Three direct hits

“As readers may know,” says Patrick Anderson of Letham, “RMS Lancastria was sunk off the port of St Nazaire, France while taking part in Operation Ariel on June 17 1940, the evacuation of British and French troops two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation.

“Lancastria left Liverpool under the command of Captain Rudolph Sharp, on June 14 1940 and arrived at her destination on June 16, anchoring 11 miles southwest of St Nazaire.

“By mid afternoon of June 17 she had picked up possibly 4,000 to 9,000 soldiers, airmen, embassy staff, employees of Fairey Aviation of Belgium and soldiers from various regiments.

“The ship’s official capacity was 2,200 with a crew of 375. Captain Sharp was instructed by the Royal Navy to load as many men as possible without regard to the limits set down under law.

“Just before 4pm another air raid commenced and Lancastria was bombed by JU88 from Gruppe/ Kampfgeschwader 30. Three direct hits caused the vessel to list first to the starboard side then to port, while a fourth bomb fell down the vessel’s smoke stack detonating inside the engine room. Fifteen minutes later the Lancastria turned turtle and some on board managed to scramble over the ship’s railings to sit on her underside. Within 20 minutes she had sunk under the waves.

“German pilots strafed the survivors in the water and the oil from the vessel caught fire causing an inferno in the water. Many were drowned by oil or were shot by German aircraft.

“Survivors were taken aboard a number of vessels including the trawler Cambridgeshire which rescued 900. Only 2,477 survivors were rescued. Buried on French soil are 400 casualties as they are recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

“Captain Sharp survived the sinking but was lost on September 12 1942 when RMS Laconia was torpedoed and sunk off West Africa.

“A media block was put on the sinking by Winston Churchill but American newspapers covered the story. The government has blocked any viewing of the files until 2040 under the Official Secrets Act.

“The Lancastria lies in French waters and the French government in recent years have given the wreck legal protection as a war grave. A memorial was erected by the Lancastria Association of Scotland in 2011 at the former Dalmuir shipyard on Clydebank as she was built by William Beardmore & Co for the Anchor Line in 1920 as RMS Tyyhenia.”