EvanL
06-19-2004, 04:48 PM
Chris Wattie's article (Recalling Canada's Prized U-Boat, June 16) came as a total surprise to me. I was the officer in charge of the boarding party that boarded U190 that night in May, 1945.
At the time I was First Lieutenant of HMCS Victoriaville, and our ship was one of a number of vessels escorting a Westbound convoy about halfway between the United Kingdom and Newfoundland. The war had ended officially. The German submarine fleet had been ordered to surface wherever they were, hoist a black flag, and steam towards the nearest Allied port.
U190 did that. HMCS Victoriaville and another Canadian frigate, the name of which I forget, were dispatched to meet U190 and take it into the Bay of Bulls in Newfoundland.
Our boarding party was some 10 or 12 of the Victoriaville's crew. We did not reach U190 till the middle of the night but for some happy reason, the Atlantic was absolutely calm -- something pretty unusual. But it meant that our cutter could come alongside the U190 and we could board readily.
We really did not know what to expect. Three days before our job was to find and sink U190, and its job was to find and sink us. But the whole procedure went smoothly and without incident. The entire crew, with the exception of some of their engine room personnel to run the sub, were transferred to Victoriaville and the other frigate.
We checked and found that there were no torpedoes in the tubes, and in accordance with boarding practice, padlocked a long length of chain from the conning tower to the lowest deck. The idea behind this was to prevent the sub from submerging after a boarding party had come aboard. But all it did for us was to ensure that the next three days were very damp and miserable.
Then, with the U190 stationed between the two frigates, we began the three day trip to Newfoundland. I remember the German crew smoked non-stop -- their first opportunity to do so in weeks. I can also recall their concern as to where exactly the Allied and Russian forces were in Germany. They were very uneasy about Russians in their hometowns.
One young rating , who could draw, showed us his sketch of Halifax harbour. It was remarkably accurate, a witness to their days in those waters. And the Zeiss binoculars used by the crew to scan the sea and sky were incomparably better than Canadian issue.
I did not sleep a whole lot during those three days. And for one who has had touches of claustrophobia, three days and nights in a submarine was an interesting way to spend some of my last days at sea.
Fred Burbidge, Frelighsburg, Que.
At the time I was First Lieutenant of HMCS Victoriaville, and our ship was one of a number of vessels escorting a Westbound convoy about halfway between the United Kingdom and Newfoundland. The war had ended officially. The German submarine fleet had been ordered to surface wherever they were, hoist a black flag, and steam towards the nearest Allied port.
U190 did that. HMCS Victoriaville and another Canadian frigate, the name of which I forget, were dispatched to meet U190 and take it into the Bay of Bulls in Newfoundland.
Our boarding party was some 10 or 12 of the Victoriaville's crew. We did not reach U190 till the middle of the night but for some happy reason, the Atlantic was absolutely calm -- something pretty unusual. But it meant that our cutter could come alongside the U190 and we could board readily.
We really did not know what to expect. Three days before our job was to find and sink U190, and its job was to find and sink us. But the whole procedure went smoothly and without incident. The entire crew, with the exception of some of their engine room personnel to run the sub, were transferred to Victoriaville and the other frigate.
We checked and found that there were no torpedoes in the tubes, and in accordance with boarding practice, padlocked a long length of chain from the conning tower to the lowest deck. The idea behind this was to prevent the sub from submerging after a boarding party had come aboard. But all it did for us was to ensure that the next three days were very damp and miserable.
Then, with the U190 stationed between the two frigates, we began the three day trip to Newfoundland. I remember the German crew smoked non-stop -- their first opportunity to do so in weeks. I can also recall their concern as to where exactly the Allied and Russian forces were in Germany. They were very uneasy about Russians in their hometowns.
One young rating , who could draw, showed us his sketch of Halifax harbour. It was remarkably accurate, a witness to their days in those waters. And the Zeiss binoculars used by the crew to scan the sea and sky were incomparably better than Canadian issue.
I did not sleep a whole lot during those three days. And for one who has had touches of claustrophobia, three days and nights in a submarine was an interesting way to spend some of my last days at sea.
Fred Burbidge, Frelighsburg, Que.