Posted on 12/20/2017 5:17:13 PM PST by naturalman1975
A bold bid to locate the wreck of Australia’s first submarine has been successful, with the final resting place of 35 World War One servicemen off Papua New Guinea captured on underwater camera.
The fate of AE1 has long been a mystery, with a three-day search after it disappeared on patrol in waters between New Ireland and New Britain on September 14, 1914, just seven months into service, proving fruitless.
It can now be revealed the boat suffered a catastrophic failure, probably during a practice dive, and struck a hard rocky bottom southeast of the Duke of York islands group.
Speaking by mobile phone from the search vessel as it neared its return port of Rabaul this morning, Rear Admiral Briggs told The Australian it had been a “very satisfying, sad feeling” to discover the location of “35 English, Australian and one New Zealander who died doing their best for the country, it’s a sombre moment, but also tinged with a warm glow of success”.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.com.au ...
WWI submarines carried underwater cameras? Who knew?!
link wants money. faugh!
Sorry - when I checked it less than five minutes ago, it wasn’t behind the paywall. Otherwise I would have found a different source. I deliberately chose this one because it wasn’t paywalled.
Practice dive? Hmmm. That was all German-controlled territory at the time.
These were German colonies in the Pacific:
German colonies in southern Pacific: Kaiserwilhelmsland and the Bismarck Archipelago (Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands)
German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) (1884–1914) and Micronesia (later incorporated into the German New Guinea)
Kaiser-Wilhelmsland
Bismarck Archipelago (Bismarck-Archipel)
German Solomon Islands or Northern Solomon Islands (Salomonen or Nördliche Salomon-Inseln) (1885–1899)
Bougainville Island (Bougainville-Insel) (1888–1919)
Nauru (1888–1919)
Marshall Islands (Marschall-Inseln) (1885–1919)
Mariana Islands (Marianen) (1899–1919) – present-day Northern Mariana Islands
Caroline Islands (Karolinen) (1899–1919) – present-day Federated States of Micronesia and Palau
German Samoa (Deutsch-Samoa) (1899–1914) – present-day Samoa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_German_colonies
Follow this link and then click on the headline:
Yes, that’s why AE1 was patrolling it - nearly all of Australia’s military actions in 1914 were against German territories in the South Pacific region.
But if she had been attacked by the Germans, we would have expected to have found records on that in German military archives. So an accident has always been more likely.
If you are interested, copy the title and do a google search. Then click on the google link. That just worked for me.
Long way from home to be doing practice dives.
She had just participated in the Australian action to take Rabaul - the Germans surrendered the day before she vanished. Because the fighting was over, it probably seemed like a good opportunity for training - HMAS AE1 had only recently joined the Australian fleet (for that matter, the Royal Australian Navy was only a few years old at this point) and had been deployed faster than normal due to the war situation - the war wasn’t even six weeks old.
Always about Europe. of course. Would have found the Pacific war a lot more interesting.
The Germans were seemingly everywhere.
The African Queen, a ‘51 movie with Bogart and Hepburn, was based on a book from the ‘30s. It took place in East Africa, where Bogart used his boat to run supplies to villages and the area was patrolled by German gun boats.
Not only that, but the camera is an AE1 which wasn't introduced by Canon until 1976! This submarine had to come from the future.
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The only German army in WW I to not be defeated, was the East African force led by Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck.
It was a world wide war.
To be fair, the Pacific was a minor theatre in the First World War. Australians and New Zealanders learn about it because it’s our back yard so to speak, and also because our armed forces carried out their first operations of the war in 1914 capturing most of the German colonies in the area.
The only German army in WW I to not be defeated, was the East African force led by Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck.
I’m glad they found the underwater camera as well (I know I am not the first to say this, but before I read any of the other comments, I had to have my say).
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