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On This Day - March 12

1914A7Burial held at sea.
1915G10Laid Down
1917E49On leaving Balta Sound for patrol, E49 hit a mine laid by UC76 on the 10th, off the entrance. There were no survivors. She lies in 16 fathoms with bows blown off.
1918D3D3 was sunk in error in Channel by a French airship

D3 left Gosport on 7th March 1918 for an anti-submarine patrol in the English Channel. Little is known of her patrol movements but it is believed that a submarine spotted by a Royal Naval Air Service airship on the 11th was D3. On the 12th March the French airship AT-0 was patrolling when at 1420 a vessel was spotted to her north east. The airship drew close for recognition purposes and according to her commander, the submarine fired rockets at her. Four 52-kilo bombs were dropped by the airship. The submarine disappeared but several minutes later men were seen in the water. Attempts were made by the airship to rescue the men but it proved too difficult. The airship withdrew to seek help but all the men had drowned by the time it arrived. It is clear that D3 was the victim of a serious identification error on the part of the French airship, with identification rockets being mistaken for aggressive gunfire.
1918H28Launched
1918L8Completed
1936Sea Wolf (N47)Completed
1940Seal (N37)HMS Seal departed Rosyth for her 9th war patrol. She is to patrol in the Skagerrak as a cover for Operation R.3, an attempt to intervene in Norway by using the pretext of assistance to Finland. The operation will be cancelled the following day when the news of an armistice between Finnish and Soviet forces has been signed.

HMS Seal remained on patrol.
1943Thunderbolt (N25)Torpedoed the Italian merchant ship Esterel two miles north of Capo San Vito.
1943Unruly (P49)HMS Unruly torpedoes and sinks the French merchant St Lucien off Port Vendres, southern France.
1944Storm (P233)HMS Storm sinks a small Japanese vessel with gunfire in the Malacca Strait.

LossesSubmarine Badges