B a t t l e   H o n o u r s

SICILY 1943 - MEDITERRANEAN 1943-44 - ANZIO 1944 - ATLANTIC 1944

M o t t o

Resurgam prudenter: 'I shall rise again discretely'

First use of this name by the RN when given to this submarine in place of P53 during early 1943.

She joined the 10th submarine Flotilla for service in the Mediterranean after trials and work-up during early 1941. On an early patrol in March that year she sank a supply ship of 2,151 tons during patrol off Tunisia Later that year in May she was deployed in the Adriatic and sank a small craft before being carrying out a shore bombardment at Salina. During the passage of the allied assault convoys for the landings in Sicily (Operation HUSKY) she patrolled off Messina to intercept any attempt by Italian warships to interfere with landings or follow-up convoys. On 28th July she sank the Italian torpedo boat LINCE in the Adriatic and a large Italian tanker, CHAMPAGNE 6,200 tons off Bastia during a patrol in July.

After the capitulation of Italy she was deployed in the western Mediterranean where she sank a freighter in October and was based at Maddelena with the Flotilla by December for interception of traffic to island garrisons.

As part of the allied landings at Anzio she was used as a navigational beacon for X Force ships during the assault (Operation SHINGLE). Further deployments in 1944 were also in the western Mediterranean for attacks on evacuation craft and coastal shipping off France and northern Italy. Her successes included a Ferry in March and several small ships including an naval auxiliary in June. Her last operations in this area with HM Submarine ULTIMATUM continued with the sinking of five supply ships.

Later in 1944 this submarine carried out anti-submarine operations in the Atlantic before refit and then served in Home waters without notable successes.