Themes

Conflict and Change

• Introduction

• In Focus: 1900

• In Focus: World War One

• In Focus: Interwar

• In Focus: World War Two

  • Surface Fleet

  • Submarines

  • Royal Marines

  • Fleet Air Arm

• In Focus: Post War Conflict

• In Focus: Cold War Climate

• In Focus: Falklands and Beyond

• Special Exhibition: Falklands 25

Learning

• How To: Understand Propaganda

• Propaganda Image Galleries

• Education Project: Sea With Your Own Eyes

Northern operations

Article Highlights

• Introduction

• German invasion of Norway

• Capture in the North Sea

Capture in the North Sea

HMS Seal set out on a mine-laying mission on 29th April 1940 in the Kattegat Bay in the North Sea. She sustained damage from a mine and German aircraft spotted the boat when she surfaced. The boat was unable to dive and the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Rupert Lonsdale, made the decision to surrender. The crew members were made prisoners of war and interred at a German POW camp. Germany towed the submarine to Kiel, repairing the boat and then commissioning her into the German Navy, although she was of little military value and decommissioned the following year.

German soldiers guarding the captured crew of HMS Seal at Frederickshaven in Denmark, May 1940 (RNSM)

Related External Links

• Royal Navy Submarine Museum