Mark Baber
RIP
[MAB Note: On 12 May 1918, Olympic rammed and sank U-103 off the Lizard, the only sinking of a submarine by a liner during World War I. By war's end, though, as this article demonstrates, Olympic had sunk two subs that day, after having sunk one two years earlier. For what it's worth, only one sub sinking---a ramming on 12 May 1918---is described in Hayes' Hull Down.]
The New York Times, 18 November 1918
SANK 2 U-BOATS, GOT D. S. O.
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Captain Hayes Also Shared In $10,000 with Officers and Crew
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The end of the war has made it possible to tell how Captain Bertie Hayes of the British transport Olympic, which sails this afternoon for Liverpool, won the Distinguished Service Order for sinking two U-boats on May 12, 1918, in the English Channel off Portsmouth. For this exploit $10,000 was given by the Admiralty to the Captain, officers, and crew. Both submarines were destroyed at daylight, and survivors were picked up from them by the American destroyer Davis, which was about a mile away on the port quarter.
One submarine came up on the starboard bow of the Olympic as the mist cleared away, and was rammed immediately. As the bow of the 60,000-ton ship was cutting her in two another U-boat appeared on the port quarter, half a mile away, and was sunk by a shot from the six-inch stern gun. Twenty-seven of her officers and men were rescued by the Davis, with five men from the U-boat that was rammed. The Olympic sunk another U-boat in the Mediterranean In June, 1916, by gunfire, but as there were no survivors it was not counted as official by the Admiralty.
Captain Hayes has commanded the Olympic since the end of October, 1914, when she figured in the unsuccessful attempt to tow the battleship Audacious after she had been mined. The Olympic has carried nearly 300,000 troops since then to Mudros, Alexandria, and from Canada and the United States to England and France without accident. She has had many narrow escapes from torpedoes, some missing her by barely five feet.
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MAB
The New York Times, 18 November 1918
SANK 2 U-BOATS, GOT D. S. O.
---
Captain Hayes Also Shared In $10,000 with Officers and Crew
---
The end of the war has made it possible to tell how Captain Bertie Hayes of the British transport Olympic, which sails this afternoon for Liverpool, won the Distinguished Service Order for sinking two U-boats on May 12, 1918, in the English Channel off Portsmouth. For this exploit $10,000 was given by the Admiralty to the Captain, officers, and crew. Both submarines were destroyed at daylight, and survivors were picked up from them by the American destroyer Davis, which was about a mile away on the port quarter.
One submarine came up on the starboard bow of the Olympic as the mist cleared away, and was rammed immediately. As the bow of the 60,000-ton ship was cutting her in two another U-boat appeared on the port quarter, half a mile away, and was sunk by a shot from the six-inch stern gun. Twenty-seven of her officers and men were rescued by the Davis, with five men from the U-boat that was rammed. The Olympic sunk another U-boat in the Mediterranean In June, 1916, by gunfire, but as there were no survivors it was not counted as official by the Admiralty.
Captain Hayes has commanded the Olympic since the end of October, 1914, when she figured in the unsuccessful attempt to tow the battleship Audacious after she had been mined. The Olympic has carried nearly 300,000 troops since then to Mudros, Alexandria, and from Canada and the United States to England and France without accident. She has had many narrow escapes from torpedoes, some missing her by barely five feet.
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MAB
