ROYAL Navy personnel from HM Naval Base Clyde held a memorial service recently for those who lost their lives in the K13 submarine tragedy in the Gareloch more than a hundred years ago.
The service took place at Faslane Cemetery in Garelochhead, where the 32 men who died in the disaster on January 29, 1917 are buried, and where a granite obelisk stands in remembrance of the Royal Navy submariners and shipyard officials and workers who lost their lives.
The annual service would normally be attended by veterans, serving submariners and local Sea Cadets, however a reduced ceremony took place this year in the light of the ongoing pandemic.
Reverend Robert Church, chaplain of the submarine flotilla, led the service, which was attended by Captain Irvine Lindsay, captain of the submarine flotilla, on behalf of the Royal Navy.
During the poignant service a wreath was laid by Captain Lindsay. In addition, the K13 ship’s bell was rung 32 times – once for each person who lost their lives in 1917.
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Captain Lindsay said: “The K13 memorial is an important event in the submarine calendar, commemorating not only those lost in K13 but also acting as a reminder of the hazards faced by members of the submarine service in peacetime and in war.”
The steam-propelled vessel sank in the Gareloch during sea trials. On board at the time were 53 Royal Navy submariners, 14 employees of Govan shipbuilder Fairfields, five Admiralty officials, a pilot, and the captain and engineer from sister submarine K14.
The crew of K13 were trapped beneath the icy waters of the Gareloch for some 57 hours before help arrived.
Captain of the vessel, Lieutenant Commander Godfrey Herbert, and K14’s captain, Commander Francis Goodhart, made a desperate attempt to escape the stricken submarine in order to get help.
The pair used the space between the inner and outer hatches as an airlock, but only Herbert made it to the surface alive, Goodhart sadly dying after striking his head during the escape.
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An air line was eventually attached to the vessel allowing the submarine to bring her bow to the surface where a hole was cut allowing the survivors to be rescued.
Unfortunately, by that time 32 of the men on board had had already perished, though 48 were saved.
The submarine was later raised from the Gareloch and returned to service as HMS K22, before eventually being sold for scrap.
A memorial stands in Elder Park in Govan, close to the shipyard where the submarine was built, and which now forms part of the BAE Systems Surface Ships Ltd operation on the Clyde.
There is also a memorial to the disaster in Carlingford, New South Wales, Australia, paid for by the widow of Charles Freestone, a leading telegraphist on the K13, who survived the accident to later emigrate and prosper in Australia.
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