>CBH@<"!=A"<1=>;?"A?#BC!D1B=<"JBC">!;;!=DCP
“Unshaken’s” boarding party who captured the Italian submarine “Menotti”
Capture of the Italian submarine “Menotti”
Having then had two close encounters with enemy submarines, one of which tailed Unshaken back to Malta in mid-July, but was
attacked by the Polish submarine Dzik, thereby saving her from almost certain destruction, and sunk the naval transport Asmara,
Unshaken achieved her greatest success - the capture of the Italian submarine Menotti on 9 September 1943, at the time of Italy’s
capitulation. Wingate continues:
‘On the morning of 9 September she [Unshaken] was making her way south around the heel of Italy when the hydrophone operator
reported: ‘High Speed revs.’ Suspecting an enemy submarine, Whitton ordered Diving Stations. The problem was whether this was a
German U-boat or an Italian one. Through the periscope it was hard to tell: the enemy submarine was hull-down, the conning tower
glinting in the bright morning sun. Whitton takes up the tale:
‘At about 1500 yards range, and with but a few minutes to go before firing torpedoes, I had a long and careful look at the target: the
submarine was Italian. She was also flying her ensign and had an unusually large number of chaps on her bridge, whom I could clearly
see were gazing north-west and, no doubt, at their beloved country a few miles away. With that bunch on the bridge, she was hardly in
a position to do a quick dive ... We would try to stop her, then board her.’
By chance, Whitton’s great friend and the flotilla’s spare C.O., Lieutenant “Shaver” Swanston, happened to be along for the ride.
Whitton now appointed him commander of the boarding party, with orders to take over the Italian submarine.
Unshaken surfaced and fired a warning shot across the U-boat’s bows:
‘There were even more chaps on the bridge than before; I suppose they had come up to see what the hell was coming next. By this
time Unshaken was alongside, stopped, with our bows against the Italian’s bow. The boarding party, led by Shaver brandishing a .45
were jumping across. They raced along the forward casing and climbed up the enemy’s conning tower. The objective: to secure the
conning tower hatch and so stop him diving, then to subdue any further resistance.’
But there was no resistance. The enemy C.O. wanted to go to Brindisi; Whitton wanted to go back to Malta. ‘A somewhat heated
exchange followed,’ Whitton writes, as the two COs, each on his own bridge, side by side, voiced their intentions:
‘Brindisi,’ he shouted. ‘Malta,’ I yelled.
‘Brindisi ...’ ‘Malta ... ’
Percy Westmacott, the Number One, passed up Whitton’s uniform cap, ‘to give proceedings a little more dignity’.
‘I put it on. Also the 3-inch gun, still manned, and ready for action, was ordered: ‘Load one round HE.’ The loading number, a seaman
with considerable initiative, held up the 3-inch high explosive shell; he displayed it, rather like a music hall conjuror, to a very
impressed Italian audience. He then slipped the round home into the gun, slamming the breech shut. The muzzle of the gun was
trained on the Italian captain’s stomach, at a range of about thirteen feet. Shaver, who was standing close to him, was requested to
stand aside. With a shrug of his shoulder and hands in the air, the Italian agreed: Malta. We were both now singing from the same song
sheet - and I don’t think my cap did the trick.’
With Shaver Swanston and the boarding party in control, the Italian boat, Menotti, would sail for Malta. Four Italian hostages were kept
in Unshaken to encourage their shipmates to behave.
Now began the two-day passage for Malta, mainly on the surface so that Unshaken could keep an eye on her charge. Each evening the
two submarines closed while Whitton made sure all was well. Swanston complained at the dirt and lack of discipline, but he evidently
had no problems with the officers who roundly expressed ‘their loathing of the Germans in particular and the war in general’. Menotti’s
captain later told Whitton:
‘He had no orders to proceed to an Allied port, except a signal which he considered false, the Allies having made use of captured
Italian cyphers. He was upset at being defeated; he loathed the Germans but did not mind surrendering to the British.’
Unshaken, with her prize, arrived back at Malta on 11 September, as Whitton says, ‘to pass through an impressive collection of Italian
naval ships anchored off the Grand Harbour’.
That afternoon Unshaken’s CO was handed what must be one of the most unusual receipts noted in history. Typed on HMSO crown-
embossed paper by the Lazaretto type-writer, it was addressed to His Majesty’s Submarine Unshaken and dated Saturday 11 September
1943. Signed by George Phillips as Captain (S) 10, it read:
‘Received from Lieutenant J. Whitton, R.N., one Italian submarine named Menotti and sixty-one crew.’ ’
As a result of this, and other actions, Whitton and his “Jimmy the One”, Westmacott, were awarded D.S.Cs, three ratings D.S.Ms and
several crew members mentioned in despatches. Evans received his D.S.M. at a Buckingham Palace investiture held on 31 October
1944; also see Lot 487 for his father’s Honours & Awards.
www.dnw.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176