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B
a t t l e H o n o u r s
NORWAY
1940 - MEDITERRANEAN 1940-41 - ATLANTIC 1944
First
use of the name was for a destroyer built in
1915 and sold in 1931 before being given to
this submarine in May 1939. Commissioned in
September that year she was deployed with the
2nd Submarine Flotilla for North Sea patrols.
In
March 1940 she sank a transport off the Danish
coast and on 9th April carried out a torpedo
attack off Kristiansund
on the German cruiser KARLSRUHE which was so
badly damaged that she had to be sunk by the
torpedo boat GRIEF four hours later. Patrols off
Norway continued and in June she sank
a supply ship. The next month on 22nd July she
was involved in an incident with HM Submarine
CLYDE which carried out an attack. On her last
North Sea patrol she intercepted a German
freighter TROPIC SEA which was carrying 40
British prisoners who were rescued when the
enemy mercantile scuttled.
After
transfer to the Mediterranean she sank a ship
off Ischia and later two more during a patrol
in the Aegean off Albania. Her successes
continued during 1941 whilst carrying out
patrols off North Africa in the eastern
Mediterranean. Between January and June that
year she sank five ships and then operated
from Alexandria with the 1st Submarine
Flotilla. In an attack on a coastal convoy
during October this submarine sank three of
the ships under escort and on 11th December
attacked the Italian torpedo boat ALCIONE
which had her after structure blown off. This
ship was later towed to the south coast of
Crete and beached.
Despite
the loss of eight RN submarines in the
Mediterranean during 1941 she was transferred
to join the Fleet at Singapore and sailed from
Alexandria on 3rd January 1942. As Singapore
had been abandoned she went to Sourabya
and was deployed with Dutch and American
submarines in the defence of the Dutch East
Indies. During attacks on invasion convoys she
sustained damage and after the fall of Java
returned to Ceylon for service with the newly
formed Eastern Fleet In March she carried out
a patrol in the Malacca Straits and sank two
Japanese mercantiles,
YAE MARU (6,781 tons) and
SHUNSEI MARU (4,939 tons) early the next
month. On 9th April whilst returning to
Colombo was diverted to carry out an attack on
Japanese warships on passage to Ceylon to
attack shore targets. This was unsuccessful.
One source records that a refit was carried
out at Ceylon during 1942 but as she was
refitted with an experimental SCHNORKEL mast
during 1944 but this was not retained and she
reverted to normal design.
This
submarine is not recorded as part of the
Eastern Fleet after 1942 and must have
returned to UK for an extensive refit. The
award of the Battle Honour ATLANTIC 1944 may
refer to an incident during deployment in Home
waters or on the return passage to Ceylon.
This submarine is recorded as having sunk an
auxiliary Japanese minesweeper in May 1945 it
suggests she had resumed service with the new
East Indies Fleet by that time. However she is
not recorded as being part of the Eastern
Fleet in August 1945 which suggests a return
to UK before VJ Day.
One
final matter for record is that after being
sold for demolition by T W Ward at Briton
Ferry in December 1945 she broke from tow to
the breakers yard a year later in a gale on
8th December 1946 and eventually was wrecked
on the French coast near Cherbourg. Her early
sale suggests that she was not considered
worth retaining on the Active List. The
Commanding Officer in 1945 was Commander A R Hezlet,
RN (Later Vice Admiral Sir Arthur KBE, DSO,
DSC*)
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