history · 12 February 1940 · 84 years ago
British Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Gleaner located German submarine U-33 laying mines in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland at 0250 hours. U-33 was badly damaged by depth charges and surfaced at 0522 hours, but the submarine began to sink shortly after surfacing, killing 25 men, including commanding officer Kapitänleutnant Hans-Wilhelm von Dresky. One of the 17 survivors had 3 Enigma rotors in his pockets, which was sent to Alan Turing at the Government Code and Cypher School for further study.
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