Submarine B11 Commander Norman D Holbrook. A challenging underwater mission with a brave crew. November 1914 saw Lt Holbrook and His majesty’s Submarine (HmS) B11 (British B Class) part of a mixed flotilla of British and French ships and submarines patrolling from dusk to dawn off the entrance to the Dardanelles. B11s being of primitive design had a crew of 15, were 47 m long with a displacement of 287 tons surfaced and 316 tons submerged. a single 16 cylinder, 600hp petrol engine gave a maximum surface speed of 12 knots and a 290 hp electric motor, fed from storage batteries, could produce 6 knots submerged for 1 hour (longer at slower speed). in December 1914 a decision was made to send a submarine against the movement of shipping seen 20km further up the Straits from the entrance. The Straits were covered Top from left: Looking through the Periscope; 3D Hologram, Submarine museum, Holbrook; Pioneers memorial & Duck’s arse, Submarine Park. by numerous guns at point blank range, with powerful searchlights sweeping the surface and at least 5 lines of mines moored across the Straits as well as those in the Narrows. a submarine fitted with guards around the hydroplanes and wires from bow/stern to the highest point on the conning tower could pass through the minefield by pushing the mooring wires aside. at 3 am on 13 December 1914, the 26 year old Lt Holbrook and HmS B11 set off. at 4.15am when B11 was 5km from the entrance to the Straits, Lt Holbrook shut down the motor to await dawn when the searchlights were switched off. at 5am, Lt Holbrook started the engine and trimming down low in the water with just the conning tower above water, crept closer inshore. as first light appeared, B11 dived and proceeded submerged, navigating by the raised periscope. a strange vibration shook the boat , the mine guard around the port hydroplane was bent out of shape, forcing Lt Holbrook to discard it before proceeding, thus exposing the hydroplane to the risk of hooking a mine. as dawn’s light grew, B11 sat exposed on the surface, fortunately calm, as the crew worked frantically to free the hydroplane. By 6am, B11 was again submerged at periscope depth, on course up the Straits. at 8.30am, B11 trimmed to 25m and entered the first minefield. For an hour they proceeded ‘blind’, conscious of the lines of mines overhead with the risk of the exposed hydroplane. at 9.30am, Lt Holbrook guessed they were through the minefield and rose to periscope depth to fix their position. as Lt Holbrook swung the periscope around, he discovered they were further up the Straits than expected. a battleship came into view about 1.6km away, bow on, too far for their 45 cm torpedoes. Lt Holbrook swung B11 90 degrees to starboard to close the range and to allow the current to sweep him onto the battleship’s beam. Rising to periscope depth 5 minutes later, Lt Holbrook swung B11 to point at the battleship and fired two torpedoes. With the current now sweeping B11 dangerously inshore, Lt Holbrook swung to port and watched the torpedo tracks going straight, towards the battleship. Water closed over the lens and the submarine was violently shaken by the shock of an explosion. The Turkish battleship “mesudiye”, although hit, began to fire at point blank range, fountains of water sprang up all around the periscope and the crack of shells was striking closely overhead. B11 was now in some difficulty, the compass tube was flooded and the current was sweeping her further inshore. Lt Holbrook was now deep inside the bay, with no compass, only land visible all around his periscope (only centimetres above the water), and after concentrating on the attack he had only a rough idea of his position. Lt Holbrook pointed the submarine on the estimated course and proceeded. Ordering the boat to be dived to 17 m as a torpedo boat appeared, the submarine hit bottom at 12m. guessing his position by the charts, Lt Holbrook proceeded at full speed and for the next 10 minutes frequently touched bottom until finding deeper water. at 10.20am Lt Holbrook cautiously brought B11 to periscope depth and finding clear water, headed back down the Straits. The long burst at full speed had taken a lot out of the battery and with safety still 28km away, B11 was forced to proceed at slow speed. Without a compass B11 needed to be at periscope depth to navigate. The next hour was to be the most trying of the mission. B11 had been dived for over 5 hours and the air was becoming foul. By noon they passed safely through the minefield, but they were right under the guns of the forts on either side. With about 14km to safety and the battery almost as exhausted as the men, Lt Holbrook issued food and a lot of rum. at 1pm, Lt Holbrook surfaced near a British destroyer. after 8 hours submerged, a long, long time in such a primitive submarine, the petrol engine refused to start, until the foul air in the boat had been ventilated. B11 then sailed on to safety. B11 became the first submarine to sink an enemy warship in waters theoretically safe from attack. For this fine achievement Lt Holbrook was awarded the Victoria Cross and the French Legion of Honour; Lt T Winn, the 1st Lieutenant, the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the remainder of the crew either the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) or the Distinguished Service medal (DSm) Citation “Norman Douglas Holbrook, Lieutenant, Royal Navy, Date of act of Bravery: 13th December, 1914. For most conspicuous bravery on 13th December when, in command of the Submarine B11, he entered the Dardanelles and, notwithstanding the very difficult current, dived his vessel under 5 rows of mines and torpedoed the Turkish Battleship “mesudiye”, which was guarding the minefield. Lt Holbrook succeeded in bringing the B11 back, although assailed by gunfire and torpedo boats, having been submerged on 1 occasion for 9 hours”.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 12:50:56 +0000
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