Talk:SS Lesbian (1915)

A fact from SS Lesbian (1915) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 1 April 2009 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that German seamen forced a lesbian to go down during the First World War, and the French did the same during the Second World War?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2009/April.

Wikipedia

Ships

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ships, a project to improve all Ship-related articles. If you would like to help improve this and other articles, please join the project, or contribute to the project discussion. All interested editors are welcome. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.ShipsWikipedia:WikiProject ShipsTemplate:WikiProject ShipsShips articles

Military history: Maritime / British / European / World War I C‑class

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

C

This article has been rated as C-class on the project's quality scale.

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion met Coverage and accuracy: criterion not met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	Maritime warfare task force
	British military history task force
	European military history task force
	World War I task force

Yorkshire Low‑importance

	Yorkshire portal SS Lesbian (1915) is within the scope of WikiProject Yorkshire, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to Yorkshire on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project, see a list of open tasks, and join in discussions on the project's talk page.YorkshireWikipedia:WikiProject YorkshireTemplate:WikiProject YorkshireYorkshire articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Co-ordinates

The coordinates as given suggest that Lesbian was sunk in the Sahara Desert. I'm guessing, but this might not be wholly accurate.--Jackyd101 (talk) 23:36, 1 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps it's not right, but it's about verifiability, not truth, right? ;) The coordinates in the article are what are in the source (i.e. no typos), but since they are probably wrong, I've removed them. — Bellhalla (talk) 02:17, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Good call, although perhaps we're wrong and Lesbian was actually a very big aquacar.--Jackyd101 (talk) 12:09, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Verifiability

Using the wonders of Google Books I found what appear to be the correct coordinates. I also found an account of the sinking of Lesbian in Cornford. The Merchant Seamen in the War. pp. 180-183:

http://books.google.com/books?id=F2dHAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA180&dq=Lesbian+1917+sunk

http://icanhide.com/index.php?q=aHR0cDovL2Jvb2tzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20vYm9va3M/aWQ9RjJkSEFBQUFJQUFKJnBnPVBBMTgwJmRxPUxlc2JpYW4rMTkxNytzdW5r

One of those links ought to work for someone. The book was published in 1918 which helps explain why it was assumed to be an Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian submarine which sank Lesbian. The account of the crew is interesting, as it also helps judge the number of crew aboard (37 I should think). --Simon Harley (talk | library | book reviews) 07:36, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Great find, Simon. About the Austro-Hungarian v/ German sub thing: When German submarines first appeared and began operating in the Mediterranean, Germany and Italy were not at war, even though Austria-Hungary and Italy were. So, the German subs operating in the Mediterranean were also assigned an A-H number and A-H flags for use when making attacks. In this case the number was the same, so U-35 (Austria- Hungary) = U-35 (Germany), no matter which flag it was flying. It's confusing now, nearly a hundred years later, never mind in the midst of a war… — Bellhalla (talk) 10:16, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]