J. H. KOHNDistributors <strong>of</strong>WRAPPINGS—PAPER BAGSTAPES —GARBAGE BAG LINERS*Manufacturers <strong>of</strong>:STATIONERY —TOILET ROLLSLUNCH WRAPS—PAPER TOWELSSERVIETTES — PENS200 GIPPS STREETABBOTSFORD, VIC.Telephone: 419 2222*SAME DAYSERVICEManufacturers <strong>of</strong>:SUPERCRAFT & RAINBOWPRODUCTSNAVY WEEK. <strong>1971</strong> —SYDNEYBishop Kelly said, "it is a maturingservice which over the years,through wide and variedexperiences, helps a man come t<strong>of</strong>ull manhood and development <strong>of</strong>character"It is an exemplary service throughthe quiet, unostentatious effect <strong>of</strong>being a real man an ambassadorwherever one goes."It is an unselfish service becausethe life <strong>of</strong> the sailor demandssacrifice beyond the usual — lonelypatrol boats in the islands to thenorth, home life systematicallydisrupted, the normal and constantrelaxations in the atmosphere <strong>of</strong>one's home or one's country setaside."It is a courageous service — thecourage <strong>of</strong> being loyal to principlesunder strain, <strong>of</strong> being faithful tomarriage despite long and repeatedabsences: the courage to regulatethe use <strong>of</strong> alcohol, to abstain fromunlawful sexual pleasure: courage intime <strong>of</strong> action, in casualty or evendeath "Bishop Kelly said members <strong>of</strong> aspecialised group trained for thedefence <strong>of</strong> their country took on ahigher dignity.He said the group was made in"true greatness from the principles<strong>of</strong> the Gospel, not from the say.ngs<strong>of</strong> Mao or Marx."A record 30.000 people crowdedinto Garden Island Naval Dockyardfor the annual open day.The attendance figures mo r e thandoubled those <strong>of</strong> last year and made<strong>Navy</strong> Day <strong>1971</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the mostsuccessful for the <strong>Navy</strong> — and hecticfor the public.Traffic banked up on all nearbyroads.Sightseers parked their cars toavoid the traffic and walked to thedockyard.Ferries from Circular Quay.Cremorne Point and Milson's Pointran a non-stop service all afternoonto cater for the crowd.The dockyard was opened forpublic inspection following anecumenical church service in theDockyard Church at 11 a.m.Queues up to 300 yards longformed before the gangplanks <strong>of</strong> themore popular ships, the fleetflagship. Melbourne, and thesubmarine Owens.The Oberon class submarineOtway, scheduled for inspection, wasclosed to the public because it hadjust returned from rescue operations<strong>of</strong> the crew <strong>of</strong> the ketch One and All.The liferaft used in the rescue <strong>of</strong>the crew <strong>of</strong> six men and a girl, andpictures <strong>of</strong> the operation, weredisplayed on deck.Throughout the afternoon torpedorecovery vessels took visitors forcruises around the Harbour.Demonstrations were given tyclearance divers and sea-air rescuedivers.The clearance divers jumped froma moving Iroquois helicopter into aspecial area between the ships, setexplosives charges to buoys, andwere scooped up by a fast-movingrescue vesselA special display this year was thestern section <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the twoJapanese midget submarines sunkin Sydney Harbour during World WarIIAlthough sections from the twosubmarines are on display at the WarMuseum in Canberra, remains <strong>of</strong> thesubmarines have not been on displayin Sydney since the warAnother historical display was theopening to the public <strong>of</strong> an area <strong>of</strong>Garden Island containing initials <strong>of</strong>three members <strong>of</strong> the First Fleetcarved in stoneIM MWtfIR.6ut,WoT,-mtfM£, CANSTOP, tAjS PORTarchJfrom fo/ng-ftOMh a CMltui THE NAVY <strong>Nov</strong>ember-<strong>Dec</strong>ember-<strong>Jan</strong>uary. <strong>1971</strong>/72Nor.mbarDacambf- <strong>Jan</strong>uary. <strong>1971</strong>/72THE NAVYPag. Nineteen
U-BoatSurrendereeTo R.A.F.AircraftBy JACK MILLAR |Th« German U Boat (U-570) hiving beenstraddled In tha Atlantic. 80 mile« »ooth <strong>of</strong>Iceland by 4 depth charge* containing Torpex.ferried the crew by cartey float to captivity.On 8 <strong>Sep</strong>tember, thirty years ago, the Admiralty announced that aGerman U-boat had been attacked In the Atlantic by a Hudson aircraft and| forced to surrender. Behind that announcement lies one <strong>of</strong> the most amazingexploits <strong>of</strong> the war — a story which thrilled the world.It began on the morning <strong>of</strong> 27 all the time keeping a good air and<strong>Aug</strong>ust. 1941. when Squadron sea lookout for the enemyLeader James Thompson and hisSITTING DUCKcrew, <strong>of</strong> Coastal Command's 269Squadron took <strong>of</strong>f from Iceland intheir Lockheed Hudson aircraft "Sfor Sugar' Destination: that portion<strong>of</strong> the vast Atlantic assigned them.Objective: to seek out and attack U-boats. <strong>of</strong> which many were reportedin the area.The weather was typical <strong>of</strong> theAtlantic, cold and bleak, with rainsqualls and winds approaching galeforce.Secured beneath the plane werefour lethal depth charges, eachcontaining 250 lb. <strong>of</strong> the newexplosive Torpex. ready for instantrelease.In the plane the crew busiedthemselves with their various duties.Suddenly, the dream <strong>of</strong> every pilotwas sighted dead ahead — a nice bigjuicy U-boat coming to the surface.Thompson's crew, keyed to feverpitch, watched breathlessly as he put"S for Sugar'' into a shallow dive forthe attack.Bomb doors were opened, andwhen dead on target the order todrop was given. Four depth chargeshurtled down on the unsuspectingsubmarine. It was a perfect stradole.two exploding close to the pressurehull on either side, the gigantic wall<strong>of</strong> water temporarily blotting out theU-boatAboard the U-570. for such shewas. all was chaos, the submarinebeing almost turned upside down bythe blast. All lighting systems wereblown, broken glass and instrumentsscattered everywhere, and the crewtumbled into all manner ot oddplaces, suffering many injuries.ALL ON DECKHer commander. Kapitan-leutenantHans Rahmlow. wonderingwhat had hit them. andremembering the effects <strong>of</strong> deadlychlorine gas. had but one thought, toget the crew on deck as quickly aspossible from what he felt was asinking submarine.Opening the conning tower hatchhe ordered "All out!"In the air the crew <strong>of</strong> the Hudsonwere ready, spraying the conningtower with machine-gun fire toprevent manning <strong>of</strong> the 3.5 Run onU-BOAT SURRENDERED TO R A F PLANEthe fore-deck. After the fourthstrafing, the Germans, still groggyfrom the terrible pounding received,had taken all they could stand, andRahmlow exhibited a white flag as atoken <strong>of</strong> surrenderA quick check by key personnelbelow informed Rahmlow that thesubmarine was badly damaged,whereupon he ordered all wirelessequipment to be smashedPLANE IN LUCKTo those in "S for Sugar" thesurrender v«as a staggering piece <strong>of</strong>luck beyond their wildest dreams.Immediate signals were despatchedgiving the sub's position and askingthe navy to take over. By morse theU-570 was told to get all hands ondeck, keeping well away from thegun under threat <strong>of</strong> being bombedout <strong>of</strong> the water.Jubilation ashore was followed byswift action as planes and ships weredirected to the scene. Thompsonmaintained his vigil until reliefplanes arrived, when with low fueltanks and the weather worsening, heheaded for base and a tumultuouswelcome from 269 Squadron.To Thompson and his navigator,the award <strong>of</strong> the D.F.C. was a fittingclimax to the most astoundingsurrender <strong>of</strong> all time. Several hourslater, during the evening, navalvessels reached the U-boat,wallowing helplessly in mountainousseas.U-570's captain was warned not toscuttle, being told no crew would berescued if he did.THE RESCUEGale force weather prevented anyrescue attempts till the afternoon <strong>of</strong>the following day. when by expertseamanship a carley float was gotacross the heaving ocean, and theGermans, injured first, a few at atime, were ferried to captivity.U-570 was taken in tow to Iceland,where surprised naval <strong>of</strong>ficers foundthat damage was not nearly as badas Rahmlow had first imagined.The colossal capture was quicklyturned to good effect, and when U-570 was taken to England, navalintelligence went over the sub with afine-tooth comb, and many secrets<strong>of</strong> German torpedoes and submarineequipment, hithertounknown to the navy, were revealedfor the first time.The aftermath <strong>of</strong> U-570s capture,fitting her out as the British submarineH.M.S. Graph — is anotherstory. Suffice here to say that whileon patrol in the Bay <strong>of</strong> Biscay shetorpedoed and sank one <strong>of</strong> her kind— another U-boat.The capture <strong>of</strong> U-570s crew was tohave a strange sequel. In a Germannaval <strong>of</strong>ficers' prisoner-<strong>of</strong>-war campin England her <strong>of</strong>ficers faced aprisoner council-<strong>of</strong>-honour — thecharge, cowardice in the face <strong>of</strong> theenemy.Senior <strong>of</strong>ficer <strong>of</strong> the camp wasOtto Kretschmer. one <strong>of</strong> Germany'sU-boat aces, who was in command <strong>of</strong>U-99 when sunk by Royal navaldestroyers.Kretschmer. a prominent figure intoday's re-born German navy,presided. Each was asked what stepswere taken to escape with U-570. oralternatively, why she was notscuttled to prevent her falling intoenemy hands.FOUND GUILTYAll pleaded they merely obeyedRahmlow's orders. Two were foundnot guilty, but First LieutenantBerndt. as second in command, wasfound guilty. He was told to expect aproper court-martial and the firingsquad when the German Armyoccupied England.In a desperate effort to retrieve hisfallen status. Berndt askedpermission <strong>of</strong> the council-<strong>of</strong>-honourto escape in an effort to sink orsabotage his old ship, the U-570.then in an English dockyard port.Permission was granted, all theprisoners helping to engineer theescape. Berndt being supplied withmaps, fake papers and passports.The breakout was successful.However, the alarm was givenshortly after and Berndt recaptured.In a last-ditch chance he made a boltfor nearby woods, and was shotwhen he refused to obey the order tohalt. By the time a doctor arrived hewas dead. Berndt was buried with fullnaval honours.THE CAPTAINIt was then the turn <strong>of</strong> KapitanHans Rahmlow. who had just arrivedin camp following interrogation inLondon, to face the council-<strong>of</strong>honour.Ignoring Rahmlow's outstretchedhand. Kretschmerinformed him <strong>of</strong> his "trial" on themorrow.Meantime, he was shunned by theentire camp.The council-<strong>of</strong>-honour. however,was never held, the British campcommander, realising what was inthe wind, had Rahmlow quietly transferredto a Luftwaffe prisoner-<strong>of</strong>-warcamp in another part <strong>of</strong> England.Page TwentyTHE NAVY <strong>Nov</strong>ember-<strong>Dec</strong>ember-<strong>Jan</strong>uary, <strong>1971</strong>/72<strong>Nov</strong>ember-Docember- <strong>Jan</strong>uary. <strong>1971</strong>/72 THE NAVY Page Twenty-one
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