FRED Henley was in the observational post of HMS Truculent when it collided with a Swedish tanker.

The submarine sunk within four minutes.

Fred was one of only 15 of the 79 crew members who survived, and 61 years later and he is the only survivor of the tragedy.

Fred, 87, of Ruaton Drive, Clacton, said: “We should have gone out on January 13, but the skipper was superstitious, so we went out the day before.

“We had 20 dockyard officials to observe and coming back, it was dark in the Thames estuary.

“I had been having my supper and, when I finished, I thought I would go along to the control room and relieve someone there.

“I had just got there when they sent down for the seamanship manual, so I took it up.”

Fred said it was a peculiar request because it was extremely rare to use the guide. However, it was later established the officers on the bridge had seen an unusual combination of lights approaching.

What they mistook for a ship at anchor was actually the Swedish tanker, Divina, showing a rarely-seen warning light.

By the time they realised their mistake it was too late to avoid a collision. The fact Fred was in the conning tower, an observational post, saved his life.

He said: “The Swedish tanker struck us and we sank in about four minutes. Where I was sitting eating, not five minutes before was where the ship struck and a big 20ft piece dug in. They threw a lifebelt over and, along with four officers from the bridge, the five of us clung on.

“We were being taken out to sea on the ebb tide. As time went on in the water, hypothermia set in and we got quite numb.

“As you can imagine, when things happen like that you think: ‘Will anyone hear?’. The lads and I thought ‘one last effort’, and luckily somebody heard us. We spent about an hour in the water until a Dutch ship, the Almdijk, heard us shouting, put their searchlights on, lowered their lifeboats and picked us up.

“There was a guardian angel looking out for me.”

Born on September 28 1923, in Gillingham, Kent, Fred became the odd one out when he joined the Navy in December 1939, coming from an Army family. He had joined an uncle working on a Thames sailing barge after he left school, aged 14, and the Navy seemed the natural service to enlist in when the Second World War broke out. Fred trained in Shotley, near Ipswich, and served in London, before transferring to motor torpedo boats and serving in the Arctic and the Mediterranean.

He was part of Allied landings in North Africa, Sicily and the south of France, before seeing the end of the war in Greece.

After the war, he transferred to submarines and was with HMS Truculent when it left Chatham Docks following a refit on the fateful night of January 12, 1950.

After the incident, Fred was sent to the submarine base in Portsmouth, where he would have been on another submarine that sank, had he not been posted back to Chatham.

Fred was in Chatham when they raised the Truculent and he was sent out to see if he could identify any of the bodies.

Unfortunately, they had been under water so long it was an impossible task.

Fred said: “It’s 61 years ago now and it does dim over time but, of course, you never forget it.”

After leaving the Navy, Fred moved to South Yorkshire where his wife, Lilian, was from, and worked as an electrician in a coal mine.

He lost two fingertips when one mine had a rock fall and he was buried. He said: “I’ve used up quite a few of my nine lives, but I’m still here so I must be quite lucky.”

The couple moved to Clacton 11 years ago to be closer to their family. Lilian died ten years ago.

Fred keeps boredom at bay by remaining active in a number of community and ex-servicemen groups. He also speaks to children at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, several times a year.