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Rupert Lonsdale
Rupert Philip Lonsdale (5 May 1905 – 25 April 1999) was a British submarine commander, prisoner of war and Anglican clergyman. He was forced to surrender his boat in World War II after he had succeeded in rescuing her and her crew from the sea bed after she struck a mine. He then spent five years as a prisoner of war. In 1946, he was court-martialed for the loss of the submarine and was honourably acquitted.
After the war Lonsdale took Anglican holy orders, serving in several parishes. In 1952, he volunteered to go as a District Chaplain to Kenya, to help find a peaceful solution to the Mau Mau Uprising.
Lonsdale was born in Dublin and educated at St. Cyprian's School, Eastbourne and the Royal Naval College, Osborne. He began in the submarine branch of the service in 1927 and within four years was first lieutenant of XI, a large experimental submersible. With four 5.2-inch guns and displacing 2,780 tons this was one of the largest submersibles of the era.
In 1934 he passed the demanding submarine command qualifying course, and his first command was H44, a legacy of World War I, of 440 tons, with four torpedo tubes and a machine-gun. Lonsdale was promoted lieutenant-commander in May 1936 and in 1937 he took over the newer Swordfish for a year.
Lonsdale's next command on 1 November 1938 was Seal, a Grampus-class submarine, which he commissioned in May 1939. It undertook a mission in the China Sea. When World War II broke out it was held up at Aden. It returned to the North Atlantic and the North Sea Patrol.
The submarine was then given the task of crossing the Skagerrak and laying a minefield in the Kattegat. This operation, named FD7, was part of the Norwegian campaign of early 1940. Lonsdale's superior, Captain Jocelyn Slingsby "Jock" Bethell, commanding 6th Submarine Flotilla, considered the operation too dangerous for a large mine-laying submarine. But he failed to persuade Admiral Max Horton to reconsider his orders, and Seal sailed from Immingham on 29 April 1940.
In the small hours of the morning of 4 May, Seal entered the Kattegat on the surface, where it was spotted by a Heinkel He 115 and bombed. After repairs, it continued south-east, encountering German anti-submarine trawlers between Læsø and Gothenburg. Stymied in a calm sea, Lonsdale mined an area by Vinga.
Turning back on a bearing for Skagen, Seal observed E-boats. As it took evasive action, it hit a newly-laid "Skagen barrier" minefield. While it dived to escape the area the boat went into an uncharted minefield. A diving plane snagged a mine's anchor line. At 1855, a mine explosion caused serious stern damage to the submarine.
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Rupert Lonsdale
Rupert Philip Lonsdale (5 May 1905 – 25 April 1999) was a British submarine commander, prisoner of war and Anglican clergyman. He was forced to surrender his boat in World War II after he had succeeded in rescuing her and her crew from the sea bed after she struck a mine. He then spent five years as a prisoner of war. In 1946, he was court-martialed for the loss of the submarine and was honourably acquitted.
After the war Lonsdale took Anglican holy orders, serving in several parishes. In 1952, he volunteered to go as a District Chaplain to Kenya, to help find a peaceful solution to the Mau Mau Uprising.
Lonsdale was born in Dublin and educated at St. Cyprian's School, Eastbourne and the Royal Naval College, Osborne. He began in the submarine branch of the service in 1927 and within four years was first lieutenant of XI, a large experimental submersible. With four 5.2-inch guns and displacing 2,780 tons this was one of the largest submersibles of the era.
In 1934 he passed the demanding submarine command qualifying course, and his first command was H44, a legacy of World War I, of 440 tons, with four torpedo tubes and a machine-gun. Lonsdale was promoted lieutenant-commander in May 1936 and in 1937 he took over the newer Swordfish for a year.
Lonsdale's next command on 1 November 1938 was Seal, a Grampus-class submarine, which he commissioned in May 1939. It undertook a mission in the China Sea. When World War II broke out it was held up at Aden. It returned to the North Atlantic and the North Sea Patrol.
The submarine was then given the task of crossing the Skagerrak and laying a minefield in the Kattegat. This operation, named FD7, was part of the Norwegian campaign of early 1940. Lonsdale's superior, Captain Jocelyn Slingsby "Jock" Bethell, commanding 6th Submarine Flotilla, considered the operation too dangerous for a large mine-laying submarine. But he failed to persuade Admiral Max Horton to reconsider his orders, and Seal sailed from Immingham on 29 April 1940.
In the small hours of the morning of 4 May, Seal entered the Kattegat on the surface, where it was spotted by a Heinkel He 115 and bombed. After repairs, it continued south-east, encountering German anti-submarine trawlers between Læsø and Gothenburg. Stymied in a calm sea, Lonsdale mined an area by Vinga.
Turning back on a bearing for Skagen, Seal observed E-boats. As it took evasive action, it hit a newly-laid "Skagen barrier" minefield. While it dived to escape the area the boat went into an uncharted minefield. A diving plane snagged a mine's anchor line. At 1855, a mine explosion caused serious stern damage to the submarine.