"Of
all the branches of men in the Forces, there is none which shows more devotion
and faces grimmer perils than the submariner.
Great deeds are done in the air
and on the land; nevertheless, nothing surpasses your exploits." Winston
Churchill.
Of World War 2 - Page 2
Created: 17 October 2004 -
Updated: 10 October 2008
"Only in attack does a submarine reveal herself, before creeping away to the concealment of the deep"
HMS Truculent now has her own page - here HMS Parthian now has her own page - here HMS Sea Devil now has her own page - here
HMS Tally Ho now has her own page - here HMS Sanguine now has her own page - here HMS Graph now has her own page - here
Michael Guthrie, Missing Presumed
Dead - British Submariner
I was sent this image but have forgotten the name of the submarine, "T" Class I think
HMS Maidstone British Submarine Tender. North Africa 1943
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/chalcraft/sm/depot.html
Maidstone was built by John Browns at Clydebank, launched 21st October 1937 and completed 5th May 1938. This is a ship that deserves a website all of her own to do her justice! During the war Maidstone served initially at Rosyth with 3rd Flotilla from May 1940 to Sept 1940. In March 1941 she took up residence at Gibraltar with the 8th Flotilla, then, after taking part in Op. Torch (invasion of North Africa) from Nov 1942 to Nov 1943 worked at Algiers. In March 1944 she set up shop at Trincomalee and in September 1944 moved on to Fremantle. From May 1945 to Sept 1945 she was at Subic Bay in the Philippines and then went to Hong Kong. After her return to the UK she later became the Flagship of C-in-C, Home Fleet from 1956 to 1958. Reconstructed 1958-1962. Based at Faslane with refits at Rosyth until August 1968 when she joined the Reserve Fleet at Rosyth before returning to Portsmouth. 1969 to 1977 used as Army accommodation ship and then prison ship at Belfast. 23rd May 1978, after forty years service, arrived at Inverkeithing to be broken up.
HM Submarine Thorough
HMS Thorn
Sunk Italian s/m Medusa 30-Jan-1942 in Gulf of Venice. Attacked a tanker off suthwest Crete 6-Aug-42. On the 14th April encountered the Italian torpedo boat, Pegaso, escorting the steamer/tanker Istria 30 miles from Gavdos(Gaudhos) Island off SW Crete. At 1230 an escorting aircraft was seen to machine-gun the surface of the sea and Pegaso moved in to investigate. Four minutes after the aircraft attack, Pegaso picked up a contact and carried out seven attacks after which contact was lost. There is also a possibility that she was later lost on mines off Tobruk, Libya.
Serving aboard HMS Thorn was
this young man, the late Wilkin Nuttall. He went down with the ship. Thanks to
Andrew Summerscales, House of Lords,
Westminster, for this image.
U or V Class Submarine
The crew of HMS Sportsman 14 miles outside Cairo. Nowadays Cairo is only just behind the image as its grown over the years!
Another Sportsman image at the Pyramids
Electrical Propulsion Room HMS Sportsman. Peter Hulme, (Now in NZ) who served aboard T Class, seems sure this is Token's Engine room.
Dave Whitehead's (pic above) father served on board
HMS Sportsman. In 1943 they were attacked and bombed by 2 USAAF (surprise
surprise) Liberators
whilst in a "bomb free alley" off Scotland. Luckily his father survived the
attacks and, on return to port, "liberated" the White Ensign as a memento of the
escape.
The Engine Room of HMS Token
HMS Token & HMS Worcester (Thames Nautical Training
College) in 1946
(My thanks to Captain David Barnes for identifying HMS Worcester
for me)
He also sent me the following image of Thermopylae & Token alongside in
1948
Rest stop Pauls Bay, Malta.
A little known submarine that served with HM Submarines in WW2
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Hvar with HM Sub Nebojsa
(Yugoslavian) on the right
.jpg)
These two images were sent to me from Ken Nickson and they show his father, Leading Telegrapher, serving on board this submarine. Ken remarks: I remember my father telling me that this sub had got stuck on the sea bed and prior to her eventually freeing off, some of the Yugoslav crew went berserk and committed suicide! He and his Officer had to barricade themselves off.
I spotted this reference on a BBC web site: On 13th January 1943, transferred to Yugoslav submarine Nebojsa, which had been built at Hawthorn Leslie shipyard, on the Tyne at Hebburn, in 1926. She was manned by a mixed Royal Navy and Yugoslav crew. It had been hoped to make her operational but the boat was unpredictable that when she dived she would go down steeply by either the bows or stern. She was more dangerous to her crew than she would ever be to the enemy. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/76/a8795776.shtml
http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/other_navies.htm Yugoslavian sub as well as other items
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/chalcraft/sm/print.html Complete List of British Subs of WW2
http://www.uboat.net/index.html Best site on U Boats - all listed
My first ever book - order it here
