An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir October 2018 www.dfmagazine.ie 28 | BY JAMES SCANNELL I n October 1918 with Germany facing certain defeat from the Allies, it initiated contacts with the Allies to arrange an armistice. Although there was still stalemate on the Western Front, German submarines continued to actively pursue the war against the Allies attacking ships in and around Ireland and Britain. On 26th September 1918, the German sub- marine UB-123, under Commander Robert Ramm, left Heliogo- land, on her second patrol destined for the Irish Sea and made her way down the West Coast of Ireland, along the South Coast and then up into the Irish Sea eventually arriving in the vicinity of the Kish Bank on 10th October 1918. UB-123 was a Type UBIII submarine, launched on 2nd March 1918, 183ft long, a beam of 19 feet, and could dive to depth of 165 feet. 2 x four-stroke 6-cylinder engines and 2 x electric motors en- abled her to run at 16 mph on the surface and 8 mph submerged. She was equipped with 4 x 19½ in. bow firing torpedo tubes and 1 x 19½ in. stern torpedo tube, carried 10 torpedoes, and a 4 in. deck gun. Her crew consisted of three officers and thirty-one men. The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company (CoDSPC), estab- lished in 1823 by Charles Wye Williams, won the Post Office Holy- head-Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) mail contract in 1890 in the face of stiff competition and to fulfil its terms introduced a fleet of four twin-screw steamers, built by Laird Bros of Birkenhead, cost- ing £96,000 each. Constructed of pickled [mild] steel plate, each ship was 378ft long, 75ft in width and 42ft in height, powered by a single eight-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine which gave them a maximum speed of 30 mph. Built for speed, they could accommodate 1400 passengers, later reduced to 1000. RMS Ulster was launched in June 1896, RMS Leinster in September 1896, RMS Munster in October 1896 and RMS Connaught in June 1897, and all gave excellent service, enabling the company to meet the terms of the Post Office mail contract. At the outbreak of war in August 1914, these ships maintained their normal schedules but in 1915 were withdrawn from service and armed by the Admiralty with a stern mounted 12-pounder gun, manned by three gunners, and two signal guns, as an anti-submarine measure, without any discussion with the company. In 1916 RMS Connaught was requi- sitioned for use as a troop transport but was sunk by U-48 on 3rd March 1917 while returning to Southampton from Le Havre. By September 1918 RMS Leinster and RMS Ulster were carrying large numbers of military personnel and 'war like' stores between Britain and Ireland with a destroyer or aerial escort being provided sometimes. Painted in camouflage colours to break up their outline, it was not uncommon for sailings and disem- barkations to be delayed by the au- thori- ties for identity and docu- ment checks but this war work meaning that both were considered legitimate targets in German eyes. Advancing to the morning of 10th October 1918, the master of the RMS Leinster, Captain Birch, was informed that no escort was available for that morning's sailing even though several warships were berthed in Kingstown Harbour nor would there be airship cover as the only available one had been damaged the previous evening. As the absence of escorts were not sufficient grounds not to sail under the mail contract, Captain Birch had no option but to sail and at his pre-departure briefing with his officers said that they would have to THE TORPEDOING OF THE RMS LEINSTER 10TH OCTOBER 1918 RMS Leinster in Kingstown Torpedoed! The RMS Leinster Disaster by Philip Lecane The Sinking of the RMS Leinster by Roy Stokes RMS Leinster sinking

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