Forgotten Submariners Early in 1999, Chief Petty Officer Owen O’Keeffe of the Irish Naval Service was visiting Old Church Cemetery near Cobh, County Cork. The purpose of his visit was to do some research on U S Navy graves dating back to the First World War. In the course of his search for the American…
The First World War at sea off West Cork Edward J Bourke The ferocity of the First World War evokes names like the Somme, Verdun, Paschendale and Mons and maybe Jutland or Coronel. It may therefore be a surprise to realise that the First World War equivalent of the battle of the Atlantic was fought…
NEUTRAL IRELAND’S SEA LOSSES HEAVY IN SECOND WORLD WAR 16 Ships Lost in Unprovoked Actions Captain Frank Forde, the author of this article In the years following 1922, Ireland, unlike the majority of more recent independent nations, made no attempt to encourage the development of her own mercantile marine. Each year the fleet declined: from…
U-boats sink the Mail-Boat and Many More in the Irish Channel The Atlantic Gateway Jim Phelan 1941 When ships crossed the channel between Ireland and England during WW1, they were attacked and sunk by German submarines. The loss of ships, Irish or not, with civilians, service men and women, was not only condemned by those considered…
GUARD-SHIPS AT KINGSTOWN By Cormac F. Lowth Shortly after the completion of Kingstown Harbour in the early 1820s, it became a convenient and preferred haven for elements of the British Royal Navy. It was a regular port of call for most visiting naval vessels in preference to the main port of Dublin with its sometimes…
The U-Boat which sank the Lusitania Salvage and wreck-removal of the U-20 Translated from German and Danish texts. Certain technical terms seemed to have no direct English translation – in some case I have guessed in the meanings as shown within square brackets. – Paddy O’Sullivan. The demise of the U-20 on the Jutland…
Audacious Secret Vital Secret 27th October 1914: This was a fateful day for the Royal Navy. This is the kernel of this article and the date had its 100th anniversary recently. I will expand on this later. 28th June 1914: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on this day was the immediate reason given for WW1 but sabre rattling…
History of the SS Folia. A World War 1 Cunard Casualty By Martin Baillie-Johnston A question was put to me in April 2008 “Do you want to dive the Folia next Sunday?” “Never heard of it. Where is it?” I replied. “Waterford. You better get your name down quick if you do”. So the following Sunday I…
Irish Shipping Ltd. and the Ministry of Supplies This article has been written to give people a sense of conditions in Ireland during the early years of the “Emergency” which existed in Ireland from 1939 and the urgent need for shipping which brought about the formation of Irish Shipping Ltd. In condensing a journal of…
IRELAND’S BEAUFORT WAS WINDSCALE INVENTOR This is the first of a series of articles featuring the great people of Irish maritime history. The author is Dr John deCourcy Ireland, Honorary Research Officer of the Maritime Institute of Ireland, who has been honoured by many countries for his work in maritime history. BEAUFORT Francis Beaufort, born…