What happened to HMS Thetis in 1939

[@kevinsims4230]

Thank you. I knew the story but you added some details of which I wasn't aware.

[@sean_d]

You're welcome Appreciate the feedback.

[@benjones7059]

Fascinating story Sean. Particularly like the description of raising the submarine using the tides.

[@edwardhayter3079]

Thank you for this Sean, an excellent and balanced summary of the fate of HMS Thetis. My grandfather Commander Reginald Hayter died on board when my father was less than a year old. He and then I also served in the Royal Navy (neither of us in submarines) and we both studied this incident in detail. This is the clearest account I've come across. Thanks again

[@sean_d]

Thanks Edward. Never occurred to me when I made it that family members would see it. Your comment made my day.

[@sean_d]

BTW Edward if I had the connections you probably have I would curious about whether previous submarines had their tubes numbered the same way and also whether it was the norm to put the bitumastic on the inside of the doors. Just a thought.

[@edwardhayter3079]

​@@sean_d Hi Sean, the torpedo tube numbering in submarines was the same in U boats and British submarines, with starboard tubes being odd numbers and port tubes being even numbers. This also concurs with everything at sea starting with the starboard side. You alter course to starboard in a collision situation, sound signals are one short blast meaning 'I am altering course to starboard', and two short blasts, 'I am altering course to port'. I can not answer your question on whether Bitumastic paint on the inside of the doors was standard practice or not, although I've read nothing to suggest that it wasn't.

[@sean_d]

@@edwardhayter3079 Thanks for that Edward.

[@stephenwilkinson3588]

Excellent video,very informative.I've been doing family history for quite a while and found out recently a distant cousin on my mother's side ,Joseph Charles Hughes,Petty Officer cook was on board when the tragedy occurred.

[@sean_d]

Thank you Stephen. Made this without realising relatives might see it. Kind of humbled by the compliments it got. Cheers.

[@karendearagon3810]

Thanks Sean for all this new information. My Grandfather was George Albert Summers who perished on that fatal day. He will always be remembered and to all the other families that tragically lost their loved one's. God bless you all.

[@sean_d]

Really appreciate you posting that. Thanks Karen.

[@lancejackson3524]

Thank you for your documentary giving us the human side. I can't imagine what all these men went through. God rest them.

[@sean_d]

Appreciate the feedback Lance. Thank you. Since making this I have come across a suggestion that the final flooding of the rear may not have been a mistake, but was perhaps a desperate attempt by men at the very end to deliberately open both hatches to flood the rear but create a pathway to the outside for those left in the hope some might make it. Of course the outer hatch still remained stuck at a few inches, damning that attempt. This seems plausible, but the desperation of these men 'in extremis' doesn't bear thinking about.

[@dakohli]

This a great discussion on the incident. This event is an excellent example of multiple mistakes lining up to cause an accident, and in this case aggravating it.

[@sean_d]

Glad you approve, as someone who's been there..

[@ScreechingPossum]

This really does read like the script to a film. Woods even comes off like a protagonist, but you'd think he must've been a composite character of the experiences of all sorts of different crew members...but nope. He really was just in all of these different places doing different things. Thanks for sharing, and in such detail 👍

[@sean_d]

I really appreciate the feedback. Yes maybe someday there'll be a film made. Woods carried the burden of notoriety for a few years afterwards, didn't serve in submarines again, and died in a road traffic accident in 1947.

[@shogun884]

Thanks for a very informative video, being from birkenhead my dad worked at lairds all his life and he first told me about the thetis leading me to read anything I could get my hands on! I remember reading even before they left the dock they were puzzled trying to sort the trim out on her. She has to be the only sub to sink twice with all hands?

[@sean_d]

Appreciate the feedback Jerry. Yes, a pretty unique and tragic history. But I think the Hunley also sank twice with all hands in the US civil war.

[@animula6908]

I really liked hearing about this story. God bless those men and their families. And thank you very much

[@sean_d]

Really appreciate the feedback, thanks.

[@NEMES1-S]

Fascinating account. My dad gave me a copy of ‘The Admiralty regrets’ in 1963, when I was ten years old. I could not put it down.

[@sean_d]

Thanks

[@MyBlueZed]

10:30 Everything in a Royal Navy ship is numbered even on the port side and odd on the starboard side. Nothing strange there. The indicators don’t appear to be ergonomic.

[@sean_d]

Thanks for that.

[@dakohli]

The Oberons had escape towers, which could be flooded to allow a single survival out, or, if you are shallow enough you can like you said, flood the chamber, use the fitted breathing equipment and everybody in the compartment can get get in succession.

[@oldmanonabike233]

My grandad, Lewis Pritchard from Benllech, helped remove the bodies. They were given a tot of rum for courage before going out to get them.

[@animula6908]

They deserved it. They deserved free rum for life vouchers.

[@BMJ0877]

Seems like a poorly designed and poorly built submarine, the mistake with the steering is almost comical. So many tragedies are often a culmination of a series of mishaps and this sad event is certainly one of them. R.I.P.

[@frederickbowdler8169]

T e Catlow's book is good he missed the sub as it was full and captain told him to play golf .

[@sean_d]

Any more detail on that book? I can't find anything online.

[@frederickbowdler8169]

Carlow had an interesting war missed the Thetis shot down on the way to Malta.prisoner of war escaped and shelled on the Yangtze River l liked your treatment of the Thetis its a sad story.

[@frederickbowdler8169]

Neither can I can't remember the title. After the Thetis there were no submarine places left so he was sent to Malta for a placement there. If you can find it I recommend.

[@sean_d]

@@frederickbowdler8169 Thanks Fred. You spelt it wrong initially, but I still can't find anything on the book but someone else might read these comments and help us out someday.

[@frederickbowdler8169]

No my fault it was Catlow.

[@keithglenn]

I think you should, leave lt. Woods. Rest in peace. Where he died. In Africa.

[@frederickbowdler8169]

Respect to all submariners everywhere.

[@keithglenn]

My name is Keith Roy Glenn. Grand son of Roy Glenn. What makes you right, what you are saying, is what you have, been reading. And submis sing. I have met my grand mother in Australia. Read the original posts that wre sent. From. My grand father. Woods was cleared. It was bitumastic.

[@sean_d]

Many thanks for that.

[@charliedickinson90]

What GOD wants GOD Gets