StraitTales2

 

      HMS Bulldog (H91)

 

 

Meet HMS Bulldog; a B Class destroyer built in 1929-30 by Swann-Hunter of Wallsend and completed in April 1931 at a cost of some £221,408 (£12.5M today). That sounds like rather a lot of money, but this was the height of the British Empire and the pinnacle of the art deco period; it was the age of extravagance. By comparison, today’s Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) tip the scale at a typical £127M each…. we may live in colder economic times but some sectors have better insulation.

 

At 323 feet long, HMS Bulldog was powered by two Parson’s steam turbines, delivering a total of 34,000 shaft HP, offering a top speed of 35 knots (65 kph in metric flummery).  At her cruising speed of 15 knots, she had a range of 5,500 miles and normally accommodated a crew of 134 souls, increasing to 142 in wartime. Her original armament consisted of 4x QF 4.7 inch guns in single mounts and AA defence was limited to 2x 1.6 inch (40mm) QF 2 pdr. guns mounted on platforms between her funnels. She was fitted with 2x quadruple torpedo tube mounts for 21” torpedoes and a depth charge rail for 2x throwers and 20 depth charges.  She was also equipped with Type 119 ASDIC for submarine detection by sound – an early name for the system now known as Sonar. Taken altogether, she appeared to be quite a potent little package.

 

That’s all the technical stuff... what about the reality. In the black humour of the engine room, Bulldog was known as a ‘lucky’ ship. That is to say that she had more re-fits for collisions, breakdowns and repairs than her engineers had had hot dinners, interspersed with bouts of - sometimes heroic - activity which earned this little ship her reputation.

Immediately after commissioning she served as part of the 8^th Destroyer Flotilla, based in Malta, patrolling the Eastern Mediterranean. Within a year, Bulldog was despatched to the Aegean to aid survivors of the 1932 Ierissos (Chalkidiki peninsula) earthquake. Seven villages were destroyed and 3000 homes were ruined, more than 500 people were left dead or wounded.  The effort earned the Dep. Director of Naval Intelligence (Capt. Gerald Harrison) the Order of the Redeemer, awarded by the President of Greece, in recognition of  valuable services rendered… from his office in Malta no doubt. There was no gong for Bulldog or her crew, just a trip to Gibraltar to re-fit in our dockyard.

 

                          This B Class in No 3 Dock has not been confirmed as Bulldog but it seems very likely to be her.

 

After her refit Bulldog returned to what was about to become the 4^th Flotilla, with Lt. Cmdr CFH Churchill now in command. They lived the life that all naval officers delight in; sailing to Sheerness and back - working up - then cruising Majorca, Malta, Leghorn, Crete, various Croatian ports, Cannes and St Tropez before taking part in the Spithead Review for the Silver Jubilee of King George Vth. (Bulldog was between Blanche and Boadicea in Line E.)  All these sea miles had taken a toll, so after a return to Malta, Bulldog once again repaired to Gibraltar for another re-fit in December 1935. Then came another mercy mission; in mid July 1936, the Spanish civil war erupted and so on the 26^th, Bulldog was despatched to Malaga to collect refugees. This turned into a major undertaking for the Local Defence Flotilla. Destroyer HMS Shamrock, while evacuating British, French and Americans from Malaga and smaller settlements, was bombed by Nationalist aircraft, but survived unscathed. Similarly, destroyer HMS Wild Swan was bombed by Nationalist aircraft in the Strait - and returned fire - before rescuing more civilians from Huelva. The destroyers Vanoc, Basilisk and Bulldog carried up to 300 on each trip.  The unfortunate Basilisk, rounded Europa Point on one return trip, and was shelled by the Nationalist gunboat Dato, who mistook her for a Republican destroyer of the Churruca class. Meanwhile, dockyard tug Noel Birch collected British subjects from Marbella and Bland’s tug Energetic brought Britons and Spaniards from Algeciras.

 

                 
 

                             Bland’s Energetic                                           HMT Noel Birch

 

 The operation initially involved five destroyers and three cruisers but by August some fifty nine Royal Navy vessels were employed in evacuating tourists of all nationalities, protecting merchant ships and beginning the international non-intervention patrols. Bulldog was to undergo another refit, at Malta in late ‘36, before taking her place in the patrols. The actual non-intervention was a little one sided. Whilst Henry Ford supplied Franco with an alleged 20,000 vehicles and American oil companies offered as much fuel as they needed, it was the legitimate Republican government who were denied supplies. For a time, the British battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth was moved in front of Algeciras to deter Republican warships from shelling the port. Gibraltar’s colonial authorities provided signal intelligence to Franco’s Nationalists and refused refuelling of Republican vessels. 

 For the remainder of the thirties Bulldog shuttled back and forth between the Mediterranean and UK until January 1939 when she was assigned to the Local Defence Flotilla, Gibraltar, once more. In September she was attached as attendant destroyer to the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and accompanied her to the Indian Ocean in the unsuccessful search for the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee… which explains how she came to arrive in Freemantle, WA on October 13^th to help celebrate Foundation Day. She was indeed a lucky ship.

 

  

In January ’40, Bulldog returned to the Mediterranean, escorting Glorious through Suez, and immediately both vessels went to Malta for another repair and re-fit, which was completed in time for Bulldog to reach Gibraltar on the 1^st March. On the 17^th she escorted HG 23F (home-from-Gib) to Liverpool before returning to Gibraltar as attendant destroyer, for plane guard duty, to HMS Ark Royal. Between April and May Bulldog made repairs to her feed water heater at Devonport and then joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow.

As part of a force consisting of a cruiser and 13 destroyers, Bulldog searched the mouth of the Skagerrak, hunting German minelayers. During their return HMS Kelly was torpedoed and Bulldog towed Kelly home, sustaining damage to her stern during the tow, requiring a repair at Swann-Hunter in May. On the 27^th May, she damaged her propellers and was under repair in Chatham until the 4^th of June, when she sailed for Le Havre to assist in the evacuation of troops (Operation Cycle). Some 3,500 British and French soldiers were rescued by the Navy but 6,000 Highlanders were taken prisoner. On that mission Bulldog was severely damaged by three hits from German aircraft; knocking out her steering gear. The crew made temporary repairs and she managed to limp back to Portsmouth Dockyard. Whilst there, she was further damaged by splinters during an air raid of 21^st August and Bulldog’s captain, Lt Cmdr John P Wisden, was badly injured, dying from his wounds three days later.  Sufficiently repaired, she rejoined the flotilla in September.  

 After refitting at Cammell Laird from Jan. to Feb. ’41, Bulldog was assigned to the 3^rd Escort Group for convoy duties to and from Iceland with another new Captain, Cmdr Joe Baker-Cresswell. Events during this convoy were to prove remarkably fortunate for the allies and would affect the course of the war.

 Together with destroyer Amazon and sloop Rochester, Bulldog tangled with U-94 on 7^th May, whilst escorting convoy OB 318, 200 miles SW of Iceland A total of 98 depth charges were dropped, over a four hour period, causing some damage but not enough to prevent U-94 sinking two merchant men - Eastern Star and Ixion - before making her escape. Meanwhile the convoy steamed on, plodding steadily westward at 8 knots; the cruising speed of the slowest vessel. Having crossed a U-boat patrol line they were acutely aware of the likelihood of a return visit and two days later they encountered U-110 commanded by U-boat ace Kapitanleutnant Fritz Julius Lemp. The 28 year old Lemp had achieved notoriety in 1939 by torpedoing the liner Athenia, with the loss of 112 passengers and crew.

 Partnered by U201 (Kptn. Schnee) Fritz Lemp had tracked the convoy and shortly before noon on the 9^th of May, slipped through the screen of escorts and launched his attack. His first salvo of torpedoes hit two ships and he raised U-110’s periscope to look for his next targets. He was astonished to see the bow wave of a corvette filling his lens, barely 800 yards away and heading directly at him. He had been detected by HMS Aubretia who then delivered a pattern of 10 depth charges, neatly bracketing the submarine. Meanwhile the convoy had been turned 45 degrees, a standard evasion measure. Destroyers Bulldog and Broadway also had firm ASDIC contacts and were about to join the attack when all eyes were drawn to sudden violent water turbulence, almost directly between the two ships. The patch of strange broken water, containing eerily large bubbles, spread rapidly and before anybody could react, the U-boat surfaced in the middle of it, with men pouring out of the conning tower.

 Having just lost two ships from his convoy, Baker-Cresswell saw red for a moment and steered to ram the submarine, but then collected himself and steered away. It seemed that the U-boat sailors were manning their gun, so Bulldog opened fire with all weapons and Broadway joined in, for a minute or so there was bedlam. The noise was deafening, especially from the Lewis guns, and it was probably the noise of all the shells and bullets hitting the U-boat hull which caused the German crew to panic; all jumping overboard as fast as they could. Most of the survivors were taken on board the Aubretia but Lemp was not amongst them. He was last seen swimming back toward the submarine, possibly intending to set a scuttling charge. 

 

            

U-110 under HMS Bulldog’s guns.

 

Baker-Cresswell saw an opportunity to collect vital intelligence from the U-boat; positioning charts, code books etc. But first the German crew had to be hustled below decks so that they saw, and were told, nothing and so could assume their boat had been sunk. Convoy, OB 318, had steamed onward and was out of sight leaving no eye witnesses. Next, Sub-Lt David Balme was despatched with a boarding party to strip the submarine of all the equipment they could remove.

 

                

                     Commander Joe Baker-Cresswell                        Sub Lieutenant David Balme

 

The party methodically removed binoculars, sextants, books, logs, charts, diaries, tools and instruments. A telegraphist noted down tuning positions of all the radio sets in the wireless office and unscrewed a strange looking typewriter from the office desk. This turned out to be an Enigma machine. As Bulldog’s whaler made several trips back and forth loaded with treasure, Baker-Cresswell realised there was a good chance of saving this submarine and keeping any information gained from it secret from the Germans. He decided to take U-110 in tow.  

                    

  

The tow was achieved shortly after 4pm and at first Bulldog made good progress, although the U-boat was noticeably down by the stern. But the weather worsened overnight and Bulldog had to heave to. Next morning, U-110 suddenly put its bows up in the air, until the hull was nearly vertical, and then sank. Baker-Cresswell was bitterly disappointed to lose his prize but he realised that towing her in would have given the game away to the enemy.

Experts from Bletchley Park went up to Scapa Flow to meet Bulldog, taking with them small brief cases, expecting only a few papers. When they saw two large packing cases, they could hardly believe their eyes. They handled the contents like men in a daze. Here were items they had only dreamed of, including U-110’s Enigma cypher machine, with the settings for May 9th still on its rotors, the special code settings for high-security officer-only traffic, and the current code book for U-boats’ short signal sighting reports. Cmdr Baker-Cresswell was awarded the DSO, and his engineer officer, Lt-Cdr Dodds and the boarding officer, Sub-Lt Balme, were both awarded DSCs.

You may have seen the film U-571 which depicts the capture of an enigma machine by a US submarine; it is fiction not history. The Allies captured a total of 15 enigma machines, from submarines. All but two were captured by British units. The Royal Canadian Navy captured one and the US Navy took over one from U-505, in 1944, when they captured the boat complete with crew. U-571 was however a cracking good film, and to quote the US Ambassador to UK, on the day of the film’s release; “Hollywood never let the facts get in the way of a good story.” 

                          

                                                        A typical Enigma cipher machine.

During the summer of 1941 Bulldog was detached to assist Dr Edward Lee in trials of Britain’s first infrared ‘friend or foe’ system which would prove crucial to the identification of enemy aircraft for the remainder of the war. The system employed the transmission of intermittent IR light beams from lamps attached to aircraft tailfins. The beams were invisible to the naked eye but could be detected by fellow pilots via a special receiver.

Bulldog’s swansong came in May 1945 when she arrived in Guernsey, which had then been occupied for five years, for the German declaration of final surrender to be signed on board, on the 10^th May 1945.

   

This turned out to be Bulldog’s last contribution to the war effort and she was withdrawn from service and sold to be broken for scrap on 15^th January 1946.

Her recovery of the Enigma machine remained a well kept secret, as did all the activities of Bletchley Park, until the mid 1970s.

                                     

First published at the History Society Chronicle.       Paul Hodkinson.