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Battle or Action:
HMS Surprise, Tornado & Torrent, Sinking of
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Detail : |
Mined in the North Sea whilst going to meet a convoy. On the 23rd December 1917, Dutch North Sea coast, near Maas light buoy - mined. HMS TORRENT and her three destroyer division ran into a minefield. TORRENT hit first, HMS Surprise went to assist and was mined, and as HMS Tornado tried to get clear, she detonated two mines and sank with only one survivor. Only HMS Radiant got home. A total of 252 men were lost.
One of the duties of the Harwich Force destroyers was the so-called "Beef Run", convoys to and from The Netherlands. Surprise was part of the escort of a Netherlands-bound convoy on 22 December, when the destroyer Valkyrie struck a mine and was badly damaged, having to be towed to Harwich by the destroyer Sylph. The remainder of the convoy reached the Hook of Holland safely, and the escort waited near the Maas Light Buoy for the return convoy. At about 02:00 hr on 23 December, Surprise, Torrent, Tornado and Radiant ran into a German minefield, with Torrent striking a German mine. Surprise and Tornado went to rescue Torrent's crew, but Torrent set off a second mine and quickly sank. While she was attempting to rescue survivors and recover her boats, Surprise struck a mine and sank, while Tornado was sunk by two mines while trying to rejoin Radiant. Only Radiant was undamaged and picked up the survivors from the three ships. In total, 12 officers and 240 other ranks were killed from the three ships. There were only seven survivors from Surprise's crew, including her Captain Commander W.A Thompson, who had been blown overboard but was picked up by one of Surprise's boats. 48 of Surprise's crew had been killed. |
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