| Built By: | Devonport Dockyard |
| Build Group: | T 3 |
| Fate: | Lost in January 1968 |
| 1944: | Lieutenant | Michael Beauchamp St John | DSC |
| 1945: | Lieutenant (E) | Herbert Gardner | |
| 1949: | Lieutenant | John Evelyn Moore | |
| 1956: | Lieutenant Commander | Charles Brian Mills | DSC |
Totem was refitted and sold to Israel in the 1960s. In January 1968, renamed the Dakar and with a 69-strong Israeli crew, she left Portsmouth for her new homeland. She never arrived.
Israeli sub wreck found 31 years on
More than 30 years after her mysterious disappearance, the wreck of the former HM Submarine Totem had been found - by the same US organisation that found the Titanic
Roll of Honour |
1
|
| Flynn, Edmund John |
|
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| Petty Officer Telegraphist | ||||||
| Edmund Flynn was accidentally drowned on at Lerwick in the Shetland Isles where the Submarine had arrived on 19th April 1945 on completion of her 1st War Patrol. The son of James Aloysius Flynn and Agnes Mary Flynn (nee Power). There was a younger sister, Margaret Mary Flynn (born in 1921). His father is reported to have died in Sligo in April 1929. Edmund John Flynn of Highfield, Queen's Road, Hertford (who was unmarried) named his widowed mother as his Next of Kin. |
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| Length overall | 273 ft 6 inch |
| Beam | 26 ft 6 inch |
| Depth | 14 ft 3 inch |
| Displacement | 1422 tons (surface) |
| 1571 tons (submerged) | |
| Diving Depth | (i) 300 ft |
| Speed | Surface 15.25 knots (design) |
| Surface 15.25 knots (service) | |
| Submerged 9 knots (design) | |
| Submerged 8.75 knots (service) | |
| No. of shafts | 2 |
| Endurance | Surface: 7500 miles at 15.25 knots (design) |
| (ii) Surface: 8000 miles at 10 knots (service) | |
| Submerged: 80 miles at 4 knots (design) | |
| Submerged: 80 miles at 4 knots (service) | |
| Armament | 8 x 21 inch bow tubes (2 external) |
| 2 x 21 inch amidship tubes | |
| (17 torpedoes carried) | |
| 1 x 4 inch gun | |
| 1 x 20mm Oerlikon cannon | |
| 3 x 0.303 inch machine-guns | |
| Complement | (peacetime) 5 Officers and 51 Ratings |
| (wartime) 6 Officers and 56 Ratings | |
| Notes | (i) This was increased to 350 feet in the all-welded boats. |
| (ii) T Class submarines serving in the Far East were modified to carry extra fuel, which increased endurance to 11 000 miles at 10 knots. |
Further Reading |
|
| Never Forgotten |
David W. Jourdan This book tells the exhilarating story of the will, endurance, and technical know-how of extraordinary people who made a lifelong impact on an entire nation and sixty-nine grieving families, recounting the search, discovery and the resulting attempts to find out what really happened that night, over thirty years previous. The story of the lost submarine captured the public's heart. Many Israeli cities and towns have a Dakar Street, and several schools and other public institutions are also named for the lost submarine. |
| Class: | 1935 - 1970: Improved S Class |
| Built By: | Scotts (Clyde) |
| Build Group: | S3 |
| Fate: | |
| Scrapped Charlestown 8th August 1960 | |
Otto Kretschmer was only in combat from September 1939 until March 1941 but was Germany's highest-scoring U-boat commander sinking 47 ships totalling 274,333 tons. This definitive work details his personal story and the political backdrop from his earliest days.
Aged 17 he spent 8 months studying literature at Exeter University where he learned to speak English fluently. The following year, on 1 April 1930, he enlisted as an officer candidate in the Weimar Republic's small navy.
After completing his officer training and time on the training ship Niobe he served aboard the light cruiser Emden. In December 1934 he was transferred to the light cruiser K ln, then in January 1936 made the move to the fledgling U-boat service.
His first operational posting was to the 2nd U-Flotilla s Type VII U35 where he almost being drowned during training in the Baltic Sea! During the Spanish Civil War, he was involved in several patrols as part of the international non-intervention force. He was finally given command of U23, a post which he held until April 1940.
He had already sunk 8 ships including the destroyer HMS Daring east of Pentland Firth on 18 February 1940. He demonstrated a cool approach to combat: his mantra one torpedo for one ship proved that the best way for his boat to succeed against a convoy was to remain surfaced as much as possible, penetrating the convoy and using the boats high speed and small silhouette to avoid retaliation.
His nickname Silent Otto referred to his ability to remain undetected and his reluctance to provide the regular radio reports required by Donitz: he had guessed that the Allies had broken German codes. Alongside his military skill was a character that remained rooted in the traditions of the Prussian military. While other U-boat commanders and crew returned from patrol with beards and a relaxed demeanour, U99 always returned with all men clean-shaven and paraded on deck.
In the Bowmanville POW camp he organised a 2-way radio link to the German Naval High Command and planned a mass breakout with a U-boat rendezvous arranged. He was also instrumental in the Battle of Bowmanville that lasted for 3 days in October 1942. His antics behind the wire became the inspiration for the 1970 film The McKenzie Break.
Postwar he answered the call for volunteers upon the establishment of the Bundesmarine. He retired from the rank of Flotillenadmiral in 1970. He suffered a fall celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary aboard a boat and died two days later at the age of 86.
20 pages added or updated in the last Array month
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If you find this site useful, please consider supporting my work with a small Donation.
Please Note: Donations made using this option go directly to the site owner and not to the Submariners Association.
Thankyou for your support.
| Length overall | 273 ft 6 inch |
| Beam | 26 ft 6 inch |
| Depth | 14 ft 3 inch |
| Displacement | 1422 tons (surface) |
| 1571 tons (submerged) | |
| Diving Depth | (i) 300 ft |
| Speed | Surface 15.25 knots (design) |
| Surface 15.25 knots (service) | |
| Submerged 9 knots (design) | |
| Submerged 8.75 knots (service) | |
| No. of shafts | 2 |
| Endurance | Surface: 7500 miles at 15.25 knots (design) |
| (ii) Surface: 8000 miles at 10 knots (service) | |
| Submerged: 80 miles at 4 knots (design) | |
| Submerged: 80 miles at 4 knots (service) | |
| Armament | 8 x 21 inch bow tubes (2 external) |
| 2 x 21 inch amidship tubes | |
| (17 torpedoes carried) | |
| 1 x 4 inch gun | |
| 1 x 20mm Oerlikon cannon | |
| 3 x 0.303 inch machine-guns | |
| Complement | (peacetime) 5 Officers and 51 Ratings |
| (wartime) 6 Officers and 56 Ratings | |
| Notes | (i) This was increased to 350 feet in the all-welded boats. |
| (ii) T Class submarines serving in the Far East were modified to carry extra fuel, which increased endurance to 11 000 miles at 10 knots. |
Further Reading |
|
| Never Forgotten |
|
David W. Jourdan This book tells the exhilarating story of the will, endurance, and technical know-how of extraordinary people who made a lifelong impact on an entire nation and sixty-nine grieving families, recounting the search, discovery and the resulting attempts to find out what really happened that night, over thirty years previous. The story of the lost submarine captured the public's heart. Many Israeli cities and towns have a Dakar Street, and several schools and other public institutions are also named for the lost submarine. |
| Class: | 1935 - 1970: Improved S Class |
| Built By: | Scotts (Clyde) |
| Build Group: | S3 |
| Fate: | |
| Scrapped Charlestown 8th August 1960 | |
Otto Kretschmer was only in combat from September 1939 until March 1941 but was Germany's highest-scoring U-boat commander sinking 47 ships totalling 274,333 tons. This definitive work details his personal story and the political backdrop from his earliest days.
Aged 17 he spent 8 months studying literature at Exeter University where he learned to speak English fluently. The following year, on 1 April 1930, he enlisted as an officer candidate in the Weimar Republic's small navy.
After completing his officer training and time on the training ship Niobe he served aboard the light cruiser Emden. In December 1934 he was transferred to the light cruiser K ln, then in January 1936 made the move to the fledgling U-boat service.
His first operational posting was to the 2nd U-Flotilla s Type VII U35 where he almost being drowned during training in the Baltic Sea! During the Spanish Civil War, he was involved in several patrols as part of the international non-intervention force. He was finally given command of U23, a post which he held until April 1940.
He had already sunk 8 ships including the destroyer HMS Daring east of Pentland Firth on 18 February 1940. He demonstrated a cool approach to combat: his mantra one torpedo for one ship proved that the best way for his boat to succeed against a convoy was to remain surfaced as much as possible, penetrating the convoy and using the boats high speed and small silhouette to avoid retaliation.
His nickname Silent Otto referred to his ability to remain undetected and his reluctance to provide the regular radio reports required by Donitz: he had guessed that the Allies had broken German codes. Alongside his military skill was a character that remained rooted in the traditions of the Prussian military. While other U-boat commanders and crew returned from patrol with beards and a relaxed demeanour, U99 always returned with all men clean-shaven and paraded on deck.
In the Bowmanville POW camp he organised a 2-way radio link to the German Naval High Command and planned a mass breakout with a U-boat rendezvous arranged. He was also instrumental in the Battle of Bowmanville that lasted for 3 days in October 1942. His antics behind the wire became the inspiration for the 1970 film The McKenzie Break.
Postwar he answered the call for volunteers upon the establishment of the Bundesmarine. He retired from the rank of Flotillenadmiral in 1970. He suffered a fall celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary aboard a boat and died two days later at the age of 86.
20 pages added or updated in the last Array month
Please help to maintain this site by reporting any Errors, Broken Links, Information or Site Issues on this page using this button
If you find this site useful, please consider supporting my work with a small Donation.
Please Note: Donations made using this option go directly to the site owner and not to the Submariners Association.
Thankyou for your support.
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