Baralong Incident
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The Baralong Incident was a naval engagment of the First World War on August 19, 1915 involving HMS Baralong, the UB-27, and the transport Nicosian. Lieutenant Godfrey Herbert RN of the HMS Baralong sank UB-27 which had been preparing to sink a nearby transport ship. About a dozen of the sailors manage to escape the sinking submarine, and Herbert, fearing they they would scuttle the Nicosian, ordered the sailors to be shot at as they swam towards the transport and then sent a boarding party aboard that ship to prevent any attempts at sinking it.
It has been a controversial event, and many historians agree it was a violation of protocol to order the sailors attacked. Other historians debate this analysis (such as if the order was a violation), or debate aspects of the records, and have been either harsher or more lenient. There are widely available German, British, and American records, which all agree on certain facts, but there are a number of details of the incident which may or may not have been fabricated from a less notable or extensive violation.
These mostly center on the number of people that actually escaped the sinking sub, to be killed later, and if the captain was actually right to order the crew that did escape attacked and was not willing to freighter cargo, and any civilians that were still aboard it. Also, it is not known to what extent the escaping sailors had made an effort to surrender, as soldiers that attempt to flee are generally shot at in a time of war.
It should be noted submarine crews on both sides were not treated well since they did not generally take prisoners of ships they sunk either, as there were no accommodations onboard a submarine for this, and in Unrestricted submarine warfare. Survival would depend on other ships being around to rescue, or on occasion, if it was possible, to get into lifeboats. Poor treatment of a enemy who used what was viewed as a more cruel weapon was common, for example, the soldiers who operated flame-throwers in WWI were many times not taken prisoner, but killed, to discourage the use of it.
On August 19, 1915, about 100 miles south of Queenstown, Ireland, U-27, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Wegener, stopped the British steamer Nicosian In accordance with the rules laid down by the London Treaty. U-27 discovered that Nicosian was carrying munitions and 250 American mules intended for the use of the British army in France. The freighter's crew and passengers had abandoned their ship in lifeboats, and the U-boat was preparing to sink the freighter when the Q-Ship Baralong, commanded by Lieutenant Godfrey Herbert, which was disguised as a cargo vessel and was flying the Stars and Stripes, arrived on the scene. Herber would not have been aware that the ship was only filled with mules though, nor that the crew had mostly been evacuated.
The U-boat, knowing that the United States was neutral, remained on the surface until Baralong opened fire at a range of 600 yards and quickly sank U-27. In Herbert's report to the Admiralty, he stated that he feared the survivors from the U-boat's crew would board the freighter and scuttle it, so he ordered the twelve Royal Marines on board his ship to shoot the survivors in the water. Four U-boat crewman succeeded in climbing the ladders still hanging from Nicosian’s sides, so Herbert sent a boarding party of marines to Nicosian, who killed the sailors.
If the escaping crew had in fact scuttled the freighter, not only would the lives of the civilian crew of the freighter been in danger but it could be counted as negligence on the part of the captain to have allowed the freighter to be scuttled. Only moments before Baralong began her attack, the submarine had been preparing to sink the freighter. As she sank, there were only moments to decide between continuing the attack or to cease fire, and risk the freighter being scuttled. It is not known if the escaping sailors had in fact intended to scuttle the freighter.
The Admiralty, upon receiving Herbert's report, immediately ordered its suppression (though it was not destroyed and is now available), but the American mule drivers, who had watched the sequence of events from their lifeboats, returned to the United States and told the American press that the British, while flying the flag of the United States, had murdered the German sailors.
The German government demanded that Herbert be tried for murder, but the British government dismissed the charges, offering explanations that the Baralong crew may have been upset because eight British steamers had been sunk that day on the Western Approaches, and Baralong may have heard their calls for help.
The outrage the Baralong incident aroused in Germany was used by the Kaiserliche Marine to justify increased cruelty at sea during World War I and especially in World War II under Nazi Germany. A Kriegsmarine submarine flotilla formed on June 25, 1938, was named "Wegener" in memory of this incident.
See also
References
Massie, Robert K.: Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. 2003, Random House, New York.