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An Email received from David Wright, Cumbria, Concerning P614 and P615 and the film "We Dive at Dawn"I was interested to find your web site of RN Submarines and noticed your remarks concerning the film "We Dive at Dawn".I am pleased to be able to tell you that both the P614 and P615 were used in the film. By covering the last digit either could be used while the other was on patrol.My mother's first husband was second coxswain on the P615 and told her of the filming. He actually appears in the scene where the German aircrew are being picked up but, in an interior scene showing the hydroplane controls, an "extra" is in his seat.My mother travelled from Barrow to Scotland and was married on 14 Nov., 1942 and, 3 weeks later, along with 2 other wives, waved the boat away at Campbeltown. They missed the one-a-day bus and had to get permission from the local police station to hire a taxi for the trip to Ardrossan.She received lots of letters, even after the telegram saying the boat had been reported missing and there was no hope of any survivors. One letter, posted 16 April,1943 was a thank you letter for his birthday presents on 14 April, and mentioned that he had been told his promotion to Petty Officer was being processed. Of course, 2 days later the boat was lost.My mother went to London later that year and visited the offices of the film company where she was allowed to look through a large pile of "stills" but was unable to find one of Max.My brother has done quite a bit of research into the boat since discovering that it wasn't listed officially as a "loss" since the Admiralty considered it to be Turkish. It is listed on the memorial at Gosport and his name appears, although his records showed he was lost on a ship. A curator at the RN Submarine Museum looked up his records and it seems that every vessel he served on was lost, including the P36 at Malta and the depot ship Medway.My brother has also seen a translation of the log book of the U123. The P615 had been involved in an exercise called "clockwork mouse" to try to trap German submarines. The U123 aimed for the merchant ship but the P615 surfaced in between and was hit. Apparently she sank immediately and some time later there was an explosion, thought to be the batteries.My mother worked in Vickers at Barrow throughout the war as a tracer in the ship drawing office and had worked on the plans of both the P614 and P615. She also assisted the yard photographer and was given a set of prints after each launch. My grandmother threw them all away in the 50's as she thought they were junk!My paternal grandfather, Frank Wright, was a submariner in the First World War but was transferred to surface ships in
the 20's when he failed to pass a course. We believe this was because he
couldn't swim! He was on trials on a boat that was stuck on the bottom of
Liverpool Bay on 13 June.,1918, the day his daughter was born. For his part
in saving the boat he was invited to a reception and was given an envelope
that was later found to contain a £1 note.
David Wright |
