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I read the article on the disaster in Wikipedia yesterday. Even during the war there were questions about the government's explanation of the disaster, and severe questioning of the hiding of the truth. But it was not the only case in the war. The sinking of H.M.S. Balham was mishandled, and the famous/infamous film of her exploding and sinking was not shown until 1945 - four years after her loss. The loss of live in the Lancastria was played down. In the weeks before D. Day some American excercise in the south of England (dealing with amphibious landings) was surprised by the Nazis, and hundreds were killed. That too was not reported.Originally posted by Robert View Post
These things happened in earlier wars. One of the stupidest was in September 1914. A new dreadnought, HMS Audacious, hit a mine and sank off Lough Swilly off Ireland. There was no loss of life - the men had plenty of time to get to lifeboats, and other ships responded. But the Audacious had been a very expensive craft, and the Admiralty decided to not reveal it was sunk. So officially, in Britain, HMS Audacious was afloat until November 1918. Unfortunately, as she was going down, the RMS Olympic (sister of the Titanic and Britannic) steamed by, and her passengers watched the sinking. Many photographed it. Soon, in the U.S., the Hearst newspapers were publishing news of the sinking, with the photographs of the sinking. German diplomats (and spies) in the U.S. sent the information back to Germany, where it was published in German and Central Power newspapers (as well as spreading to countries like Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, France, Russia). Actually by 1915 most of the globe fully knew that the Audacious had been sunk.
Jeff -
Hi Jeff
Yes in November 1918 the Admiralty made what the Times called "a delayed announcement" that the Audacious had sunk. It was only delayed by 4 years.Comment
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