More about Richard Turbett

Submarine D-3 was mistakenly bombed and sunk by a French Airship AT-O off Fecamp in the English Channel. AT-O was patrolling when at 14:20 a vessel was spotted to her North East. The airship drew close for recognition purposes and according to the submarine Commander Lt William Heriot-Maitland-Dougall identification rockets were fired at her. 4 x 52 kg bombs were dropped by the Airship. The submarine disappeared but several minutes later men were seen in the water. Attempts were made to rescue the men but this proved difficult, the airship withdrew to seek help but the men had drowned by the time it arrived. It would appear that D 3 was the victim of a serious identification error on the part of the airship, with identification rockets being mistaken for aggressive gunfire. A total of 29 submariners died in the attack.