A hushed-up human tragedy

It was under the cover of darkness on the night of January 31 1918 that around 40 Royal Navy vessels left Rosyth bound for Scapa Flow, Orkney.

The mixture of battleships, destroyers, cruisers and submarines were to take part in Operation E.C.1, a top secret military exercise that was to involve the entire Grand Fleet of what was then the world’s greatest naval power.

However, what was planned to be a flexing of British military muscle was to become a catastrophe as thick fog descended on the flotilla as it sailed along the Firth of Forth.

As the vessels approached May Island, one of the subs was forced to take evasive action to avoid ramming a minesweeping trawler, which appeared out of the darkness.

The manoeuvre confused her trailing submarines and as attempts were made to restore the queue of shipping, a chain reaction of collisions began.

After less than 90 minutes, two submarines – K4 and K17 – had sunk to the bottom of the Forth while four others had suffered severe damage.

The cruiser HMS Fearless, which had been leading a subsequent flotilla of shipping was also damaged after colliding with K17.

Unaware of the tragedy taking place in the mist before them, several of the following destroyers cut through those submariners fighting for their lives in the freezing water.

It was known as the “Battle of May Island”, a term adopted in black humour to describe the tragic events, while to avoid embarrassment, any news of the investigation and subsequent court martial was kept out of the public eye.