Came across this story in last weeks Telegraph, HMS Poseidon sunk with the loss of 18 crew in 1931 and the Chinese are suspected of salvaging it in the 1970’s to test their recovery capabilities.
Although I did not serve permanently in subs (only had some day trips, not for me I thought) during my time in the Navy.
However, I remember hearing about the history of the incident as it was sometimes used to illustrate that there was always a chance that people could escape from a sunken submarine using the standard escape apparatus – which had only been introduced two year before – as was the case in this instance.
The big question is why has happened to the bodies of those 18 crewmen?
The Chinese government will have some difficult questions to answer before the truth is extracted from them. Lets hope that make a full disclosure so that any relatives upset by this story can put their memories to rest.
Beasley's Place 