As the world and the Maltese islands commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, it is hoped that more information and publications on this war dubbed as “the war to end all wars” are unearthed and  issued on this generally overlooked episode in Maltese history. Hostilities in the sea off and around Maltese waters were mostly confined to submarine warfare. One aspect which deserves more research and study is the hydrophone listening station/hydrophone training school which were supposedly set up in Malta late in the war (1917) and which is said to have been located in St Thomas Bay.

Where naval warfare is concerned, Malta suffered its greatest loss of life (26 Maltese crew and 46 other Maltese ratings), including the author’s great uncle, John Ellul,  during the Great War of 1914-1918, when the HMS Louvain was sunk in the Aegean Sea by the German U-Boat (submarine) UC 22 on 20 January 1918.

The German navy used U-boats to deprive the Brtish Isles of vital supplies as it also did in the case of Malta. The deaths of British and allied merchant sailors and the apparent invulnerability of U-boats led the development of depth charges in 1916, hydrophones (passive sonar) in 1917, forward-throwing anti-submarine weapons and dipping hydrophones (the latter two both abondoned in 1918).

In a review article titled,  ASW, the First 40’ Years by  D. W. Waters (Lieut.  Cdr.  R.N) on W. Hackmann’s, Seek and Strike: Sonar, Antisubmarine Warfare and the Royal Navy, 1914-54 (HMSO, 1984) a hydrophone was first mentioned in Royal Naval documents in 1893/4 to give warning of approaching enemy ships. The first submarine came into Naval service in 1900. The first anti-submarine exercise to determine “the best methods of destroying submarines or frustrating their attacks” were carried out in 1904.

Six years later a Submarine Committee was set up to consider pro- and anti-submarine tactics and submarine design. But Lord Fisher was the only admiral to take the submarine seriously, particularly as a merchant ship raider, and his warnings, as the author recounts, went largely unregarded, resulting in loss of life and ships. When war came on 4 August 1914, the Royal Navy had no means of detecting submarines beyond the Eyeball Mark I.

There were spectacular losses to German U-boats the cruisers Hogue, Aboukir and Cressy, sunk by UC 9 on 22 September 1914, and the battleship Formidable, in which the reviewer's father was killed on 1 January 1915.

Since 1904, hydrophone, remained an experimental technology and still, certain officials might have snubbed it and refused to heed accordingly to warnings emanating from such department. This was found to be a key factor during the inquiry into the sinking

of the large requisitioned and armed troopship SS Polynesian torpedoed just 7 miles off the Grand Harbour in August 1918 and as the HMS Louvain, she fell victim to the German submarine, UC 22 with a lesser toll of 20 lives lost. The hydrophone installation is mentioned in the Admiralty's inquiry held at HM dockyard, headed by Cdr.  G. H. Baird R.N, explicitly referring to a hydrophone listening station sending messages to the tone of "Suspicious engine sounds and noises of hammering heard. Sounds can only emanate from a Submarine. Unable to give true bearings".

UC 22 was indeed a successful boat, but not as Siess's U-73,  which with his minefield sank four ships including HMS Russell in short succession few miles off shore and proceeded to sink the Britannia later on in his career.

The U-boat threat gradually lessened in 1917. It was Lloyd George, a civilian lawyer who, as Premier, introduced “convoy” in 1917 and thereby defeated the U-boats. When merchant ships began travelling in convoys, escorted by destroyers, this made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which lessened losses. After the hydrophone and depth charges were introduced, accompanying destroyers attacked submerged submarines with some hope of success.  The U-boats sank more than 5,000 Allied ships, at a cost of 199 submarines.

Unfortunately, not much reference seems to be at hand on the location of this hydrophone listening station other than a water-colour released by the Imperial War Museum titled St. Thomas Bay: Hydrophone Listening Station also portraying the familiar southern coast with non-related radio antennas in the background.

Reference to a hydrophone listening station is also made in the book titled, The German Submarine War 1914-1918 by R. H. Gibson & Maurice Prendergast (2003) referring to "an experimental station with a hydrophone training school was begun at Malta during the autumn of 1917".

It is hoped this feature entices insights into the Maltese contribution, if any, and pioneering efforts into hydrophone technology within our shores.

Note:

Any kind contribution to this aspect of First World War Maltese naval history may be sent to the author on email: [email protected]