When a Naked Sailor Fought A U-Boat

Follow and Wishlist our game on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3606970?utm_source=0239

August 27, 1942. A deadly game of cat and mouse in the Caribbean Sea turns into one of the most chaotic boarding parties of World War II.
Crippled by depth charges, the German U-Boat U-94 is forced to the surface. Its hunter, the Canadian corvette HMCS Oakville, doesn’t hesitate. She attacks with everything she’s got - machine-guns, Coke bottles, before she rams directly into the U-Boat.
But the true chaos begins when Canadian Sub-lieutenant Hal Lawrence leads a daring boarding party onto the sinking submarine. Lawrence executes one of the most unusual boarding actions in naval history wearing absolutely nothing but a lifejacket!
Hold onto your pants for this epic WWII true story.

Sources:
Primary:
Lawrence, Hal. A Bloody War: One Man’s Memories of the Canadian Navy, 1939-45. Macmillan of Canada, 1979.
Lawrence, Hal. Tales of the North Atlantic. McClelland & Stewart, 1986.
Secondary:
Douglas, W.A.B. Sarty, Roger. Whitby, Michael. No Higher Purpose, The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1939-1943: Volume II, Pt. 1. Vanwell Publishing Limited, 2002.
Livingston, Sean E. Oakville’s Flower: The History of the HMCS Oakville. Dundurn, 2014.
Brun, James. “The Storming of U-94 – How Two Allied Sailors Took on the Crew of a U-Boat in the Caribbean.” MilitaryHistoryNow.Com, October 14, 2020. https://militaryhistorynow.com/2020/10/14/the-storming-of-u-94-how-two-allied-sailors-took-on-the-crew-of-a-u-boat-in-the-caribbean/#_ftn1.
Milner, Marc. “Over The Side: The Courageous Boarding Of U-94.” Legion Magazine, January 15, 2015. https://legionmagazine.com/over-the-side-the-courageous-boarding-of-u-94/.
RCN Honours and Awards. “LAWRENCE, Harold Ernest Thomas (Hal).” Accessed January 23, 2026. https://readyayeready.com/awards/recordview.php?given=Harold-Ernest-Thomas-%28Hal%29&surname=LAWRENCE.
RCN Honours and Awards. “POWELL, Arthur Joseph.” Accessed January 23, 2026. https://readyayeready.com/awards/recordview.php?given=Arthur-Joseph&surname=POWELL

Hit join to become a member and get exclusive perks https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-f2WBfSCZiu0bOBydjot3w/join
Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/yarnhub
Check out our exclusive merch https://yarnhub-shop.fourthwall.com
Join us on Discord https://discord.gg/yarnhub-1087778019822813334

00:00: Captain Otto Ites Stalks Allied Convoy
01:45: Captain Clarence King Hunts German Submarine
02:56: HMCS Oakville Drops Depth Charges
04:14: Canadian Corvette Rams U-Boat
05:12: Oakville’s 4-inch Gun Opens Fire
07:18: U-Boat is Crippled
08:11: Sub-lieutenant Lawrence Raids Sinking U-94
10:33: Germans and Canadians Come Face to Face
12:07: Sub-lieutenant Lawrence Tries to Salvage the U-Boat
13:02: Caribbean Sea Swallows U-94

Yarnhub uses the Unreal® Engine. Unreal® is a trademark or registered trademark of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. Unreal® Engine, Copyright 1998 – 2026, Epic Games, Inc. All rights reserved.