14. The British Submarine HMS Torbay twice unlawfully killed the shipwrecked survivors of German vessels
Under the Hague Convention of 1907 firing upon and killing shipwrecked persons is strictly forbidden, even against enemy soldiers during wartime. Despite Great Britain is a signatory to the international statute, there are several documented instances of the Royal Navy deliberately ignoring this proscription to attack those shipwrecked. Among these cases, the British submarine HMS Torbay, based in the Mediterranean from 1941-1942, is perhaps the most egregious and flagrant violator.
According to Royal Navy Officer Ludovic Kennedy, in July 1941, on the orders of its commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Anthony Miers, HMS Torbay opened fire on two separate occasions on the shipwrecked survivors of sunk vessels. The first instance occurred off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt, whilst the second off the coast of Crete; in neither situation did the survivors pose a legitimate threat to HMS Torbay or its crew and combined resulted in the unlawful deaths of dozens of shipwrecked and surrendering German sailors and soldiers. These events were witnessed and reported by acting First Lieutenant Paul Chapman, who stated: “everything and everybody was destroyed by one sort of gunfire or another”.
Rather than attempt to hide his crimes, Miers proudly declared them in the ship’s official logs writing “Submarine cast off, and with the Lewis gun accounted for the soldiers in the rubber raft to prevent them from regaining their ship” Instead of relieving Miers of his command, when informed of the incidents the Admiralty merely examined the possibility of German reprisals noting that “the enemy has not made a habit of firing on personnel in the water or on rafts even when such personnel were members of the fighting services” in retaliation. Consequently, Miers only received a strongly worded letter advising him politely to not repeat his war crimes lest the Germans equally begin the murderous practice.
In spite of these confirmed war crimes, subsequently investigated and verified by the Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau, Miers was awarded the Victoria Cross for his services during the Second World War and continued to serve in the Royal Navy, rising to the rank of Rear Admiral before retiring in 1956.