In the darkness of a mid-October night in 1939 many cruisers, destroyers and battleships of the Great British fleet were silently at anchor at Scapa Flow.  A periscope broke the water as a submarine glided silently along the Holm Sound barely leaving a ripple in its wake. U-47 was seeking out the battleship, HMS Royal Oak, silhouetted against the skyline.   Moments later twin white wakes marked the course of two torpedoes. It seemed only an instant passed before the terrific double explosions destroyed the stillness over Scapa Flow.  Fearsome flames turned the heavily listing Royal Oak into a sinking funeral pyre for more than 800 of the 1200 sailors aboard.

The loss of the Royal Oak shocked the British people to the core.  A bewildered public wondered how this could have happened? How could this great naval veteran of the battle of Jutland be torpedoed? Wasn’t she a fortress, impregnable to submarine attack? The admiralty remained silent as to where she was sunk but the Germans knew as did the 31 year old Captain of U-47, Günther Prien.

Alfred Wehring was the man who for 16 years had planned to bring about this attack on the British Navy before vanishing into oblivion. As a German Naval officer, he had served against the Royal Oak at the Battle of Jutland and remained intent on sinking her.  Whilst in Spain, he had served as a naval attachè under Wilhelm Frank Canaris who would head the feared Nazi Secret Service.

Canaris gave Wehring his assignment telling him to keep a close watch on the British fleet. Wehring was thorough in his planning.  He went to Switzerland where he created and developed a new background. He apprenticed himself to one of the best watchmaking schools in Switzerland and graduated as an expert watchmaker. He gave himself a Swiss name, adopting Albert Oertel. With his newly forged passport, he left for Britain, where his friendliness and sincerity enabled him to make friends easily.  Kirkwall in the Orkney Isles was where he chose to settle, not far from Scapa Flow.

Kirkwall welcomed the Swiss watchmaker with a friendly smile and within a few years he was the owner of a well-stocked jewellery and watch shop. Yachting and fishing became two of his main leisure time activities. In 1932 Oertel became a British subject. The years passed and Hitler, ignoring Prime Minister Chamberlain’s attempts to preserve peace, invaded Poland. WW2 had commenced in earnest.

Wehring emerged from deep undercover and contacted Karl Doenitz, who commanded the U-boat arm of the German Navy to give him detailed intelligence about Scapa Flow`s defenses,  currents, and its navigation obstacles. Doenitz swung into action sending  Günther Prien to attack HMS Royal Oak.

Wehring boarded the U-47 at the mouth of the flow, acting as pilot-navigator directing the submarine safely to its target.  Following the destruction of the Royal Oak he returned onboard to the Germany in triumph after 12 years of deep undercover in Scotland and with that, the “Phantom of Scapa Flow” entered the hallowed halls of espionage lore. Even senior Nazis were impressed by Wehring`s accomplishment.  SS General Walther Schellenberg, chief of the SD, described the Scapa Flow success as a prime example of the importance of “intelligently planned co-operation between spies in the field and military operations.”

Following the war, Major General Vernon G. W. Kell, the MI-5 chief, wrote that “the Germans had been supplied with up-to-date information by a spy.”  However, controversy continued to swirl around the the event. The admiralty stuck to its strong belief that Wehring (Oertal) was responsible. However, a number of British journalists, researching the event, visited the Orkneys and failed to locate anyone who had ever known, much less seen, Alfred Wehring.

So the question remains: Was there really a Nazi spy embedded in the Orkneys? A German who performed one of history`s boldest espionage feats, or had the Phantom of Scapa Flow been made to become real?

On one of her North Sea patrols on 4th December 1939, HMS Nelson entered Loch Ewe at 13 knots, passing over a magnetic mine and activating it. She was lifted and shaken by the tremendous explosion. No one was killed, but there were 73 casualties. In the heads forward, many toilets shattered and the occupant suffered severe lacerations. The ship’s bottom was torn in several places, mainly to the starboard outer plating for a distance of 70 feet which was forced inward by about 4 feet. Flooding extended over a distance of 140 feet. There was also shock damage to the ammunition supply machinery.

A young Lieutenant aboard was sent to Pool House to report the incident. Later he would be promoted to Lt. Commander Stevenson and put in charge of the Loch Ewe Boom Defense. Winston Churchill referred to Nelson as “our interesting invalid”. She managed to return to harbour under the utmost secrecy to HM Dockyard Portsmouth to spend the next eight months in dock being repaired and refitted.

Lieutenant Johannes Hakebost of U-31 left Willshaven on the 9th of September 1939 to start his campaign in the Battle of the Atlantic. Just eight days after the start of the war U-31 became the first submarine to sink a merchant ship in WW2. It was on her third patrol, on 27th October, that she laid the minefield in Loch Ewe that caught the Nelson.

In December 1939 U-31 had more success, sinking six ships in six days. After this patrol she returned to Loch Ewe to lay more mines but to no avail. On 28th January 1940, her crew realised the drinking water on board was contaminated and returned to home port. She spent a month there undertaking repairs.

On 11th March 1940 her captain took her out for sea trials. At around noon a Bristol Blenheim bomber from No. 82 Squadron, dropped two direct bombs causing her sinking. She was the first German U-boat to be sunk in WW2 by an overhead aircraft attack. In addition to the captain and crew, 13 shipyard workers who had been invited to participate in the sea trials were also lost. A total of 58 men died that day. Hakebost was aged 33.

Unfortunately for U-31, she would have the curious distinction of being sunk twice in WW2. Four months after the first sinking, she was raised and refurbished and in October 1940 went out on patrol with a new commander, Wilfried Prellberg. The patrol would only last 15 days, however, as on 2nd November U-31 was sunk off Ireland by HMS Antelope and Achates, whose depth charges forced her to the surface. Antelope rescued 44 of her crew (from a total of 46), of which one died the following day.

In her seven patrols U-31 sank 11 Merchant ships totalling just under 28,000 gross tons as well as two auxiliary warships, HMT Glen Albyn and HMT Promotive, both requisitioned trawlers based in Loch Ewe. It was responsible for the mining of HMS Nelson, and also the damage to HMS Antelope, which collided with the U-boat whilst trying to board the unmanned submarine the day after she picked up the crew. It was this collision that caused the second sinking of U-31. The submarine was lost, and Antelope limped home to the Clyde to be repaired.

We have a wonderful wooden box in our collection. It contains a leather wallet full of snapshot photos, some coins, cufflinks, a pocket watch, a pipe, and some rather fancy personalised cutlery. The snapshots show uniformed servicemen and a submarine, captioned HMS Ursula. The box quite obviously belonged to one of the officer class of the Royal Navy, and the cutlery holds the answer to whom.

HMS Ursula was the first permanent command of Lieutenant Arthur Richard Hezlet. He commanded her from September 1941 and did six patrols in this U-class submarine. This box represents a brief snapshot of a distinguished submariner early in his naval career. He would go on to become Vice Admiral Sir Arthur Richard Hezlet KBE CB DSO DSC, one of the most famous submariners of the Second World War

Hezlet joined the Navy aged 13 in 1928, and began his submariner course at HMS Dolphin in 1935. Already promoted to Lieutenant in 1936, he was made First Lieutenant of HMS H43 from January 1938 to April 1939.

His first deployment of WW2 was in the Norwegian Sea on HMS Trident. He subsequently passed the notorious “Perisher” exam (Submarine Commanding Officers Qualifying Course), and assumed command of the obsolete HMS H44. His first torpedo attack on the enemy would be in the Mediterranean when his ship, HMS Unique, sank the Italian troop ship, Esperia, for which he was awarded the DSC.

It was after proving himself in this theatre that he was given command of HMS Ursula from 6th September 1941 to 6th March 1942. During this time, Ursula did patrols off Tripoli, the southern approaches to the Strait of Messina, and off the East Coast of Tunisia. She torpedoed and damaged the 4,858-ton Italian Merchant, Beppe on 18th October 1941. More notably, she managed to get involved in a battle with an armoured car while the submarine’s gun crew were engaged in shelling a coastal road bridge on the Italian mainland. This was part of a reconnaissance mission on 22nd October off the North of Cape Spartivento, in which she was instructed to select a suitable bridge to bombard. She fired 77 rounds at the chosen bridge, landing 22 direct hits.

Ursula made an unsuccessful attack on a convoy on 11th November 1941, and was depth charged by the escort ships, though she sustained no damage. Following this, she patrolled the Bay of Biscay in case any German Capital ships at Brest left port.

On return to Britain, Hezlet was given command of his old boat, Trident, engaged in operations around the convoys to northern Russia. He sank the 5,386-ton German ore carrier Hödur. Trident then escorted Convoy PQ16 to Murmansk, a journey that saw almost constant action, and picked up survivors from sunken merchantmen. Hezlet was mentioned in dispatches for his action on convoy duties.

He then became a training officer for midget submarines in preparation for the attack on the German battleship Tirpitz in the Altenfjord, Norway, in 1943. He wrote the training programme and had a major say in who was chosen for the eventual attack, which put the battleship out of action for months. On 11th September 1943, his ship, HMS Thrasher, left Loch Cairnbawn towing submarine X5 to her departure point for what was to be Operation Source, the attack on the Tirpitz. Thrasher then laid anchor at Kafjord before ultimately returning to Holy Loch. X5 was sadly lost during the attack.

Next came action in the Pacific with HMS Trenchant, which participated in Operation Boomerang, the USAAF’s B-29 raid on oil fields and refineries at Palembang. Trenchant was to assist with any search and rescue operations for downed aircrews.

In October 1944, Trenchant deployed two Mark II Chariot Manned Torpedoes to destroy two former Italian Merchant ships. The mission was successful, with both targets sunk.

On 8th June 1945, Hezlet’s ship sank the 13,300 ton heavy cruiser Ashigara. It was the largest Japanese warship to be sunk by a Royal Navy warship during the war. For this, Hezlet was awarded the US Legion of Merit, plus a bar to his DSO.

The young man given command of HMS Ursula back in 1941 could not have known what an illustrious career lay ahead. For him the future was very uncertain with many perilous missions ahead. The box is a wonderful time capsule from a remarkable gentleman who has since cemented his name in the history books. It is on display at Pool House alongside many other fascinating artefacts and incredible stories of bravery.

Spitfire AA810

When we think of WW2 and ‘intelligence’, we likely think of Bletchley Park, or the Special Operations Executive, but millions of real time reports and photographs fed into the strategic planning of the allied campaign, and that was largely down to the unarmed photographic reconnaissance units, without which, the outcome of the war could have been very different.

In July 2018, the wreck of Spitfire AA810 was recovered from a peat bog in Norway. It had been shot down in March 1942 while on a mission with No.1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU) to photograph the German battleship Tirpitz. It was crucial to know the whereabouts of this ship as it posed a great threat to the allied Arctic Convoys to Russia. The Spitfire pilot, Sandy Gunn, became a POW, eventually taking part in the Great Escape, though sadly he was captured and executed aged only 24.

Sandy’s story is illustrative of the huge risk run by the PRU pilots. They were completely defenceless as the armour plate and guns were removed from their planes to accommodate the camera and the extra fuel required for their missions. While typically a Spitfire would fly for roughly 90 minutes, the PRU aircraft were in the air for 4 to 5 hours. The unit suffered large losses and the survival rate for the pilots was very low. Nearly 500 men would become casualties flying with the PRU.

The job of the PRU was to provide real time updates on what the enemy were doing, and also to report on things like the weather. This intelligence was interpreted in secret in Buckinghamshire and then passed onto the Cabinet War Rooms for use by Churchill and High Command in their strategic planning.

Sandy was not the only pilot to fly AA810. His was the plane’s 16th operational mission, and it had been flown by several men prior, including: Alfred Fane, Mervyn Jones, Frederick Malcolm, Edward Lee, Robert Tomlinson, William Morgan, Jeffrey Quill, Frank Robinson, Donald Steventon, and Gavin Walker. When the plane was recovered in 2018, about 70% of it was still intact, and so a project was launched by Tony Hoskins to restore the plane to flying condition. The AA810 Project website details the stories of each of its former pilots and talks about the current plans for a monument to the unarmed photo reconnaissance units of the Second World War, which will hopefully be sited near to Churchill War Rooms. The story of the recovery of the plane and its restoration can be read in this BBC News article from 2023. The project website states that it aims to have the plane airworthy by 2027.

Five of the former pilots who flew AA810 were sadly killed during the war, two of whom have no known graves. It is fitting that a monument to the photo reconnaissance units will finally highlight the bravery and sacrifice of the pilots, and acknowledge the crucial role they played in the allied victory.

Imagine going to war while your country is at peace and having to keep it a secret………………

That was the situation for Missouri native “Tuck” Smith when he was awakened at 0300 on 28 March 1941, while aboard a seaplane tender in beautiful Acapulco Bay, Mexico. A University of Illinois graduate who had earned his wings of gold at Pensacola only 2 years before, he was notified of a request for “volunteers to go to England, observe Royal Air Force (RAF) Coastal Command, and check them out on the new Mk. 1 Catalinas (PBY-5As).” The skipper decided Smith was a “volunteer,” and he soon found himself listening to the Naval Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics explain his secret mission.

Although the United States was officially neutral, President Roosevelt decided to aid the British in their war with Germany. One form of help was “Lend-Lease” Catalina flying boats for convoy escort duty. To maintain the appearance of neutrality, Smith and other USN pilots maintained the utmost secrecy. Posted to 209 Squadron in Lough Erne, North Ireland, he began flying missions within hours of his arrival. On 24 May, the German battleship, Bismarck, in a daring foray into the North Atlantic, sank the pride of the Royal Navy, the HMS Hood, and then disappeared. Prime Minister Winston Churchill responded by ordering an all-out effort to “SINK THE BISMARCK.”

The search was on…a lone RAF Catalina took off to search the vast lonely North Atlantic for an elusive and dangerous foe. On board was copilot, Ensign “Tuck” Smith, United States Navy – one of 17 Americans sent to help the British fly American Lend-Lease Catalinas. Breaking out of the clouds directly over the Bismarck, the aircraft came under intense anti aircraft fire. Shrapnel hit the plane’s hull as it began jinking to escape into cloud cover, but the crew flew back for a second look and radioed the battleship’s position to the British fleet. The next day, the Bismarck was sunk.

Photos of some 209 squadron aircraft show that the squadron code MQ were for some unknown reason reversed to read QM on the starboard fuselage side. Although no photo of the starboard side of a H545 exists, this feature has been included on this model.

WW2 Arctic Convoy HQ

Pool House was a comfortable hunting and fishing lodge that had been a much sought after retreat for wealthy Victorian and Edwardian holiday makers. Soon after the outbreak of WW2, however, it played host to a very different clientele, as it was requisitioned for the war effort. Soon its corridors were full of Admiralty staff, and a few from the Air Ministry, and the building became the Royal Navy Command Headquarters for the Arctic Convoys to Russia. The house also controlled other convoys that gathered in Loch Ewe including North Atlantic, Icelandic, home supply, and several Gibraltar convoys.  

There is now a permanent display in the house, which is open to the public,  that has many rare artefacts relating to both Arctic and Atlantic convoys, such as an excellent example of a zig-zag clock used to confound the efforts of U-boats to accurately target ships. There are items from Operation Dervish, the first Arctic Convoy and a greatcoat belonging to Cdr. Cecil Wakeford-May, whose destroyer HMS Electra, was the lead ship for this convoy. There is a brass porthole window from the heavy county class cruiser, HMS Devonshire which provided distant cover. Also on display are important artefacts from Coastal Command and Bomber Command and a display of German items largely relating to the U-boats that threatened the convoys.

Around Loch Ewe, engineers worked tirelessly to build both light and heavy anti-aircraft batteries and an emergency coastal battery featuring two 6 inch guns from WW1 Dreadnought, HMS Iron Duke to protect the convoys that gathered here. 

You can see excellent footage of Bofor guns being brought to Loch Ewe and fitted in place, with HMS Nelson moored below on this link or search “guns to Loch Ewe”.

Winston Churchill visited the house in September 1939 whilst he was First Lord of the Admiralty.  He had arrived in Loch Ewe aboard HMS Nelson to meet the crew and pilots of HMS Ark Royal, who had succeeded in sinking the first U-boat of WW2, U-39.   He then came ashore to the house and the household staff were charged  with laundering his white boiler suit. He was subsequently collected by Captain Matheson RN and taken to Inverness for the train back to London,

Leaving Poolewe, he recalled a previous visit to Loch Ewe during WW1 when he had met with Sir John Jellicoe.  He recalled how the Loch had been filled with battleships and cruisers. That scene would be repeated from February 1942 when the first of many WW2 Arctic Convoys departed for Russia. Looking through the windows of Pool House, the escorts would now include corvettes, sloops, and destroyers in addition to light and heavy cruisers and the mighty battleships “Nelson” and “Rodney”. These escorts would anchor near HMS Helicon as the Aultbea base was known. Across the Loch lay the Merchant Navy ships with their invaluable cargoes. Refrigerated food ships, oil tankers and large “Liberty” ships able to carry tanks, aircraft and munitions in addition to timber, grain and tobacco. 

On the 4th of December 1939, whilst entering Loch Ewe, HMS Nelson passed over a magnetic mine activating it. The ship was lifted and shaken by the tremendous explosion. There were 73 casualties but no deaths. A young Lieutenant onboard was sent to Pool House to report the incident. Later he would be promoted to Lt. Commander Stevenson and post war, put in charge of the Loch Ewe boom defences. The local postmistress refused to transmit a telegram to the Admiralty advising them of the damage to Nelson because the Post Office had closed for the day. It is said she was advised, under threat of arrest, to transmit the missive. 

Winston Churchill referred to Nelson as our “interesting invalid”. She spent eight months in dock being repaired and refitted. Kapitänleutnant Johannes Habekost of U-31 had laid the minefield on the 27th of October 1939. Habekost died aged 33, along with 58 crew when U-31 was sunk by bombs from a Bristol Blenheim bomber on the 11 March 1940. U-31 was the first U-boat of WW2 to be sunk by an aircraft.

From 1941 to 1945 there were 40 convoys to Russia, totalling 811 ships and 37 return Convoys from Russia totalling 715 ships. 100 ships were sunk of which 41 were lost to U-boats and 37 to aircraft. Others were lost to surface ships, mines and one foundered in extreme weather.

Equipment shipped to Russia from Britain:-

5,218 tanks

7,411 aircraft

4,932 anti-tank guns

4,005 rifles and machine guns

1,803 sets of radar equipment 

4,338 sets of radio equipment 

2,000 telephone sets

473,000,000 projectiles

9 motor torpedo boats

4 submarines 

14 minesweepers 

Total Value in 1946 £308,000,000

In addition raw materials, foodstuffs, machinery, industrial plant, medical supplies and hospital equipment to the value of £120,000,000 was shipped to Russia.

Prior to departure for Russia, the escort Captains would visit Pool House to be briefed on the route, speed and formation of the Convoy. They would be advised of potential U-boat activity or the presence of German surface raiders. This might require the convoy to zig-zag  the route to their destination to confound the efforts of U-boat crews to calculate when to fire their torpedoes. 

Meanwhile, the ship’s crew would enjoy a beer at the “jam jar bar” in Aultbea (so called because there were insufficient glasses to meet demand and jam jars were used out of necessity. They may also have watched a film at the near by entertainment hall, still in use to this day. 

On departing Loch Ewe, two trawlers would open the boom defence anti-submarine nets to allow the ships to pass. Onboard, the crew would watch the buildings of the coastal battery at Rubha Nan Sasan gradually fade into the distance; the last sight of friendly shores until their return.