#hms cossack

[ltwilliammowett]

H.M. Ships COSSACK and COMET landing Troops at Santander, 23 June 1808, by Mark Richard Myers (1945-)

[thepastisalreadywritten]

This is Unsinkable Sam, aka Oscar, a cat that served with the Kriegsmarine (navy of Nazi Germany) and the Royal Navy (navy of the UK) during World War 2.⁣⁣

He was reported to have belonged to a sailor onboard the German battleship Bismarck.

On 18 May 1941, Bismarck was on its first mission when it was sunk by the Allies. Out of the 2,100 crew members, only 115 men and one cat survived.

⁣The HMS Cossack scooped up the cat and gave him the name Oscar.

For the next few months, Oscar lived on the ship until it was hit by torpedoes from a German U-boat, which killed 159 crew members but not Oscar, who was brought to the shores of Gibraltar by the remaining survivors.⁣

Oscar was soon transferred to the HMS Ark Royal, where he was given the name "Unsinkable Sam."

Ironically, the Ark Royal was heavily involved in the sinking of the Bismarck.

After a series of near misses, the ship had garnered a reputation for being a "lucky ship."

However, its luck would soon run out.

On 14 November 1941, the Ark Royal was torpedoed by a U-boat, causing it to roll over and sink.

Sam was found clinging to a piece of wood and was described as "angry, but quite unharmed."

The sinking of the Ark Royal ended Sam's career at sea, and he lived out his remaining years in Belfast with a seaman until 1955.⁣ ⁣

[all-action-all-picture]

Battle Picture Weekly and Valiant dated 13 August 1977. The Bootneck Boy cover. Not sure of the artist although I thought the lower half might have been by Ian Kennedy.

Back page Names of Glory feature on HMS Cossack by Jim Watson.

Treasury of British Comics.

[dieselfutures]

HMS ‘Cossack’ and the prison ship ‘Altmark’, 16 February 1940 - Norman Wilkinson

[oledavyjones]

Pluto ships dog of Tribal-class destroyer HMS Cossack

ww2

[hms-exeter]

A collection of models of World War Two era Royal Navy warships, built by Julian B. Glossap. 

The images were found here and include:

HMS Exeter

HMS Illustrious 

HMS Duke of York

HMS Valiant

HMS Renown

HMS Cossack

HMS Glowworm

[ltwilliammowett]

H.M. Ships COSSACK and COMET Landing Troops at Santander, 23 June 1808 by Mark Myers 

In June 1808 Cossack and Comet went to St Andero to assist Spanish loyalists and bring off any British subjects. On 21 June boats from Cossack and Comet landed seamen and Royal Marines who spiked the guns of Fort St Salvador de Ano and Fort Sedra, near the town of St. Andero, to prevent them falling into French hands. They also blew up two magazines, during which Captain Daly of Comet and Lieutenant Read of the Marines were injured when one of the magazines blew up.

[the-delta-42]

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