HMS ''Anchorite'' (P422/S22), 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 The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, built by Vickers Armstrong and launched 22 January 1946.

Design

''Anchorite'' 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 each. Four electric motors each producing 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 . ''Anchorite'' was fitted with ten 21 inch (533 mm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s, 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 The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...

. Its torpedo tubes were fitted to the bow and stern, and it could carry twenty torpedoes. Its complement was sixty-one crew members. ''Anchorite'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

shipyard on 19 July 1945, was launched on 22 January 1946 and completed on 18 November 1947.

Service

During build and before launch the names of ''Anchorite'' and HMS ''Amphion'' were switched. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. ''Anchorite'' ran aground in

Rothesay Bay Rothesay Bay is a small suburb in Auckland's East Coast Bays region. The suburb is roughly the same size as Murrays Bay, the suburb to the immediate south. The name is taken from the small inlet into the Hauraki Gulf, which can be accessed via R ...

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

, on 12 October 1956. On 3 October 1960, ''Anchorite'', which was a member of the 4th Submarine Squadron based at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, hit an uncharted rock in the Hauraki Gulf off

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand at a depth of . No-one was injured in the incident. The submarine's commanding officer,

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

W. L. Owen, was cleared of any blame for the incident to the resulting court martial. The rock is now known as Anchorite Rock on the nautical charts of the area at depth, 16 m, .

References

Publications

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External links

Pictures of HMS Anchorite on MaritimeQuest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anchorite (P422) Amphion-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1946 ships Maritime incidents in 1956 Maritime incidents in 1960