Until Sept. 15, 1916 several submarines had been attacked by aircraft but none had been sunk, on that day
it changed. The French submarine Foucault was on the surface about ten miles off Kotor, Montenegro when
two Lohner flying boats of the Austro-Hungarian air service spotted the boat. They attacked with four bombs
and the boat, badly damaged, sank but resurfaced thirty minuets later only to be bombed again. This time
there was no saving her and the captain ordered the boat abandoned. The boat sank again, this time for good.

The pilots of the flying boats, Dimitrije Konjovic and Walter Zelezny, both Serbs, dropped their remaining bombs
some distance from the boat and landed near the survivors. In a chivalrous fashion they allowed the crew of
the Foucault to hold on to the aircraft until a torpedo boat arrived to pick them up. The result was that none of
the crew were lost, later the French government recognized their act of humanity during wartime.

© 2007 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com

Foucault