Members of the Submarine Community gathered to mark their respects at the Antruther memorail on the 31st of August.

Brief History

On the night of 31st January 1918, one of the worst ever accidents involving warships of the Royal Navy occurred off May Island and resulted in two submarines being sunk, two other submarines and a light cruiser being seriously damaged, the tragic loss of many lives and all without a shot being fired.

The event was shrouded in secrecy at the time and has never been officially recognised. The only commemoration is a memorial to the crew of K4 in St Margaret Patten’s Church, Cheapside, London erected by the widow of the commanding officer.

The ships were sailing in radio silence and with minimal navigation lights when K22 at the head of the column had to go to emergency stations to avoid ramming a patrolling minesweeper trawler which suddenly emerged out of the darkness. Her rudder jammed causing her to go out of control, setting off a chain of collisions and near misses which culminated in the cruiser Fearless striking K17.

The submarine sank in eight minutes. All her crew managed to take to the water but were run down by following destroyers and all but nine perished. Subsequently, K6, trying to avoid K12, ploughed into K4 which sank immediately taking everyone on board with her.

It was a beautiful sunny day which brought a crowd from the Annual Harbour Festival along to the Memorial Service.

Thanks to TS Ajax, Methil Sea and Marine Cadets did us proud, especially the Royal piping the still.