
Thetis Down
The Slow Death of a Submarine
Tony Booth(Author)
Pen & Sword Maritime (Publisher)
Published on 18. November 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-5267-6660-1 (ISBN)
Description
On 1 June 1939 His Majesty's Submarine Thetis sank in Liverpool Bay while on her diving trials. Her loss is still the worst peacetime submarine disaster the Royal Navy has yet faced when ninety-nine men drowned or slowly suffocated during their last fifty hours of life.
The disaster became an international media event, mainly because the trapped souls aboard were so near to being saved after they managed to raise her stern about 18ft above sea level. Still the Royal Navy-led rescue operation failed to find the submarine for many hours, only to rescue four of all those trapped. Very little is known about what actually happened, as the only comprehensive book written on the subject was published in 1958.
Many years have now passed since the Thetis and her men died, for which no one was held to be ultimately accountable. However, a great deal of unpublished information has come to light in archives throughout the United Kingdom and beyond. After four years of painstaking research Thetis; The Slow Death of a Submarine explores in minute detail a more rounded picture of what really happened before, during and after her tragic loss. In doing so Tony Booth's book also takes a fresh look at culpability and explores some of the alleged conspiracy theories that surrounded her demise.
The result is the first definitive account what happened to HMS Thetis - and her men - a fitting tribute, as the seventieth anniversary of her loss will be on 1 June 2009.
The disaster became an international media event, mainly because the trapped souls aboard were so near to being saved after they managed to raise her stern about 18ft above sea level. Still the Royal Navy-led rescue operation failed to find the submarine for many hours, only to rescue four of all those trapped. Very little is known about what actually happened, as the only comprehensive book written on the subject was published in 1958.
Many years have now passed since the Thetis and her men died, for which no one was held to be ultimately accountable. However, a great deal of unpublished information has come to light in archives throughout the United Kingdom and beyond. After four years of painstaking research Thetis; The Slow Death of a Submarine explores in minute detail a more rounded picture of what really happened before, during and after her tragic loss. In doing so Tony Booth's book also takes a fresh look at culpability and explores some of the alleged conspiracy theories that surrounded her demise.
The result is the first definitive account what happened to HMS Thetis - and her men - a fitting tribute, as the seventieth anniversary of her loss will be on 1 June 2009.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
South Yorkshire
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Illustrations
32 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 157 mm
Width: 235 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
434 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5267-6660-1 (9781526766601)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
01/2020
Pen & Sword Maritime
€7.48
Available for download
Person
Tony Booth served in the Merchant Navy before studying journalism at Sheffield College. He worked freelance for numerous publications across the world. He is the author of Cox's Navy (2005) and Admiralty Salvage in Peace and War (2007). The idea for this book came when researching his earlier works. He lives in Guernsey