extra fuel off as recently as 1991. She was turned into Arnesby, Leicestershire LE8 5UT or info@
tanks, painted the hull white, then sent her a houseboat, before eventually being bought s130.co.uk
back to Germany with a Royal Navy crew. for restoration by military enthusiast/collector You can learn more about the S130 project
Operating from Kiel, S130 – now renamed Kevin Wheatcroft (he paid the princely sum of at www.s130.co.uk
010_NN_oct.indd 1 21/9/09 11:54:24
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