U47 & HMS Royal-Oak intrest.

[Peiper]

Hi Gents
This has been probably posted before but this boat has a special intrest
from me due to the fact it sank an RN ship which my Uncle served on
namely the Royal Oak.
For those who don't know, the Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow
in the Orkney's and was sank by the U47 on the 14th Oct 1939.
My Uncle at the time was 17 and half and had joined the Navy in 1937
at the age of 15 and half as a Boy Seaman (Boy S-M), his name was
Edwin Cox, on the various records and monuments at Scapa, Portsmouth
and Bilston (where he lived at the time) his name is recorded as:
Boy S-M, E Cox (i will scan a photo of him later).
Meanwhile here is some pics of the skipper of the U47, Gunther Prien who
was nicknamed the "Bull of Scapa Flow" after the U47 insignia which was
a "Snorting Bull"

Gunther Prien 2.jpg (9.63 KiB) Viewed 3671 times

Gunther Prien, the U47 "Skipper"

U47 Emblem Snorting Bull.gif (1.74 KiB) Viewed 3671 times

The U47 emblem, "The Snorting Bull"

Royal Oak.jpg (15.37 KiB) Viewed 3670 times

The ill-fated "Royal-Oak", my Uncle's Ship.

Regards "Peiper"

[Peiper]

Greetings
Below is a pic of my Uncle who had been killed on the Royal Oak and some other related
pictures.
My Uncle apparantly had joined the RN as a Boy Seaman in 1937 and was 17 and half
when he died in 1939, his Navy details are Boy-SM, E. Cox, No: P/JX 156605.
The picture itself had been enlarged from a very small pic from a wedding, i had scanned
the copy/enlarged picture then resized it.
(see-below)

Uncle Ted (E Cox, Royal Oak).jpg (26.24 KiB) Viewed 3635 times

My Uncle, aged 17 yrs

Royal Oak, docking at Scapa, pic 1.jpg (35.22 KiB) Viewed 3635 times

Royal Oak newspaper heading 1.jpg (22.74 KiB) Viewed 3636 times

Regards Peiper.

[Tychsen]

Prien was unlucky that having penetrated Scapa that there were so few targets there , had there been several other capital ships at anchor it could have been much much worse.
He had fired at other ships but missed , from memory the Pegasus ( A seaplane tender) , having identified her as being HMS Repulse. ( Running from memory here).
The German intelligence and attack is right up there with the X-Craft attack on Tirpitz , from the RN point of view it was a real slap on the wrists and a sign of how resourceful the enemy actually was and would continue to be.

Thank you for posting Peiper.

[West-Front]

The Bull of Scapa Flow....

See also

http://www.u47.org/english/index.asp

[stefan]

My Nans brother(my great uncle) also died on that night aged 17 also as a young seaman in the engine room

I have his medals and a photo of him in uniform

small world

[Tychsen]

Stefan , if possible please post up some more information , as you say a small world and the ripples of that fateful night leave their mark until this day.

[Peiper]

My Nans brother(my great uncle) also died on that night aged 17 also as a young seaman in the engine room

I have his medals and a photo of him in uniform

small world

Intresting Stefan
Could you post up his name, maybe being both "Boy-SM's they both knew each other???

I know my uncle was in the Boy-Sm sleeping quarters when disaster struck, seeing as it was
the early hours, hopefully he was asleep and didn't feel any pain!

Regards Peiper

[KapitanPrien]

HMS Royal Oak photos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZILzTzZ0GI

Return from Scapa Flow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxbSpsLlPZY

Links:

http://www.hmsroyaloak.co.uk/

http://www.freewebs.com/hmsroyaloak/

[Peiper]

Stefan , if possible please post up some more information , as you say a small world and the ripples of that fateful night leave their mark until this day.

Funny you should say that Tychsen as i have recently found out some more info for those who are intrested,
apparantly when my Nan heard her eldest son had been killed (she had five) she went into labour and my Dad
was born premature, also when the War ended she had to go to London to collect his posthumous medals and
met King George (along with others at the ceremony), she took my Dad with her at the time, then he was four,
apparantly he recollects some memory of the event, going on the train etc, my grandad was in active service
at the time as were two of their other sons (my uncles), so were not there.

Pipes