Military History

Frank was killed in action by friendly fire on the 15th October 1918 when serving on HMS Submarine J16 when she was mistakenly identified as a German U-Boat and attacked, and sunk, by British Q-Ship Cymric.

The Loss of HMS J6 - Courtesy of Wikipedia

HMS J6 was a First World War J-class submarine built for the Royal Navy by HM Dockyard at Devonport in Plymouth. Commissioned in 1916, she was sunk in a friendly fire incident by the Q-ship Cymric in October 1918.

On 15 October 1918 J6 was on patrol off the Northumberland coast when she was spotted by the Q-ship Cymric. The captain of the Cymric, Lieutenant F Peterson RNR, mistook the identity lettering on the conning tower of J6 for U6. Assuming U6 to indicate a German U-boat, Peterson raised the White ensign and opened fire on J6. J6 tried to signal, but the signalman was killed. J6 fled into a fog bank, but Cymric located J6 again and sank her. After a number of direct hits, J6 sank. It was only after the survivors were seen in the water that Peterson and the crew of Cymric realised their mistake and recovered the survivors. Of the crew of J6, 15 were lost; a subsequent court of enquiry found that no action would be taken against Peterson. An order under the Official Secrets Act prohibited mention of this incident until 1969.

Late in 2011 it was announced that divers had discovered her wreck off Seahouses. In the summer of 2013, the Polish Navy salvage ship ORP Lech, searching for the wreck of the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł, surveyed and officially confirmed the identity of J6.