HMS ''Severn'' (N57) was an ocean-going

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 River class. She was built by

Vickers Armstrong 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, wi ...

, at Barrow, and launched on 16 January 1934. She was completed on 12 January 1935.GB Mason, HMS ''Severn'' at naval-history.net

Construction

At the time of launch, the River class were the fastest submarines afloat. They were powered by 10,000 hp diesel engines for surface operations and electric motors for submerged operations giving top speeds of and respectively. She carried a complement of 60 crew and was armed with a gun, two machine guns and six torpedo tubes for 21 inch (533 mm) weapons. The tonnage of the ''Severn'' was 1,850 on surface and 2,710 when submerged. Like the rest of her classmates, ''Severn'' was of riveted construction, which was a significant limitation when it came to the safe diving depth: compared to the of the Odin-class.

Service history

The outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

found ''Severn'' in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

with the 1st Submarine Flotilla stationed at

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. In September 1939 she was transferred to West Africa, stationed at

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

, to act as convoy escort guarding against surface raiders. She was on notice to take part in the hunt for the Graff Spee, but this notice was withdrawn following the

Battle of the River Plate The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first naval battle of the Second World War. The Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser , commanded by Captain Hans Langsdorff, engaged a Royal Navy squadron, commande ...

In March 1940 ''Severn'' returned to home waters and was employed on interception patrols in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. This involved searching for

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

s, surface raiders and blockade runners, and she was active in this capacity during the Norwegian campaign. In May 1940, she sank the Swedish sailing vessel ''Monark'', which had been taken into German service. In May 1941 ''Severn'' was reassigned to

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 ...

with the 8th Submarine Flotilla. During this period she made several patrols in the western Mediterranean, and she also sailed with HG 69 as ocean escort In June 1941 ''Severn'' fired upon an Italian ''Argonauta'' class submarine and later sank the Italian merchants ''Polinnia'' and ''Ugo Bassi''. In August, she attacked an unidentified submarine.Medallion presented to the crew. She was one of a number of submarines ordered to track the German battleship ''Bismarck'' before her eventual sinking. ''Severn'' returned to Gibraltar upon the sinking of ''Bismarck''. In 1942 ''Severn'' returned to home waters, where she employed again on interception duties. In May 1943 she returned to the Mediterranean to join the naval operations leading up to the invasion of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

(

Operation Husky Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

). Following this she was stationed at

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, and took part in relief operations to the garrison at Leros during the Aegean campaign. In January 1944 ''Severn'' was assigned to the Eastern Fleet, joining 2nd Submarine Flotilla at

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

in May. There she took part in interception patrols in the Indian Ocean.

Disposal

VJ-Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...

found ''Severn'' in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, where she had been

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...

and decommissioned on 23 December 1944. Having survived the

, she was sold for breaking up in 1946 to T. Hassanally, of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Notes

References

* *

External links

* GB Maso
HMS ''Severn'' at naval-history.net
* G Helgaso

{{DEFAULTSORT:Severn (N57) River-class submarines Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1934 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom