100 Years ago.... 13 December 1914 LEUT Norman Douglas Holbrook, RN, was awarded the VC for outstanding bravery while commanding HM Submarine B11, during the first successful penetration of the Ottoman minefields at the entrance to the Sea of Marmara, and for sinking the Ottoman ship MESSOUDIEH. To reach the target B11 had to run a gauntlet of five rows of moored sea mines while travelling blind underwater, requiring nerves of steel and precise navigation. Nevertheless Holbrook took his vessel successfully through the minefield and torpedoed the “Mesudiye” as planned. The Ottoman battleship heeled over and sank in about 10 minutes, resulting in the death of 37 sailors. B11 then escaped the way it had come but this time harried by furious surface vessel pursuit that forced it to remain submerged for 9 hours – well beyond the recommended limit for his vessel. The town of Germantown, (an unpopular name during WWI), in NSW, was renamed Holbrook in his honour. The fin and casing of HMAS OTWAY, (Oberon class submarine), was gifted to Holbrook town in 1982, as a permanent memorial to LEUT Holbrook. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Dardanelle_raid_sinking_the_Mesudiye.JPG -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Germans withdraw from the Yser Canal. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Battle for Warsaw raging. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Galicia: Battle for Cracow ending owing to Austro-German offensive from Hungary. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Serbia: Rout of the Austrians completed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Serbian Nikola Pasic reappointed Prime Minister -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Daily News, 13 December 1914 trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/7817321?zoomLevel=3 The Sunday Times, 13 December 1914 trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/4348383
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 02:15:57 +0000