B a t t l
e H o n o u r s
MEDITERRANEAN 1942
First use of the name by the RN when it replaced P35 in
October 1942 during service in the
Mediterranean. After work-up with the 3rd Submarine Flotilla the Clyde area
during September she carried out anti-submarine training for Home
Fleet escorts at Scapa Flow for a month. Allocated for service in
the Mediterranean she sailed from Dundee after repair in November
1941 and joined her sister submarines serving at Malta in the 10th
Submarine Flotilla on 5th January 1942 for interception patrols
against supply shipping.
During her
first patrols later in January and in February she sank the small
Italian salvage ship RAMPINO off Kerkenah,
but foiled to intercept a six ship convoy. However on 2nd February
she sank the supply ship NAPOLI of 6,142 tons off Kuriat. The following patrol was in the Adriatic
when an attack on a freighter failed and on return to Malta on 5th
March she was under repair till 23rd March. During a patrol in the
central Mediterranean in April two attacks on single ships foiled
and she came under attack by E-Boats. Later on the same patrol she
damaged a 6,000 ton mercantile and sank the supply ship ASSUNTA DE
GREGORI ON 4,219 tons on 19th of the month before her return to
Malta on 25th. She was deployed for a special operation in Early May
but had to return to Malta with engine defects. This submarine then
took passage to Alexandria where she was required to carry out
patrol in support of the passage of the VIGOROUS Malta relief
convoy.
Sailing on 6th
June she patrolled in the central Ionian Sea for its protection
against attack by Italian Fleet units. On the 15th June she attacked
by torpedo the Italian battleship LITTORIO without any confirmed hit
although the ship was damaged in air attacks. However her later
attack on the Italian cruiser TRENTO, badly damaged by earlier RAF
BEAUFORT torpedo attacks east of Malta, sank the enemy ship sank in
less than five minutes after her forward magazine exploded. On
return to Alexandria she was under repair for a week and then
returned to resume duties in Malta. In August she carried out a
patrol off Cephalonia and Zante during
which she sank the 5,463 ton Italian mv
MANFREDO CAMPERIO and during a foiled attack on a cargo liner came
under depth charge attacks. Repair in Malta in September was
unsatisfactory and she returned from assigned patrol in September
but sailed again for duty in the lonian
Sea on 23rd sinking another supply ship FRANCESCO BARBACO, 6343 tons
on 27th. Before return to Malta, whilst in the south Adriatic an
attack on an Italian destroyer failed.
Further
successful attacks during late October accounted for the freighter
AMSTERDAM, 8,670 tons and a tug. In a deployment off the ME coast of
Sicily during November she carried out an attack on an Italian
battleship which missed and hit and damaged a freighter which had to
be beached. Later whilst off Tunisia she sank a small Italian
collier and returned to Malta with some of the crew who had been
taken prisoner. A patrol was carried out in the central
Mediterranean in January 1943 which included sinking of an Italian
mv EMILO MORANDI on 9th by torpedo and two
sailing craft by gun attack. Torpedo attacks on a tanker and a SEIBEL Ferry were foiled and gun attack on a
small mercantile had to be abandoned.
This completed
her Mediterranean service and she returned to UK after calls at
Algiers and Gibraltar, arriving at Devonport on 17th February to
Pay-off prior to refit In October 1943 she resumed service after
trials and was deployed for anti-submarine training of Western
Approaches escorts with the 7th Submarine Flotilla. She was
transferred to the 5th Submarine Flotilla at Portsmouth in April
1944 where she remained for similar duties in the Portsmouth Command
until 28th June 1945. Paid-off this submarine was reduced to Reserve
laid-up at Falmouth until sold in July 1946 for
demolition. |