Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
Cruel Submarine War...
In the early afternoon of February 12, 1944, the British troop transport vessel "Khedive Ismail"...
... is torpedoed in the Indian Ocean near the Addu Atoll south of the Maldives by the Japanese submarine "I-27"...
... under Lieutenant-Captain Toshiaki Fukumura.
On board the "Khedive Ismael" are 1511 people, including 178 crew members, 996 officers and other ranks of the East African Artillery's 301st Field Regiment, 271 members of the Royal Navy, 19 so-called "Wrens" (women of the British "Women's Royal Naval Service". '), 53 nurses from Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) led by Head Nurse Eileen Levers, and nine members from First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, an all-women British charity.
A few civilians are also on board.
The ship is in command of Captain Roderick William MacAuly Whiteman...:
The "Khedive Ismael" - coming from Mombasa - is on its way to Ceylon and is traveling in a convoy with four other similarly crowded ships.
The convoy is - because of the many people on board - unusually well protected by the heavy cruiser HMS "Hawkins" (Captain John William Josselyn)...
...as well as the destroyers HMS "Petard" (LtCdr Rupert Cyril Egan)...
...and HMS "Paladin" (Lt. Edward A. S. Bailey)...:
Lieutenant-Captain Fukumnura unleashes a fan of four torpedoes on the troop transporter - two are hitting!
In a huge explosion (there were probably also explosives on board)...
...the "Khedive Ismael" immediately breaks in two and sinks like a stone! The 130 meter long ship disappeared from the surface of the water in just two minutes!
Hundreds of survivors fight for their lives on the surface of the water.
The Japanese commander Fukumura...
...is known throughout the Imperial Japanese Navy for not giving a damn about the lives of the people on ships he torpedoed - and in the Allied navies he is also known and has an unofficial bounty on him and his submarine exposed since he had machine guns fired at survivors of the sunk British freighter "Fort Mumford" on March 20, 1943.
Since then, Fukumura had repeated these attacks on the helpless several times, including on November 18, 1943, when the Liberty ship "Sambridge" was sunk.
Now Fukumura maneuvers "I-27" directly under the struggling survivors - assuming that there he will be safe from attacks with water bombs!
Wrong thought!
While HMS "Paladin" rushes to help the swimmers and launches boats, HMS "Petard" immediately starts fighting the submarine, whose position is immediately located.
HMS "Petrard" is pushing at top speed ...
... cut through the crowd of survivors of the "Khedive Ismael" fighting for their lives in the water (many of them falling into the destroyer's wake and being chopped up by its two screws) - and throwing dozens of water bombs in their midst...
...causing many more survivors to perish.
Close hits from these water bombs severely damaged "I-27" and forced it to the surface. The following photo is an original image of this dramatic moment - you can clearly see smoke rising from the sub's tower...:
Coincidentally, Fukumura's boat appears square in front of the bow of HMS "Petard" and is rammed at the stern.
The machines fail and "I-27" drifts on the surface, unable to maneuver.
The British torpedo gunners carefully aimed at the immobile Japanese boat - and finally sank it with a single torpedo!
Of the 100 crew members of the "I-27" only one man is saved.
Only 208 men and six women are rescued alive from the "Khedive Ismael", 1,297 people die, including the captain.
Am Tower Hill memorial in London, das an die Kriegsopfer der britischen Handelsmarine erinnert, wird auch der Toten der "Khedive Ismael" gedacht...:
In the early afternoon of February 12, 1944, the British troop transport vessel "Khedive Ismail"...
... is torpedoed in the Indian Ocean near the Addu Atoll south of the Maldives by the Japanese submarine "I-27"...
... under Lieutenant-Captain Toshiaki Fukumura.
On board the "Khedive Ismael" are 1511 people, including 178 crew members, 996 officers and other ranks of the East African Artillery's 301st Field Regiment, 271 members of the Royal Navy, 19 so-called "Wrens" (women of the British "Women's Royal Naval Service". '), 53 nurses from Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) led by Head Nurse Eileen Levers, and nine members from First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, an all-women British charity.
A few civilians are also on board.
The ship is in command of Captain Roderick William MacAuly Whiteman...:
The "Khedive Ismael" - coming from Mombasa - is on its way to Ceylon and is traveling in a convoy with four other similarly crowded ships.
The convoy is - because of the many people on board - unusually well protected by the heavy cruiser HMS "Hawkins" (Captain John William Josselyn)...
...as well as the destroyers HMS "Petard" (LtCdr Rupert Cyril Egan)...
...and HMS "Paladin" (Lt. Edward A. S. Bailey)...:
Lieutenant-Captain Fukumnura unleashes a fan of four torpedoes on the troop transporter - two are hitting!
In a huge explosion (there were probably also explosives on board)...
...the "Khedive Ismael" immediately breaks in two and sinks like a stone! The 130 meter long ship disappeared from the surface of the water in just two minutes!
Hundreds of survivors fight for their lives on the surface of the water.
The Japanese commander Fukumura...
...is known throughout the Imperial Japanese Navy for not giving a damn about the lives of the people on ships he torpedoed - and in the Allied navies he is also known and has an unofficial bounty on him and his submarine exposed since he had machine guns fired at survivors of the sunk British freighter "Fort Mumford" on March 20, 1943.
Since then, Fukumura had repeated these attacks on the helpless several times, including on November 18, 1943, when the Liberty ship "Sambridge" was sunk.
Now Fukumura maneuvers "I-27" directly under the struggling survivors - assuming that there he will be safe from attacks with water bombs!
Wrong thought!
While HMS "Paladin" rushes to help the swimmers and launches boats, HMS "Petard" immediately starts fighting the submarine, whose position is immediately located.
HMS "Petrard" is pushing at top speed ...
... cut through the crowd of survivors of the "Khedive Ismael" fighting for their lives in the water (many of them falling into the destroyer's wake and being chopped up by its two screws) - and throwing dozens of water bombs in their midst...
...causing many more survivors to perish.
Close hits from these water bombs severely damaged "I-27" and forced it to the surface. The following photo is an original image of this dramatic moment - you can clearly see smoke rising from the sub's tower...:
Coincidentally, Fukumura's boat appears square in front of the bow of HMS "Petard" and is rammed at the stern.
The machines fail and "I-27" drifts on the surface, unable to maneuver.
The British torpedo gunners carefully aimed at the immobile Japanese boat - and finally sank it with a single torpedo!
Of the 100 crew members of the "I-27" only one man is saved.
Only 208 men and six women are rescued alive from the "Khedive Ismael", 1,297 people die, including the captain.
Am Tower Hill memorial in London, das an die Kriegsopfer der britischen Handelsmarine erinnert, wird auch der Toten der "Khedive Ismael" gedacht...:
