Until September 15, 1916 several submarines had been attacked by aircraft but none had been sunk, on that day it changed. The French submarine Foucault Q-70 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 Q-70, date and location unknown.