Ancient Submariner - Surface! Gun Action                      Derek Powell

SURFACE! GUN, ACTION

The date is 18 July 1963, time 0800 Zulu, steering course 180˚.  We are somewhere in the Med between Greece and Cyprus.  The boat is dived at periscope depth, 60' below the surface.

Our mission is to seek and destroy, with extreme precaution, a particular large Greek fishing vessel known to be carrying weapons and ordnance from mainland Greece to Greek extremists in Cyprus.  We have good intel regarding the vessel's mission and its recognition.

Breakfast has finished and is cleared away and the crew have settled into a normal watch diving routine.  Red Watch has just relieved Blue Watch for the forenoon, keeping the boat on course and at the correct depth.

The intercom pipes, 'Red Watch, watch diving.'

For those of you not familiar with the layout of a submarine, let me give you a thumbnail sketch.  At the forward end of the boat is the torpedo tube space, containing four torpedo tubes; adjoining this is the torpedo stowage compartment containing eight reloads.  Next there is
accommodation space for the crew of 60 men, followed by the Wardroom and leading on into the Control Room, the nerve centre of the boat.  Aft of the Control Room are the Engine Room, Motor Room and the after torpedo stowage compartment and two torpedo tubes, plus four reloads.

There is a certain calmness and tranquility experienced when a submarine is proceeding silently under water, gracefully like a huge shark, probing and hunting.

At 0950 that calm is interrupted by the intercom from the sonar room.

'Control Room, Sonar, possible HE Contact.' (Hydrophone effect, picking up the noise of a ship's propellers rotating through the water.)

'Bearing 210, range 10,000 yards, no other contacts.'

'Control Room, Roger.  Designate contact 01,' says the Officer of the Watch (OOW).

The Captain is then informed of the contact and comes to the Control Room to be briefed by the OOW on the situation.

'Steer 210, half ahead, group up,' the Captain orders, which is telegraphed to the Motor Room instructing them to speed up the electric motors to half maximum speed.  He also orders constant HE reporting from the Sonar Room, with the instruction that he be informed when the range closes to 5000 yards.

The Sonar Room reports the HE contact every three minutes, constantly tracking the other vessel's course and speed, information crucial for the submarine to stalk its prey.

'Captain to Control Room', says OOW, 'Range now 5000 yards Sir.'

'Up periscope', says the Captain, 'Sonar, contact bearing?'.

'220˚, range 5000⨯'.

'There he is', shouts the Captain, he now has the target visually. 'Silhouette card quick'.  He compares the outline of the Trawler with the card from the intel pack, 'That's it confirmed, designate contact 01 to target 01, down periscope.  Standby to attack by gun action;  it's not worth wasting a torpedo'.

The gun tower lower hatch is directly above the wardroom table; the order is given to clear the Wardroom of all furniture and a ladder is swiftly rigged to gain access.  Once the lower hatch is open, the Control Room receives the report 'Gun tower rigged and ready for action'.

'Diving stations, diving stations, attack team close up' goes out over the intercom to every compartment in the boat.  (Diving stations equates to Action Stations for surface ships).

All crew members drop what they are doing and move immediately to their designated diving stations.  In the space of about two minutes 675 men have moved smoothly into attack positions.

'Start the attack, start the stopwatches' shouts the Captain, 'Up periscope, target bears 225˚, down periscope'.

As we stealthily approach the target, tension mounts in the cramped Control Room, the noise level and temperature increase rapidly, amid shouted instructions, orders and information to and from the Captain, and the constant chatter of the sonar intercom.

'Gun crew to the gun tower' orders the Captain.

The gun crew comprises a Leading Seaman gun layer, an Able Seaman gun trainer, the Boat's Chef and the Captain's Steward as loaders.

The ammunition magazine is in the forward torpedo stowage compartment, so the 4" shells must be passed by human chain from the magazine to the gun tower.

'Up periscope, this is a firing set up', says the Captain, 'Bearing 225 range 4900 yards.  Down periscope'.

The four men climb up into the tower, the first with his face 12" from the upper gun hatch, the second holding on to his legs, the Chef and Steward each carrying a 4" shell, and the supply chain is in place.

Captain: 'Depth 100', full dive on the foreplanes, half ahead group up, 15˚ bow down angle'.

The deck begins to tilt downwards as the boat dives, 70', 80', 90', to level out at 100'.

Captain: 'Put a pressure in the boat, two bar above ambient'.

High pressure air is released and roars into the whole Boat.  Tension and excitement rise, the Captain looks at his stopwatch continuing to monitor the target's course and speed relative to our own.

'SURFACE' yells the Captain.  'Blow all main ballast, full ahead group up, foreplanes full rise, 15˚ bow up angle'.

The noise is deafening, the deck tilts upwards.
'Report the depth' -  85', 75', 60', shouts the foreplanesman.

At 60', the gun tower hatch clips are removed; the hatch is now held shut by the pressure alone.  The whole boat is vibrating, propellers at full speed, thrusting the boat up towards the surface.  Hearts are racing, everyone is hanging on to something as the angle of ascent increases.

'Standby gun tower' shouts the Captain above the roaring HP air.

At 30' from the surface, the internal pressure overcomes the external pressure and the upper gun tower hatch springs open.  The internal high pressure momentarily holds the sea at bay and the second man prevents the first from leaving the tower like a cork from a champagne bottle by holding on to his legs.  This lasts about two seconds before the internal pressure equalises and the sea floods in, soaking all four gun crew and the wardroom.

The boat is by now on the surface, the Captain rushes up the conning tower, opens the upper hatch and takes his place on the bridge with two lookouts.  At the same time, the gun crew are out of the tower unlocking the gun.

The gun layer takes his seat and elevates the barrel for a range of 2000⨯ .  The trainer cranks the gun round to the required target bearing.  The loaders load the first shell.

The Captain orders 'Open fire when ready'.

The first shell falls just short of the target and is used as a marker.  The gun layer adjusts the elevation and a second shell is loaded.  'Ready'.  The second shot finds its target on the trawler's bow, the gun is cleared and reloaded, the third shot is a direct hit on the bridge structure.  The fourth shot hits aft of the bridge superstructure and suddenly there is a huge fireball, we have hit their illicit cargo and she quickly sinks.

The Captain yells 'Clear and secure the gun, fore and aft, gun crew below'.

They secure the gun and scramble back down into the boat in reverse order, the last man being the gun layer who shuts the upper hatch and fits the securing clips.

The Captain orders the bridge cleared and the lookouts below.

'Dive, dive', through the voice pipe to the Control Room, the lookouts throw themselves down the conning tower, followed by the Captain who shuts and clips the upper conning tower hatch.  The bows are already under water.

The Captain is back in the Control Room and orders 'Periscope depth'.

The First Lt orders the depth to 60' and reports 'Periscope depth, Sir'.

Captain:  'Fall out diving stations, fall out attack team'.

The crew now return to their normal diving duties.

The intercom pipes: 'Red watch, watch diving'.