AT SEA: Historic Capture

If being put on the defensive off Norway by the German Air Force was injury to the proud British Royal Navy, insult was added last week when a Nazi reconnaissance plane landed on the Kattegat beside a British submarine which, disabled by a German mine, lay on the surface flying a white flag. The submarine’s commander surrendered, went aboard the plane, which hailed a patrol boat. German minesweepers cleared a path and the captive Britisher was towed to port intact.

This was the first capture of a British warship since 1815, when H. M. S. Penguin was taken by U. S. S. Hornet off Tristan da Cunha a month after U. S. S. Constitution took two other British warships in a single battle.