as water rushes in the fate of all but
four men is sealed within 48 Hours their
superiors will abandon them in order to
save the vessel and their families will
be hung out to
[Music]
dry the Advent of torpedoes and electric
power makes submarines an essential war
machine on the 7th of May 1915 German
uboat u20 sinks the British ocean liner
RMS
Lucitania by the beginning of the 19 30s
it’s clear that submarines will play a
significant role in future conflicts
towards the late 1930s tensions between
European nations and Nazi Germany are
escalating and the prospect of a second
world war is increasingly likely in
Britain the Royal Navy High command is
acutely aware of the threat posed by the
superior German uots and is pushing hard
to improve the British submarine Fleet
in anticipation of War breaking out 15
new submarines of the Triton or t class
are commissioned in 1935 to replace the
outdated op and Rass submarines that the
British have been
using each of the submarines is
allocated a name starting with the
letter t HMS thetus or her majesty
submarine thetus begins Construction in
December 1936 at the camel lead Shipyard
in birkenhead the 82 M long HMS thetus
is the first t-class to be built by the
camel lead company named after thetus
the mother of Achilles in Greek
mythology it’s launched with a champagne
christening on the 29th of June 1938
it’s plagued with bad luck right from
the start during her first set of sea
trials in April 1939 the first major
problem is that the steering gear has
been incorrectly installed back to front
when the helm is turned to starboard the
ship turns to port and vice versa then
when preparing for her first dive the
bow planes which control the rate of a
submarine’s descent become jammed solid
in the hard dive position forcing the
trials to be abandoned 1 month later the
torpedo Bay equipment is tested before
the ship is brought in for routine
maintenance the torpedo room is painted
with a coating of enamel paint the
torpedo tube doors are painted shut a
small mistake that’s easy to rectify but
isn’t picked
up towards the end of May Theus prepares
for a second set of sea trials on the
morning of the 1st of June 1939 Royal
Navy Commander Bolis navigates the ship
along the North Coast of Wales to a
training area in the Irish sea for their
first dive on the trip out from
birkenhead Commander Bolis comments that
Theus appears to be riding high in the
water and is healing over slightly to
port on board are the crew several naval
officers including Captain hpk arum and
the commanders of two sister submarines
taku and and Trident in total 103 people
on board 50 of which are passengers
including admiralty officers camel Le
employees representatives from other
engineering companies local ships pilot
Norman Wilcox and the Caterers who are
there to provide sandwiches beer and
pies at a reception after the sea
trials fetus is accompanied by a tug
named greb coock captained by Alfred
Godfrey two Navy men and two camed
employees are on board the T providing
communication links between thetus and
GPC the tug is there to make sure there
are no other boats in the area during
the dive trials by 13:30 thetus is ready
for its first dive the escort tug asks
if any of the 50 passengers would like
to disembark thetus before the dive but
it’s an exciting opportunity that nobody
wants to miss thetus has 6 W tight
compartments starting with the torpedo
area in the bow and ending in the
steering compartment at the stern at at
1340 Commander Bola sends their diving
coordinates to submarine headquarters
HMS dolphin along with a short message
diving
now Captain Godfrey on the tug GBC can
see that thetus is having trouble
submerging for about an hour thetus
Maneuvers around circling and slowly
settling into the water on board
Commander Bolis discovers that the bow
of the submarine seems to be light and
no matter what they try they can’t dive
below the waterline he sends officers to
investigate the torpedo tubes at the bow
of the ship are sometimes used as
ballast to balance the buyy of the ship
torpedo officer Lieutenant Fred Woods
inspects the torpedo tubes one by one to
confirm if they have air or water he
expects they have air in them because
the ship’s Riding High the way to test
if the tubes are flooded is to open a
very small stop coock in the torpedo
tube door if any water comes out then
you know the tube is flooded when
Lieutenant Woods opens the test in
torpedo tube 5 only a few drops of water
come out which is normal for a torpedo
tube the inner torpedo door has been
painted
shut the enamel paint is strong enough
to hold back the water for the test stop
coock Lieutenant Woods opens the inner
hatch to inspect the tube the outer
torpedo tube door is in fact wide open
and the tube is fully flooded as he
opens the inner hatch the door
immediately lies open and hundreds of
gallons of sea water pours in flooding
the torpedo compartment woods and other
crewmen try to close the hatch but the
pressure from the seawat overpowers them
the sudden weight of the water rushing
in together with the bow planes being
set for a hard dive causes Theus to
pitch forward it begins sinking almost
immediately just before 1500 the crew on
the support tug hear a loud whoosh of
air and watch as the HMS thetus quickly
disappears beneath the surface the
commander aboard GP coock is shocked at
what he sees fetus’s bow is submerged
while her Stern Rises that’s not normal
Lieutenant Woods orders everyone out and
attempts to shut the watertight door to
the torpedo compartment thetus is
pitched forward and the heavy metal door
is now hanging down into the torpedo
compartment the door is held open by a
latch inside the compartment and behind
the door a crew member climbs down into
the compartment and unhooks the latch
Lieutenant Woods is standing above the
torpedo compartment door he tries to
pull the door up towards himself with
the submarine’s forward section quickly
filling with water the door’s weight and
the angle of the dive it’s almost
impossible to seal the door with the
help of his team Lieutenant Woods is
able to pull the door up but the door
doesn’t have one Central locking
mechanism it has 18 butterfly bolts some
some of these bolts hang in the way and
prevent it from closing each butterfly
bolt needs to be opened before the door
can be pulled into position and
Furniture has fallen onto the already
heavy metal door the team manages to
secure only one butterfly
bolt they abandon their attempt and try
to climb up through the torpedo storage
compartment and into compartment 3 the
accommodation area engine room crewmen
Arnold and Cunningham along with others
try closing the door between the
accommodation area and the torpedo
storage compartment but the crew from
the stoage and torpedo compartments are
still trying to get out Arnold
contemplates sealing the door and
leaving some men behind to save the
submarine and the remaining Crew He has
The High Ground and in a battle for life
and death he has the advantage this type
of difficult decision is recognized
among submariners as a potential Safety
Action but he does wait until everyone’s
safe and then seals the watertight
bulkhead the two forward watertight
compartments are fully flooded before
they’re sealed
off at the surface the tugboat grab
coock hasn’t dropped anchor and is
drifting away from the submarine’s last
known position in the control room on
thetus the crew realizes there’s another
issue Captain Orum orders blow main
ballast tanks in an effort to increase
buoyancy but because of the angle of the
ship water is flooding the ballast tanks
faster than it’s being pumped out so the
operation is stopped to conserve
resources they also reduce electrical
consumption to preserve battery life now
weighed down by tons of water the bow
sinks 30 m to the seabed plows into the
Muddy Bottom and they can’t break free
they’re trapped on the seabed 30 M below
the surface of the Irish sea their
communication equipment the asdic is a
primitive sonar and it’s damaged so they
can’t contact the surface they have to
hope that once thetus is over due help
will be sent to rescue
them Royal Navy officers having had no
direct contact with Theus for over 3
hours are worried so they order a search
of the immediate area the Royal Navy
destroyer HMS Brazen already close by in
the Irish sea is dispatched to help
locate thetus it begins searching the
area and finds the escort tug HMS thetus
is carrying enough air to remain
submerged for around 36 hours with its
normal con of sailors but with the extra
50 passengers on board that time is
halfed the men stay calm chatting about
Sport and the reception they’ll get
after they’re rescued but as the hours
pass with no sign of rescue from the
surface Commander Bolis begins to worry
about dwindling Air Supply on board
Theus the crew outline a plan to help
The Rescuers above they decide to dump
most of the drinking water from the
stern tanks this will make the stern of
Theus buyant enough to rise to the
surface after all the submarine is 82 M
long and they’re in only 30 m of
water the plan works and the stern
section of Theus breaks the surface
Rising well out of the water plainly
visible to anybody nearby but rescue
vessels are searching in the wrong
location Darkness Falls and Theus hasn’t
been located as time passes with no
sound of rescue Commander Bolis calls
for volunteers to begin the task of
evacua ating the ship through the escape
hatch the crew have Escape gear but few
are properly trained in how to use it of
course the 50 passengers on board have
no clue on how to escape a sunken
submarine the first to volunteer is
Captain Harry arum this might sound like
a captain trying to get off the ship
first but this actually is a very
selfless act Captain Orum is the senior
Fleet officer but he’s not the commander
on this vessel and it’s a dangerous
operation to exit the boat through the
escape hatch the escapes have to climb
inside the Escape chamber then flood the
chamber with freezing water from the
Irish sea while they’re inside in order
to equalize the pressure before they can
open the outer hatch with the submarine
tilted at such a steep angle there’s no
guarantee the outer hatch will even open
properly and the occupants could drown
in the air loock even if they do manage
to get out and make it safely to the
surface it’s possible that there’s no
rescue vessel in sight that makes it
highly likely they could drown or freeze
to death before they rescued Captain
Orum tapes a message to his clothing
outlining the situation on board and the
necessity of getting fresh air into the
vessel if his body is found even
deceased he can still help the remaining
men Captain Orum successfully makes the
6 M Ascent to the surface where he waits
in the dark cold
water then another sailor Lieutenant
Woods makes it through the escape hatch
and joins him at least he has company at
0700 the following morning Lookouts on
HMS Brazen finally catch sight of the
stern sticking up out of the water and
two men floating nearby the men are
quickly rescued and they relay the news
of what’s happened below the waterline
Captain Orum and Lieutenant Woods
explain the circumstances inside thetus
given the lack of air and the increasing
levels of carbon dioxide time is running
out for those trapped in inside early on
the morning of the 2nd of June the day
after theer sinks divers from HMS
tedworth arrive on site and begin to
assess the situation they report the
submarine Stern is slightly above water
but the main hatch which will provide an
easier Escape Route is submerged a diver
is sent down to try and connect an air
hose unfortunately the diver only has 30
minutes of air available and fails to
connect the hose in
time on the surface the situation is
becoming more cha chaotic crowds are
beginning to gather along the shore
watching the drama unfold the Press is
everywhere documenting every development
on board thetus conditions are becoming
unbearable as the carbon dioxide builds
up and oxygen begins to run out
Commander Bolis orders men to try and
Escape four at a time through the escape
hatch it’s a desperate plan to get at
least some of the men off thetus and
make the remaining Oxygen last longer in
the first attempt one man panics as the
chamber fills with water he tears off
his mask and tries to open the outer
hatch before the tube is completely
flooded jamming the outer hatch the crew
then open the inner hatch and drag the
four men back inside three men have
already drowned the Survivor tells them
the outer hatch is now jammed making
further Escape impossible desperate to
escape two other men decide to give it a
go anyway the two men get the jammed
hatch open and they make it to the
surface where they’re picked up by res
res boats by now many of the men in
Theus are either passing out or feeling
dizzy due to the lack of oxygen they’re
in no condition to perform simple tasks
let alone attempt to rescue escape from
the crippled
submarine another two men enter the
escape hatch the tube floods and they
try to open the exterior hatch which
jams the men in the submarine again open
the inner hatch to pull their crewm
mates Bodies free but not only is the
exterior hatch jammed slightly open now
they don’t have the energy to fight
water flooding through the interior
hatch to close it as tons of water fill
the submarine thetus sinks back to the
seabed a private salvage company is
brought in to assist with the rescue
they had offered their help early in the
operation but were at first turned down
the divers tell the Navy they can cut
into the hull and feed an air pipe into
the ship this will buy time to make a
more comprehensive plan but the Navy
tells the salvage divers not to cut into
the hole The Vessel can be rescued but
only if it remains structurally
intact just after midnight on the 3rd of
June relatives waiting on Shore are told
there’s no hope for the 99 men still in
the submarine on the 4th of June the
decision is made to tow thetus with its
crew still inside to shallow Waters in
order to recover their bodies of the 103
men who set sail aboard HMS Theus only
four survive the official inquiry
besides there’s no prior accident like
it and so the outcome could not have
been predicted without being able to
foresee the outcome nobody is at fault
and if nobody is at fault then there’s
no liability and the families don’t
receive any compensation dius is
salvaged and made ready for active
service it’s renamed Thunderbolt and
dispatched during World War II on the
14th of March 1943 Italian Corvette
Chona fires on and sinks Thunder