Government says there will be no fresh enquiry into the sinking of HMS
Affray
1:20pm Wednesday 25th January 2012
By Rachel Ryan
A WIDOW who has been searching for the truth about the sinking of the HMS
Affray submarine which claimed the life of her husband will not get the
answers she is looking for.
June Tower, 81, lost her husband John Treleaven in the 1952 tragedy in which
the entire crew perished.
Mrs Tower, of Natland, said that the cause of the tragedy had never properly
explained and has long wanted the Government to probe the disaster, which
she believes was the result of 'an error of judgement' and that the Affray
should never have set sail with an inexperienced crew.
MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron asked the Government for a fresh
inquiry yesterday because he claims the initial inquiry was 'hushed and
rushed'.
He also asked for an apology from the Royal Navy and the Government.
He said: "There are still those who, like June Tower, have waited for over
60 years and still have not been given full and proper answers about why
their relatives died and it is time the Government and the Navy enabled
these people to gain some closure over this tragedy."
Defence Minister, Nick Harvey MP, said that a review had been undertaken by
the Government and added: "We all understand only too clearly why those who
were personally affected want definitive answers, but nothing can bring the
fallen back, and after more than 50 years, there seems to me to be no
realistic likelihood that we can ever provide the answers that, for
understandable reasons, they crave."
Mrs Tower said she 'understood' that she will never get the answers she has
yearned for but thanked Mr Farron for helping her in her quest.
"We had a good try at getting the answers," said Mrs Tower, "I blame myself
for not calling for an open enquiry or for the court marshall (SIC) of the
people who took them to sea. But at the time I was so busy doing nursing
training which did not give me time to grieve. I wanted to stay positive and
wanted to dedicate my life to working in hospitals."
Mrs Tower will be a guest of honour at a plaque unveiling ceremony on the
Channel Island of Alderney on April 16 to mark the loss of HMS Affray.
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