HMS ''Ambush'' (P418/S68/S18), was an
''Amphion''-class submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
of the
Royal Navy, built by
Vickers Armstrong and launched 24 September 1945.
In 1948 she took part in trials of the
submarine snorkel
A submarine snorkel is a device which allows a submarine to operate submerged while still taking in air from above the surface. British Royal Navy personnel often refer to it as the snort. A concept devised by Dutch engineers, it was widely used ...
. In 1951 she heard and decoded a distress message from
HMS ''Affray'', which was sunk with the ultimate loss of all 75 hands. In 1953 she took part in the
Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Design
Like all
Amphion-class submarines, ''Ambush'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. It had a total length of , a beam of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two Admiralty ML eight-cylinder diesel engines generating a power of each. It also contained four electric motors each producing that drove two shafts.
It could carry a maximum of of diesel, although it usually carried between .
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of . When submerged, it could operate at for or at for . When surfaced, it was able to travel at or at .
''Ambush'' was fitted with ten
torpedo tubes, one
QF 4 inch naval gun Mk XXIII
The QF 4-inch gun Mark XXIII was introduced in late 1945 as a deck gun for Royal Navy submarines. It was the last type of gun to be fitted to British submarines, finally being retired in 1974.
Development and service
Development of the Mark XXII ...
, one
Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, and a
.303 British
The .303 British (designated as the 303 British by the C.I.P. and SAAMI) or 7.7×56mmR, is a calibre rimmed rifle cartridge. The .303 inch bore diameter is measured between rifling lands as is the common practice in Europe which follows th ...
Vickers machine gun. Its torpedo tubes were fitted to the
bow and stern, and it could carry twenty torpedoes. Its
complement was sixty-one crew members.
Construction
''Ambush'' was
laid down at
Vickers Armstrong's
Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on 17 May 1945, was
launched on 24 September 1945 and completed on 22 July 1947.
[Blackman 1962, p. 275.]
Service
On commissioning, ''Ambush'' joined the 3rd Submarine Flotilla based at
Rothesay, Scotland.
The early post-war years saw the Royal Navy introduce the
submarine snorkel
A submarine snorkel is a device which allows a submarine to operate submerged while still taking in air from above the surface. British Royal Navy personnel often refer to it as the snort. A concept devised by Dutch engineers, it was widely used ...
(known as the Snort in British service), with a number of trials carried out on extended submarine operations using the snort in various weather conditions. ''Ambush'' set out from Rothesay on 10 February 1948 on an extended submerged cruise in
Arctic waters between
Jan Mayen and
Bear Island. The submarine encountered a severe storm, which forced ''Ambush'' to the surface as she could not maintain depth control well enough to use the snort, returning to base on 18 March.
[Hennessy and Jinks 2016, pp. 71–72.][Critchley 1981, p. 56.]
''Ambush'' joined the 10 Submarine Flotilla based at
Singapore in November 1959 and remained based in the Far East until 25 July 1967.
Decommissioning and disposal
Following decommissioning, she was sold to
Thos. W. Ward and arrived at
Inverkeithing for breaking up on 5 July 1971.
[Warlow, Ben Lt Commander, Channel Sweep, (Maritime Books,Liskeard), p7 ]
References
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External links
Entry at ''uboat.net''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambush (P418)
Amphion-class submarines
Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom
Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
1945 ships