HM Armed Smack Inverlyon
Encyclopedia
His Majesty's or HM Armed Smack Inverlyon was a fishing smack
Smack (ship)
A smack was a traditional fishing boat used off the coast of England and the Atlantic coast of America for most of the 19th century, and even in small numbers up to the Second World War. It was originally a cutter rigged sailing boat until about 1865, when the smacks became so large that cutter...
that was converted to a Q-ship
Q-ship
Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships, or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them...
during the First World War. Q-ships served as decoys to lure German submarines near enough so that concealed weapons could be brought to bear and sink the submarines. On 15 August 1915, Inverlyon succeeded in luring German submarine within range and sinking her with nine shots from her gun. The Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
Gunner in command of the vessel, Ernest Martin Jehan
Ernest Martin Jehan
Ernest Martin Jehan DSC was an officer in the Royal Navy during the First World War. Jehan is best known for the sinking of a German submarine by he and his crew aboard the smack Inverlyon...
, received the Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Service Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers, and other ranks, of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and British Merchant Navy and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.The DSC, which may be awarded posthumously, is...
and members of Inverlyons crew shared the bounty offered for German submarines. After Inverlyons Q-ship career ended, she returned to fishing, but was sunk by on 1 February 1917.
Career
Inverlyon was a fishing smackSmack (ship)
A smack was a traditional fishing boat used off the coast of England and the Atlantic coast of America for most of the 19th century, and even in small numbers up to the Second World War. It was originally a cutter rigged sailing boat until about 1865, when the smacks became so large that cutter...
of 59 tons burthen
Builder's Old Measurement
Builder's Old Measurement is the method of calculating the size or cargo capacity of a ship used in England from approximately 1720 to 1849. It estimated the tonnage of a ship based on length and maximum beam...
that was a part of the fishing fleet at Lowestoft
Lowestoft
Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...
on the Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
coast. The wooden boat had a flush deck, two masts, and no engine. Inverlyons sails were fore-and-aft rig
Fore-and-aft rig
A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing rig consisting mainly of sails that are set along the line of the keel rather than perpendicular to it. Such sails are described as fore-and-aft rigged....
ged and may have been red ochre in colour, the traditional sail colour for British smacks.
In February 1915, Germany began its first submarine offensive of the First World War. During this campaign, enemy vessels in the German-defined war zone , which encompassed all waters around the United Kingdom, were to be sunk, and the British fishing fleet was not exempt. In mid-June, for example, the German submarine had sunk six smacks off Lowestoft in a two-day period.
One method devised to deal with U-boat attacks was the decoy or Q-ship, designed to lure submarines that were targeting merchant shipping close enough so that concealed guns or other weapons could sink them. Inverlyon was selected to become a Q-ship, was outfitted with either a 3-pounder (47 mm) or a 6-pounder (57 mm) gun, and entered the service of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
on 2 August 1915. Inverlyons fishing crew and skipper were all temporarily inducted into the Trawler section of the Royal Naval Reserve
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...
. Regular Royal Navy Gunner Ernest Martin Jehan
Ernest Martin Jehan
Ernest Martin Jehan DSC was an officer in the Royal Navy during the First World War. Jehan is best known for the sinking of a German submarine by he and his crew aboard the smack Inverlyon...
and three other gunners from —a former torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
operating as a minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
out of Lowestoft—were assigned to Inverlyon, with Jehan in command.
On 14 August, the 59-ton smack Bona Fide was stopped by a U-boat, boarded, and sunk with explosives 35 nautical miles (64.8 km) east-northeast from Lowestoft
Lowestoft
Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...
. This attack was likely by UB-4, because she was operating in that area on her fourteenth patrol. Regardless of the identity of Bona Fides attacker, UB-4 did approach a group of smacks in the vicinity the next day. Unbeknown to UB-4s commander, Oberleutnant zur See Karl Gross,Karl Gross' name is also spelled as Karl Groß in some sources. one of the fishing vessels was the disguised Inverlyon.Both of the Perkins works report the date of the encounter as Sunday, 16 August 1915, but 16 August 1915 was actually a Monday. Messimer (p. 129), Gibson and Prendergast (pp. 50–51), and Uboat.net (WWI U-boats: UB-4) all report the date of the encounter as 15 August 1915.
Around 20:20, UB-4 surfaced near Inverlyon, and Gross, on the conning tower
Conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....
of UB-4, began shouting out commands to Inverlyons crew in German. Jehan, after waiting until UB-4 closed to within 30 yards of Inverlyon, ordered the White Ensign
White Ensign
The White Ensign or St George's Ensign is an ensign flown on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on a white field with the Union Flag in the upper canton....
raised and gave the command to open fire. A burst of three rounds from the Inverlyons weapon scored hits on the conning tower, the second shot destroying part of the bridge and sending Gross into the water. UB-4, with no one at the helm, drifted behind Inverlyon, and when clear, Inverlyons gunner unleashed another six shots into the hull of UB-4 at point-blank range
Point-blank range
In external ballistics, point-blank range is the distance between a firearm and a target of a given size such that the bullet in flight is expected to strike the target without adjusting the elevation of the firearm. The point-blank range will vary with the firearm and its particular ballistic...
. All the while, small arms fire from Inverlyons crew peppered the submarine. The U-boat began going down by the bow, becoming nearly vertical before disappearing below the surface. Inverlyons fishing skipper, a man named Phillips, dived in to attempt the rescue of a crewman from UB-4. Phillips was unable to reach him before he went under and he met same fate as Gross and UB-4s twelve other crewmen.
As UB-4 went down she fouled Inverlyons nets—which had been deployed to keep up the appearance of a real fishing boat—essentially anchoring Inverlyon in place . The Q-ship's crew, not having a wireless set
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
on board, sent word of the encounter with another smack. This was followed up by releasing messenger pigeons the following morning, requesting instructions on what to do with UB-4. The thought of salvaging the snagged U-boat was rejected, so the nets were cut, freeing UB-4 to sink to the bottom. UB-4s wreck lies at position 52°43′N 2°18′E. On 19 November 1915 Jehan was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Service Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers, and other ranks, of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and British Merchant Navy and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.The DSC, which may be awarded posthumously, is...
(DSC) for the sinking of UB-4, and the crewmen of Inverlyon split the submarine bounty paid by the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
.There is no mention of the amount of the bounty for sinking UB-4, but the Admiralty bounties were typically £5 per crewman on the submarine, which would have been £70 in the case of UB-4. See: Messimer, pp. 158, 170, 222, for examples of the £5 per capita bounty.
About three weeks after she sank UB-4, Inverlyon had the opportunity to sink another U-boat, but was unsuccessful. The U-boat encountered may have been either or , which both sank fishing vessels in the area on 7 and 8 September. By 1916, Inverlyon had ended her short-lived Q-ship career and returned to being a fishing boat. Jehan, in addition to his DSC, was subsequently specially promoted to lieutenant on 4 January 1916 for his war service; he retired from the Royal Navy on 29 October 1920.
Trevose Head
Trevose Head is a headland on the Atlantic coast of north Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately west of Padstow. The South West Coast Path runs around the whole promontory and is within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Trevose Head Heritage Coast...
at position 50°47′N 5°5′W; there were no reported casualties.
See also
- SMS Seeadler, a sail rigged vessel that served with distinction during World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. - USS Irene Forsyte (IX-93)USS Irene Forsyte (IX-93)USS Irene Forsyte was a three masted schooner originally built as MacLean Clan which was briefly converted to a Q-ship, of the United States Navy.-In commercial service:...
, a sail rigged Q-shipQ-shipQ-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships, or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them...
used by the US Navy during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... - USCGC Eagle (WIX-327)USCGC Eagle (WIX-327)The is a barque used as a training cutter for future officers of the United States Coast Guard. She is one of only two active commissioned sailing vessels in American military service, the other being the USS Constitution....
, one of the last sail rigged vessels to see combat in warWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.