HMS Thrasher and bomb removal under attack

On 16 February 1942, HMS Thrasher attacked a heavily escorted supply ship north of Crete and then endured depth charges and air attack; two unexploded bombs remained in her casing. Lieutenant Peter Roberts and Petty Officer Thomas Gould crawled into the cramped, dark space to remove them while the submarine lay close to an enemy coast. A crash dive would have drowned them beneath the casing, and their shipmates might later have had to recover their bodies. Keeping the submarine alive required this exposed, improvised work after the torpedo attack.