4 Jul 1945 Brazilian Navy Bahia (C 12) Light cruiser Bahia On 4 July 1945, Bahia was stationed in the central Atlantic, halfway between Brazil and Africa, for potential lifesaving duties for US planes in trans-Atlantic transfer to locations in Europe & the Pacific. While conducting AA firings with her 20-mm guns against a kite streamed astern, a gunner shot the kite down and, following it on the way down, unintentionally hit a rack of depth charges on the fantail, which exploded, causing Bahia to sink within 3 minutes. The guns were not fitted with training stops to prevent them from shooting at angles where they endangered other weapon positions. The distater was not discovered until 8 July, when sistership Rio Grande do Sul arrived at the station to relieve Bahia, by which time less than half the crew was still alive, 294 had perished.
Damn, that was supposed to be a "catch" question that would keep you all guessing for days! Your go Kitty!
Hahahahaha, Uboat.net is a god send ever since they started to do on this day pages Who was Keeper of the Keys?
Not sure if this is naval, some one at Dover castle with the title Brigade Commander has the honour of Keeper of the Keys of the Kingdom.
I have even got so intrigued i started asking some old RAN blokes from the 50's and 60's no body seems to have a clue so i will be waiting for your answer with anticipation.
am surprised Spidge didn't recall me springing this question before! The answer is HMSm Seneschal, who's name literally translates as 'Keeper of the keys'. she was also known as 'Bring them back' by her crew as she was the only special ops sub that brought back every single on of her X Craft from operations. I'll throw the next question out to the first one that wanders in
Well done Kitty! I have seen the answer and still cannot remember the original question:cry: Was I on holiday, out camping, asleep or in a Coma?
[SIZE=+1] What was the name of the ship that gallantly sacrificed itself so that the convoy it was escorting could scatter and mostly survive the guns of the Surface Raider Admiral Scheer. A movie was spawned by another surviving ship of the convoy whose crew also showed extraordinary heroism. [/SIZE]
"JERVIS BAY" headed for the "Scheer", guns firing. ... but her sacrifice saved all but five of the merchant ships just off the top of my head (i think not) cheers Tony
Jervis Bay's skipper, Captain Edward Fegen, was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross. The ship about which a film was made was the tanker San Demetrio, which was severely damaged and abandoned, but her crew reboarded her and brought her home
Correct Adrian. I must say not too difficult a question however it showed to the Germans the courage and fortitude of the Royal Navy it would have to deal with in years to come and the astounding bravery of the Merchant Marine who knew they could be blown to smithereens (especially Tankers as was the San Demetrio) but they still signed on from both sides of the Atlantic to ensure supplies to Britain and the rest of the bloody world it seemed got through. I did have a quote from a book on all Merchant sailings across the Atlantic showing the peak of U-Boat sinkings was at something like 30% however by wars end the U-Boats percentage of sinkings on all Atlantic crossings was just over 1%. Emphasises how many sailings were made 43-45 and the decline of the U-Boat threat due to so many "inventions" that came into their own as well as Enigma and the increasing range of Aircraft to sink the U-Boat. Ramble Ramble...............................................!! Read and admire the MN & MM here where there is some interesting facts and figures. (By the way their pay was lousy, the food so-so and they worked 64 hours a week and did not get paid from the time they were sunk until they were re hired if they were lucky enough to be rescued. http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/merchantnavy.html )
