To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
After the ship went down, the British picked up a few survivors when they received a report of a submarine in the area. They quickly left before the other survivors (who later drowned) could be saved.
When I saw a television documentary, no mention was made of any report of submarines. In fact, it was made clear that even the British sailors were upset that they were not allowed to continue rescuing able-bodied Germans who were swimming to the rope-nets hanging over the side of the British ship. Tragically, the looks on the faces of the doomed German sailors is recorded on film, as they realize they are being left to die. The narrator even speculated that the true reason for the aborted rescue operation was the British skipper's bitterness over the sinking of the Hood.
13 posted on
02/14/2003 7:21:20 PM PST by
BenR2
((John 3:16: Still True Today.))
To: BenR2
There was a German U-Boat in the area and it did witness the sinking. I don't recall the name but it was ironic that the sub was out of torpedoes and wasn't a threat.
I remember a British sailor jumped into the water to save a German sailor and he was courtmartialed for leaving the ship without leave.
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