B a t t l
e H o n o u r s
JUTLAND 1916 - MEDITERRANEAN
1942
Motto
absit nomen: 'My (turbulence) be
absent'
Another of the submarines of this Class ordered in September
1939 and the first warship of this type to carry the name which was
introduced in 1804 for a Gun-Brig captured by the Danes in 1808. It was last borne by a destroyer
launched in 1919 and sold in 1936 as part payment for the liner
MAJESTIC required for naval use.
On completion
of work-up in early 1942 she was deployed in the Mediterranean for
interception of supply traffic to and from North African ports. The
most impressive record of sinkings began
during April 1942 when she sank two supply ships off Brindisi followed by three more off North Africa
the next month. On 29th May she torpedoed the Italian destroyer
EMANUELE PESSAGNO which sank almost immediately off Benghazi. On her
next patrol in the Gulf of Sirte during
June she sank another freighter but came under heavy attack from the
destroyer PEGASO when attacking a convoy of three transports on 4th
July. Although she sank the hulk of the Italian destroyer STRALE
which had been stranded near Cape Bon after an air attack in June,
her record was marred on 17th of that month when she torpedoed the
Italian mercantile NINO BIXIO off Navarino. This ship was unmarked but was
carrying 2,921 allied prisoners of war including many New Zealand
and Indian soldiers from Benghazi to Brindisi. Over 400 were reported killed and the
ship was remained afloat. It is not known whether the intended
passage of this ship was known by decrypted signals.
During further
patrols in the rest of the year three more supply ships were sunk
and the submarine also took part in the allied landings in North
Africa (Operation TORCH) when deployed to prevent any Italian
intervention during passage of the assault convoys. Early in 1943
whilst based at Algiers for duty in the western Mediterranean she
carried out a patrol in the Tyrrhenian Sea and added another three
mercantiles to her list of successful
sinkings. During her next patrol in this
area on 14th March she was attacked and sunk by Italian torpedo
boats. Her sinkings totalled 35,000 tons in nine months and her Commanding
Officer, Commander J W Linton, RN was awarded a posthumous Victoria
Cross. |