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Third
THAMES-Class of Fleet Submarines ordered on 30th December 1932 from
Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow and laid down on 15th
March 1933. This submarine was launched on 15th March 1934 and was the 7th RN
warship to use the name introduced in 1796 for a 5th Rate 38 gun ship. It was
used in 1904 for a Base Ship until renamed COLUMBINE in 1913. Two minesweepers
requisition during WW1 also carried this name.
Build was completed on 12th April 1935. In November 1938 she was
deployed in the Mediterranean with the1st Submarine Flotilla based at Malta.
H e r a l d i c D a t a
Badge: On a Field Blue a signet ring Gold.
M o t t o
'Be strong'
S u m m a r y o f W a r S e r v i c e
1 9 3 9
August Deployed in
Malta with 1st
Submarine Flotilla.
Nominated for transfer to Freetown for convoy defence duties.
September Arrived at
Freetown and deployed as part of the Ocean Escort for convoys to Indian Ocean
to (Note:
This was primarily due to threat of attacks by commerce raiders.)
December
1 9 4 0
January Freetown
deployment in continuation.
to
Nominated for transfer to Home waters and took passage for service in North Sea.
March Commanding
Officer: Lieut Cdr Ingram.
April On
arrival in UK nominated
for support of planned British minelaying operations to prevent
use of Norwegian Leads
by enemy iron ore traffic (Operation WILFRED)
9th Took up
station in North Sea for interception of German interference to WILFRED.
Remained in North Sea for interception patrol and support of allied operations
after German
landings in Norway.
(HM
Submarines SEVERN, SEALION, SPEARFISH, PORPOISE, NARWHAL, TRIDENT,
TRUANT, TAKU, TETRARCH, and French RUBIS were also deployed.)
May North Sea
deployment in continuation.
Pennant Number for visual signalling purposes changed to N12.
June
21st Carried
out successful torpedo attack on German battleship GNEISENAU and cruiser HIPPER
on
passage from Trondheim for attacks on
Atlantic convoys
Torpedo hit bows of GNEISENAU which was forced to return to harbour and enemy
operation
was
abandoned.
(Note: Repair lasted six months.)
July Deployed
for interception patrol in North Sea.
Carried out erroneous torpedo attack on HM Submarine TRUANT during patrol which
fortunately missed.
August North Sea
deployment in continuation
to
December
1 9 4 1
January Home waters
deployment for interception in continuation.
to
(Service in Bay of Biscay for surveillance of enemy warship movements to be
confirmed.)
May
Transferred to Mediterranean.
June Deployed
with HM Submarine SEVERN and three Dutch submarines in 8th Submarine
Flotilla based at Gibraltar for interception of enemy convoys in western
Mediterranean
(Note: HM Depot Ship MAIDSTONE provided support.)
1st Sank
mercantile of 3,076 tons but another
later
attack fails.
2nd Carried
out two unsuccessful torpedo attacks on mercantiles
8th Carried
out two torpedo attacks only on of which was successful
16th Sank
sailing vessel of 3, 431 tons (?), possibly by surface gunfire.
July Flotilla
duties at Gibraltar in continuation
August Deployed as
part of escort for homeward convoy HGG70 during passage from Gibraltar to
Liverpool.
September Deployed for
operations to intercept U-Boats active against Atlantic traffic
(Note: This was as a result of success in decyphering enemy wireless signals in
GCHQ.)
28th Surprised
two U-Boats being re-fuelled in Tarafal Bay, Cape Verde Islands and carried out
torpedo attack which regrettably failed when weapons exploded prematurely .
October
Gibraltar deployment in continuation.
to
November
December Carried out
transport of stores to Malta and interception patrol duties.
1 9 4 2
January Gibraltar
deployment in continuation.
to
March
April Nominated
for transport of essential supplies to Malta.
(Note: Further details are available in MALTA CONVOYS by R Woodman.)
16th Passage
from Gibraltar with fuel and ammunition.
19th Arrived
in Malta.
Taken
in hand for repair to forward hydroplanes
26th Sailed
from Malta for return passage to Gibraltar.
May Gibraltar
duties in continuation.
to
June
July Deployed
at Gibraltar with HM Submarines SAFARI, P222 and PARTHIAN of 8th Flotilla..
Carried out transport of stores to Malta and returned with passengers in
rotation with HMS
PARTHIAN.
Commanding Officer: Lieut. Brookes.
August Malta stores
transfer in continuation with HM Submarines OTUS and RORQUAL.
to
September
October
10th Carried
out unsuccessful attack on U605.
Deployed with HM Submarines PARTHIAN, THRASHER* and TRAVELLER* for
transport of stores to Malta.
(*
Submarines on passage to join 1st Flotilla in eastern Mediterranean which also
carried stores.)
November Malta stores
transport in continuation.
December Flotilla
interception duties in continuation at Gibraltar
1 9 4 3
January Nominated
for refit.
to Under
refit.
December On completion
of post refit trials and working-up for operational service deployed in Home
waters.
1 9 4 4
January Nominated
for service in Eastern Fleet based at Trincomalee
to Passage
to join 2nd Submarine Flotilla in
Indian Ocean
May On arrival
deployed for interception patrols.
Nominated for deployment with HM Submarine TANTIVY for support of planned Fleet
operation.
June Deployed
with HMS TANTIVY to provide air-sea rescue duties during air attacks on Port
Blair
in Andamans by HM Aircraft Carrier ILLUSTRIOUS (Operation PEDAL).
During patrol carried out torpedo attack which damaged a mercantile.
July Flotilla
deployment in continuation.
to
November
December Embarked SOE
personnel who were landed in Andamans for covert operation (Operation
HATCH).
1 9 4 5
January Flotilla
deployment for interception patrol and support of covert operations
to
Commanding Officer: Lieut R H Bull RN
February
March Carried out
interception patrol during which a small mercantile and junk were sunk by
to surface
gunfire.
April On
release retuned to Trincomalee.
May
9th Sailed
from Trincomalee for final patrol with two SOE parties who were to be landed in
the
Andaman Islands for covert operations.
(Note: This was her 36th war patrol.)
Second SOE landing operation cancelled after defect in hydrophone equipment
Passage to Mombasa for repairs.
June Arrived
at Kilindini.
Taken
in hand for repair.
July On
completion remained in area.
August Paid off in
Durban and reduced to Reserve status after VJ Day.
P o s
t W a r N o t e s
HMS CLYDE
was placed on the Disposal
List and sold to Joubert on 30th June
1946 for demolition. Later that
year she was towed
to the breakers yard in Durban. The name was
reintroduced after 1947 when used by
the RNVR training ship in Glasgow (Ex HMS CRICHTON).
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