HMS ''P36'' was a
British U class submarine
The British U-class submarines (officially "''War Emergency 1940 and 1941 programmes, short hull''") were a class of 49 small submarines built just before and during the Second World War. The class is sometimes known as the ''Undine'' class, af ...
, a member of the third group of that class to be built. She was sunk at the quayside in
Malta in 1942, and some of her survivors were
shipwreck
A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...
ed again in another submarine less than six weeks later.
Service history
On 26 November 1941 on patrol in the
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
, ''P36'' attacked a German submarine with torpedoes south-west of
Belle-Ile island. The torpedoes missed their target which may have been one of
''U-133'',
''U-552'',
''U-567'' or
''U-577''.
On 13 February 1942 ''P36'' fired four torpedoes against the Italian
heavy cruisers
''Gorizia'' and
''Trento'' in the
Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including C ...
about east of Capo Spartivento, Calabria, Italy. None of the torpedoes hit. Two days later, ''P36'' torpedoed and damaged the off
Taranto.
On 1 April 1942 ''P36'' was lying alongside a jetty at Sliema Harbour in Malta when the
Luftwaffe attacked the harbour. A large bomb from a
Sturzkampfgeschwader 3
''Sturzkampfgeschwader 3'' (StG 3—Dive Bomber Wing 3) was a Dive bomber Wing (air force unit), wing in the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II and operated the Junkers Ju 87 ''Stuka''.
The wing was activated on 9 July 1940 using personne ...
aircraft landed sufficiently near to the submarine to hole her and she began to sink. Despite desperate efforts to save the submarine she rolled over and sank. She was not raised until 7 August 1958 and then scuttled off Malta on 22 August 1958. Following the loss of ''P36'' in 1942, some surviving crew members embarked on board another submarine
HMS ''Olympus'' bound for
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
. Shortly after leaving Malta on 8 May 1942, ''Olympus'' struck a mine and sank. The nine survivors of the 98 passengers and crew swam back to the Maltese coast.
Uboat.net: HMS Olympus
/ref>
References
;Notes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:P036
British U-class submarines
Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
1941 ships
World War II submarines of the United Kingdom
Submarines sunk by aircraft
Lost submarines of the United Kingdom
World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea
Maritime incidents in April 1942
Ships sunk by German aircraft