The U21 Minelaying story - November 1939
IN NOVEMBER 1939 U21 MANAGED TO GET INTO THE FORTH AND LAY MINES WHICH ACCOUNTED FOR TWO SHIPS SUNK AND ONE BADLY DAMAGED - THIS IS THE STORY
I started off researching the story of the loss of the SS Royal Archer, and began to discover a forgotten, or long buried story of a U Boat, Mines, HMS Belfast, HMS Bayonet, the Royal Archer and RAF Bombers...enjoy!
WW1 U21
WW2 UII CLASS U-BOAT SIMILAR TO U21
On the 22nd October 1939, with the War only a few weeks old, U21 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Fritz Frauenheimef left her base in Kiel on a Patrol to lay mines in the Firth of Forth, in the approaches to Rosyth. On the 4th of November mines were laid in the Forth and U21 safely returned her Base in Kiel on the 8th of November.
This was intended to be the first of several Patrols by U-Boats to lay Minefields to the North and South of the May Island, to deny the Navy access in and out of their Base at Rosyth. This Plan never happened as the U-Boats were being used to disrupt Convoys, and perhaps it became far too dangerous to try and operate in this area.
U21 Commander Fritz Frauenheim
During the War more Mines were laid in the Forth, and claimed several ships such as the Salvestria, and probably HMS Saucy, but these seem to have been dropped by Aircraft, as no records of any other U-Boats laying mines in the Forth can be found.
The Dam
The Damage to HMS Belfast
HEAVY CRUISER HMS BELFAST
At 11am on the 21st of November 1940 the recently completed Heavy Cruiser HMS Belfast was seriously damaged by a magnetic mine laid by U21 while leaving the Firth of Forth.
The explosion injured 21 of her Crew, broke the Keel, and wrecked the Hull and machinery so badly that it took nearly 3 years to repair her.
HMS BELFAST AFTER HITTING A MINE -the crew readying life rafts at the stern
HMS Belfast was a modified Southampton Class Cruiser, one of only two built, her sister ship HMS Edinburgh, famous for the Gold Salvage in the 1980?s, was sunk in 1942.
Built at Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, her Keel laid was laid on the 10th of December 1936, and she was launched on St Patrick?s Day, 17th March 1938, and Commissioned into the Navy on the 5th of August 1939.
She weighs 11,553 tons, is 187 metres long, has a Beam of 21 metres, and a 6.1 metre Draught. She is armed with 12 six inch guns in four triple turrets, 8 four inch guns in four twin mountings, and 12 Bofors Anti Aircraft Gun in six twin mounts. She has 4 Steam Turbines driving 4 propeller shafts at 80?000HP, giving a maximum speed of 32knots, and carried a crew of 750/850 men.
After leaving HM Devonport in November 1942 HMS Belfast was the most powerful Cruiser in the Royal Navy and had been updated and fitted with the New Radar System. She later took part in the sinking of the Battle Cruiser Scharnhorst, escorted Arctic Convoys, supported the D-Day Landings, firing so many shells she wore out the 6? barrels on her main guns, she also saw service during the Korean War providing Naval Fire Support for UN Troops, again she fired so many shells her barrels were worn out. After long service she was decommissioned in 1963, eventually saved from the Breakers, she was opened to the public in 1971 as a floating museum in the Thames, and can be visited today, the last of the Big Gun Ships.
The Sinking of HMS Bayonet
NET CLASS BOOM DEFENCE SHIP - SAME AS HMS BAYONET
On the 21st of December at 3pm HMS Bayonet was sunk by a mine laid by U21 in Leith Roads, Firth of Forth
at position N55 59.83 W03 9.9, this was reported to be 21.5 degrees, 6.56 cables from the Martello Tower at the East End of Leith Docks.
HMS Bayonet was a ?Net? Class Boom Defence Vessel built by: Blyth Shipbuilding & Drydock Company and launched in 1938, commissioned into the Navy on 16th March 1939> her Pennant Number was Z05, weighing 530tons and 160 feet long, carried a crew of 32, and was armed with a 3? Anti Aircraft Gun.
No other records can be found, I can only find a report that 15 of her Crew died.
I don?t know if she was salvaged, and as far as I know she hasn?t been dived.
There is nothing marked on the Chart at this position, but there is an Obstruction marked at N56.00.10, W03.09.55 in 5.6m. There is also a report of a Trawler which was lost in this area in 1914.
Close to this position a sunken Submarine was reported by the Receiver of Wrecks in 1952, the Conning Tower was supposed to be exposed, with the rest sunk in the mud, Close to the Anchorage L4 this could be HMS Bayonet.
When she hit the mine, the explosion was heard in Edinburgh, and Spitfires from RAF Drem, East Lothian, were scrambled to investigate a possible air raid by German Bombers.
They came across a two RAF Hampden Bombers from RAF Waddington and promptly shot them down!
One is reported to have crashed into the sea of Gullane, and the other I can?t find out what happened to it, although I imagine it too ended up in the sea.
The Sinking of the Royal Archer
Builders Model of SS Royal Archer
On the 24th of February the Royal Archer was on route from London to Leith and was a another victim of the mines laid by U21.
The Royal Archer built at Greenock in 1928, was a passenger steamer of 2266 tons,
She was owned by the London and Edinburgh Shipping Company and, alongside her two sister, ships Royal Fusilier and Royal Scot, she sailed the East Coast Route, ferrying passengers and cargo between London and Leith.
Captain Riper, master of the Royal Archer, was just leaving the bridge to go to his cabin when a terrific explosion occurred towards the stem of the ship. Huge lumps of metal flew high into the air, and three lifeboats were smashed, and the wireless room was enveloped in steam from burst pipes.
The Captain ordered the ships siren to sound and the launch of the remaining 3 lifeboats, the first of these capsized as she was launched throwing William Rendall, the ships quartermaster, into the sea. He drifted away to the stem of the vessel and, unable to swim, was supported by his lifejacket. Meanwhile, other crew members assisted 2nd engineer Thomson from the prop shaft tunnel escape hatch and helped the Chief engineer, Loudon, who had his leg fractured by the blast in the engine room, down into the remaining lifeboats.
Twenty seven survivors got into the lifeboats safely and the final crew member, Quartermaster William Rendall, was picked up by a passing trawler after 20 minutes in the water. HMS Weston Commanded by Lt.Cdr S.C. Tuke arrived on the scene and picked up the survivors from the Lifeboats. The Royal Archer disappeared below the surface of the Forth some 30 minutes after the explosion had occurred.
The Royal Archer was not the only London and Edinburgh steamer lost in the Firth of Forth. Her Sister ship, the Royal Fusilier, sank on June 3rd 1941 after she was bombed.
The Royal Fusilier sank 7 miles North East of the Bass Rock where she can still be found today.
U21
Type IIB, same as U21
U21 was a Type IIB U-Boat built in 1936 at Germaniawerft Shipyard in Kiel.
She was a small Submarine of 414tons, 42.7m in length, with a beam of 4m,
and a draught of 3.9m.
She carried no Deck Gun, and with only 3 Bow Torpedo Tubes could carry 5 torpedoes, or 12/18 mines. She carried a crew of 24, and this type was probably outdated by the outbreak of the War in 1939.
U21 could carry either mines or torpedoes, but not both. The Mines could be two types, the TMA a big submarine floating mine, the classic round mine with horns, and the TMB which had been designed especially for submarine use.
A TMB mine being loaded into a U-Boat
The TMB was an unearthed "seabed mine" that utilized a magnetic pistol to detonate. It was 7.5 feet long and carried an explosive charge of 1,276 pounds (567kg) which was twice that of the torpedoes of the time. It was laid on the bottom in shallow seaways and was detonated when a big ship passed over its position. Not many ships survived such a blast under their keel. The mines were originally laid at the depth of 30m but it was later established that 25m was a much more lethal depth. The mines were also overly sensitive, sinking smaller ships than intended. The U-boat crews started laying them in even shallower waters and de-magnetizing them to reduce their sensitivity
The mines laid by U21 were almost certainly TMB Magnetic Mines, they were laid in threes through the torpedo tubes, and there was a delay before the Torpedo armed itself to allow the Submarine to leave the area, with 18 mines there is no record of how many mines U21 laid in the Forth, or how many ships were actually lost as a result of these mines, as they seem to be able to lie active on the seabed for some considerable time. Another Ship credited to the U21 and her mines was the 1068 ton SS Ferryhill which was sunk on the 21st January 1940, although she was lost off Blyth, which was not in U21's area.
U21 was laid up in 1944 and finally scrapped in 1945 after completing 7 patrols, sinking five ships and damaging one.
Looking at where on the Chart the ships were sunk, mines must have been right across the Forth, and if HMS Bayonet was sunk by a mine laid by U21, they must have been laid very close to Leith Docks, and quite far up river.
I don't think U21's accomplishment has been appreciated, to manage to penetrate that far up river in Wartime shows two things, the courage of the U-Boat Commander and Crew to attempt to lay mines close to the Home Fleets Base on the East Coast, and how obviously unprepared Britain was in 1939, it seems we hadn't learnt from the experiences of WW1, where the Forth was well defended with Listening Loops, Mines and Patrols, although it took the loss of a Cruiser to realise how undefended the Forth was.
I think that we might well find that U21's mines claimed more victims, as a there are a lot more sinkings due to mines within a few months of these Mines being laid.
Stevie Adams
Jan 2007
Click to read the HMS Pathfinder story...