On This Day ... in 1782 & Others
Vice Admiral Sir Edward Hughes and Commodore Chevalier de Suffren fought the first in what proved an epic series of battles for control of the Indian Ocean.
1794: A Royal Navy squadron landed British troops to take a Republican French fortification in Corsica at San Fiorenzo.
1917: The German U-boat U-85 spotted a vulnerable merchant ship, Farnborough, west of Fastnet, and hit her aft in the engine-room with a torpedo. As the merchantman's crew could be seen taking to a lifeboat, U-85 surfaced to finish off her badly damaged victim, which was already sinking.
However, the hunter now became the hunted - Farnborough was in fact HMS Q-5, one the famous Q-ships, commanded by Commander Campbell. As the "Panic Party" escaped in the lifeboats as planned, Campbell remained behind with a small gunnery team, ignored the rising water, and patiently waited for his target to close to point-blank range. Their concealed guns opened fire on the U-boat at only 100 yards, and hit her with almost every round out of 45 fired, quickly sinking her. Campbell then summoned help to tow Q-5 towards shore, where she was safely beached. Campbell received the Victoria Cross.
Comments
We had a car we referred to as a "Q-ship", a very worked '72 Datsun 510. About 135 hp instead of 12, with tires and suspension to match. Ah, how we spoiled the day for many a BMW. Had to sell it when New Jersey made changes to exhaust emission requirements. The kid who bought it "flew" it across a Connecticut country bridge at over 100mph and bent the car front-to-back so badly that it had to be scrapped. Now in Colorado and Ohio [too much back-story] with an '05 Explorer.
Really enjoy your posts. Sorry I didn't know about you when we visited the UK in 2001. England, Scotland, and Wales for most of a month. Including a delightful week in Wales with a "hot" Vauxhall, which made up for the Renault in Scotland.
Posted by: OldeForce | February 18, 2010 5:49 PM