A POIGNANT ceremony to remember 27 war casualties who drowned after their submarine was mistakenly rammed by a British ship has taken place 100 years after the tragic accident.

A floral wreath was cast into the sea on Sunday, 4 March, to remember the crew of submarine HMS H5 who lost their lives off the coast of the Llyn Peninsula in the First World War in 1918.

HMS H5 was mistaken for a German U-boat and rammed by a British merchant ship just miles from Porthdinllaen, killing all on the vessel.

The victims, all aged between 17 and 32, included a US lieutenant who was an observer on board the submarine and was the first member of the US Navy to die in First World War.

The reality of what had happened was not revealed to the crew of the Rutherglen or the families of those who died.

It was some 50 years later before the tragic circumstances emerged.

The wreath-laying ceremony was supposed to take place exactly 100 years after the tragedy, but bad weather delayed the commemoration for two days.

Douglas Lorimer, a former submariner who relocated from Scotland to live in Boduan more than 30 years ago, attended the ceremony and was “honoured” to be asked by the Royal Naval Association to lay the wreath in the water where the dreadful occurrence unfolded.

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