HMS Royal Oak sinking - author tells the story to school students in Manchester

The nephew of one of the victims of the sinking of HMS Royal Oak in 1939 is today taking part in a unique History lesson for pupils at Newall Green High School in Manchester.

David Turner, whose uncle Commander Ralph Lennox Woodrow-Clark perished in the torpedo attack, has written a revealing account of the tragedy and has already achieved his ambition of having the disaster recognised in schools¹ official history resources. His research and book has already been used in Scotland as part of the government website run by Learning & Teaching Scotland as a school resource.

Including a video based on a TV film of the book, Scottish schools have been able to study this naval episode first hand. (www.ltscotland.org.uk search for HMS Royal Oak.)

The sinking of the mighty battleship is especially relevant to young people today because so many of the victims were boy sailors aged between 14 and 18. The list of the dead stretched to a shocking 833 sailors over 120 of them boy sailors all lost in the sinking. A German U-boat had slipped silently into Orkney¹s Scapa flow and a deadly salvo was unleashed and brought about the first great tragedy of World War II. The sinking remains one of Britain¹s biggest wartime disasters.

Local author David Turner, who lives in Manchester , said: "It is my ambition to have the Royal Oak disaster recognised in schools' official history resources, so that young people today have a chance to know about this awful event."

Councillor Afzal Khan, Executive Member, Children's Services, Manchester City Council, said: "It's important that we make learning as meaningful for pupils as possible, and David's visit to the school, with his first hand family knowledge of this terrible tragedy and loss of young life is sure to have an impact on pupils - particularly as some pupils will be the same age as some of the young sailors who died."

David Turner's book Last Dawn the Royal Oak Tragedy at Scapa Flow is a dramatic and moving reassessment of the attack on the night of October 13th 1939. The story is told through declassified photographs and naval records, plus statements from survivors.