RN Subs

Risks from 'Accident' or 'Enemy Action'

Again, the following list is not necessarily exhaustive, but these events been noted as causes of 'death' or 'invaliding' in many cases:

In the above risks 'Burns' included an Able Seaman who died when a lorry carrying petrol which he was escorting caught fire.

'Explosions' could be 'Petrol Vapour' explosions in 'Holland', 'A', 'B' & 'C' Class Submarines, 'Crank Case' explosions in both Petrol and early Diesel submarines and 'Hydrogen (battery gas) Explosions', to which all Classes of Submarines are susceptible, even today.

'Falls' included 'falling from aloft', 'falling from gang planks', 'falling into dock bottoms', 'falling from ladders', 'falling overboard whilst sleepwalking', 'falling into ships holds/bunkers' when coaling ship' in the Submarine Depot Ships and 'falling overboard' from Submarines, Depot Ships and ship's boats. Other 'coaling ship' hazards included being struck by full coal bags when they were being swung inboard, being struck by falling lumps of coal or being overcome by fumes in bunkers when trimming the coal.

You might wonder why Submariners were involved in 'coal ship' accidents but in early Submarine Depot Ships 'coal ship' was a 'whole ship' evolution and even the Officers and 'Spare Crew' were not exempted, only the Captain was excused!

'Crushing' included torpedoes, shells and heavy loads being dropped, ship's boats dropping when being hoisted 'in' or 'out', rotating equipment or machinery (i.e. gun turrets), breech blocks and cordite/shell hoists.

One unusual case of crushing was that of an Engine Room Artificer who died of 'rupture of the urethra & peritonitis' resulting from being 'accidentally squeezed' in the engines of 'RACER'. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, the verdict of the Coroner's Court was that 'death of the deceased was caused by an accident' and that 'no blame was attached to anyone.'

'Gassing' included being affected by exhaust gasses, carbon monoxide & carbon dioxide concentrations, petrol fumes and 'arseneuiretted hydrogen' gas which might be generated when submarine batteries are being charged. And, as if the above listed Illnesses/Risks/Hazards (most of which seem to have been accepted as normal events in the Service) were not enough, some Submariners also had a propensity to commit suicide by a variety of means including:

• Cutting one's own throat/wrists
• Hanging
• Shooting
• Gassing (coal gas ovens were a favourite)
• Poisoning
• Jumping from heights and/or drowning

Although not counted as suicide, during WWI there were a number of cases whereby Ratings 'Deserted', noted as 'Run' on their Service Certificates, with an additional note of 'Killed in Action' after joining the Army during WWI . They might well have survived the War had they not deserted! Interestingly, although most of the offences listed in the 'Articles of War' gave death as one of the consequences no record has yet been seen of such a sentence being imposed on or carried out on an offending Submariner!

In the grand scheme of things, as far as Submarine Service was concerned, the risks from 'Accidents' might result in the death or injury of individual Submariners but, very occasionally, of the whole Crew or a large proportion of the Crew, whereas the risks from 'Enemy Action' generally resulted in the death, not only of the individual Submariner, but more often than not, the loss of his Submarine and the death of the whole of his Crew.

For Ratings serving in Surface Ships (General Service) the risks from 'Accidents' might also result in the death or injury of an individual Rating but 'Enemy Action' might result in death or injury to the individual or a number of the Crew, however, the possibility of survival of some of the Crew is greater.

Whether a 'death in service' arose from a medical cause, accident, enemy action or suicide the fact would by annotated on the Service Record by the letter 'DD' which means 'Discharged Dead' and, usually, the cause is briefly detailed but not always. People researching family history can often get an unexpected surprise when finding out the causes of 'invaliding' or 'death in service'.

In some cases, a Court/Board of Enquiry and Post-Mortem examination was held to ascertain the cause of death, especially for accidents or unexplained deaths, particularly where any individual Officer or Rating or the Navy might have been held accountable. However, a fairly standard annotation at the time was along the lines of 'accident, no blame attributable to anyone' or 'accidentally killed/drowned' as a 'get out' clause with implication that the accident or incident being was the unfortunate victim's own fault.

Today's 'Health and Safety' culture would have a field day!