20 Comments

That kind of pressure. 21 war patrols is a lot, and in the Med, meant his number was going to come up. A VC well deserved.

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Even the best and most skillful warrior can fall victim to the laws of chance and bad luck. His (and his boat's, and crew's) luck ran out. A well deserved VC; hope he (and his crew) can RIP.

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Just another roll of the dice.

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Not sure I was ready for this on a Friday morning. FB!

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Aug 16Liked by CDR Salamander

Typo -- Lord Ashcroft, not Load -- no need to publish this

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The series, Hell Below, has a show on British submarines in season 2, Defying Rommel. It is about HMS Upholder, though. It can be found on Paramount+, Smithsonian Channel.

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Will do!

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A wreck well worth finding, if for no other reason than to lay a wreath.

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Nelson would have approved of his duty.

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FB indeed. During war it often seems that "the last one before . . ." turns out to be "the last one" for eternity.

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A great FB... as someone who thinks he's pretty well and evenly versed in WWII history- it was almost an epiphany to realize how little the Brit sub force is talked about, or how much I know about it. Now if youll excuse me...I have some reading to do!! FB!!

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Same here. But I was just as surprised some years back to realize how little I understood about the disproportion between the WW2 Atlantic and Pacific submarine campaigns: for example, the elementary fact that the US built about 250 submarines and the Germans built about 1,200.

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There is a picture of him at the Pub Link (https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pub-histories/the-john-wallace-linton-newport/).

He looks like the man we just read about.

Fullbore indeed

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So, how did he score hits on three trains?

A landing party operation like USS BARB (SS-220)?

Fullbore. Back when war was fought with "We win, they lose" goals, and exhortations like "Kill Japs, Kill Japs, Kill Japs!" were motivational speech not xenophobic hatefulness deserving reeducation camps.

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Aug 17·edited Aug 17

Deck gun.

Though, I admit my first thought was from "Operation Petticoat".

"Captain's log: Sighted tanker, sank truck."

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founding

"Burn out" was not well understood then, and even if it had been, those were desperate times. We had much the same issues in the Pacific; I believe "Mush" Morton would be one example.

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WOW! longest I spent at sea was 48 days and I went stir crazy!

I cannot imagine 254 days at sea.

The man must have been part fish!

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The cause of the loss is unknown but the submarine historian Platon Alexiades who researched it believes that the cause was probably depth charging by the Italian ship Ardito . Linton had been in command of submarines since 1938 having been posted to the Fourth Submarine Flotilla in Hong Kong and only briefly returned to the United Kingdom in 1941 having left Pandora in Portsmouth ,New Hampshire where the boat was to be refitted . He was appointed to Turbulent whilst the boat was fitting out and then took it to war in the Mediterranean. I am sure that he must have been exhausted . Prior to the last patrol his First Lieutenant left the boat for his Perisher course so the command team dynamic would have changed . The boat was also due for overhaul so unfortunately the swiss cheese holes lined up and he and his crew paid the ultimate price. Resurgam

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