B a t t l e   H o n o u r s

DARDANELLES 1915 - NORWAY 1940 - MEDITERRANEAN 1940

Motto

'Forewarned is thrice armed'

This submarine was the first warship built for RN service to carry this name which had been borne by a Yacht which was requisitioned for naval service in 1915. One of the pre-was built submarines she was deployed at Rosyth with the 2nd Submarine Flotilla in September 1939.

Before the invasion of Norway in April 1940 she carried out North Sea patrol duties including patrols off the Norwegian Coast. On 11th April she sank the German transport IONIA off the entrance to Oslo Fjord during patrol duties in the Skaggerak where she was deployed to intercept German shipping carrying troops and supplies to the army units which had already landed.

In May 1940 this submarine was transferred for patrol duties in the eastern Channel and later that year was selected for service in the Mediterranean with the 1st Submarine Flotilla in Malta.

On 10th October she sailed from Malta for Alexandria and on passage sighted the Italian submarine ENRICO TOTI which was surfaced and carried out a torpedo attack which missed. In the subsequent surface gun engagement she was hit and sank without survivors. The Italian submarine had been on the surface because of machinery problems with her electric propulsion. This loss was attributed to a mine for many years and only resolved after post war study of Italian records.

Her Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Commander G S Salt, RN whose son was Captain J F T G Salt, in command of HM Destroyer SHEFFIELD when sunk during the Falklands War in 1982.