HMS ''Swordfish'' (61S) was a first-batch
S-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 ...
built for 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 ...
during the 1930s.
Commissioned in 1932, she was given the
pennant number
In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
61S and was assigned to the 2nd Submarine Flotilla.
At the start of
World War II
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 ...
, ''Swordfish'' was missed with three torpedoes by her
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
after being mistaken for a German
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 ...
. On 20 April 1940, she attacked a German convoy, but her torpedoes failed to hit their targets. Two days later, she sighted another convoy, but did not attack it because of the ships' shallow
draught. In the morning of 26 April, she dived to avoid
drifting mines; one of them hit but did not explode. During her sixth war patrol, ''Swordfish'' was mistakenly bombed by a British aircraft, but sustained no damage. ''Swordfish'' disappeared during her twelfth patrol, after departing
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
on 7 November. Although she was initially thought to have been sunk by German destroyers off Brest, she was determined to have been sunk by a mine when her wreck was discovered by diver Martin Woodward in June 1983 off the Isle of Wight. She had left Portsmouth Harbour only hours before, and it is assumed that she was carrying out a trim dive when she struck the German mine.
Design and description
The S-class submarines were designed as successors to the
L class and were intended to operate in the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
s.
[Harrison, Chapter 16] The submarines had a length of
overall
Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers".
Overalls were ...
, a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a mean
draught of . They
displaced on the surface and submerged.
[Chesneau, p. 49] The S-class submarines had a crew of 38 officers and
ratings. They had a diving depth of .
[McCartney, p. 4]
For surface running, the boats were powered by two
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
s, each driving one
propeller shaft
A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...
. When submerged each propeller was driven by a
electric motor
An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...
. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the first-batch boats had a range of at and at submerged.
[
The boats were armed with six ]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 in the bow. They carried six reload torpedoes for a grand total of a dozen torpedoes. They were also armed with a deck gun
A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret.
The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...
.[
]
Construction and career
''Swordfish'' was ordered on 2 July 1930 and 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 ...
by Chatham Dockyard on 1 December that same year. The submarine was launched on 10 November 1931 and commissioned on 28 November 1932.[HMS Swordfish]
uboat.net
At the onset of World War II
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 ...
, ''Swordfish'' was a member of the 2nd Submarine Flotilla. From 23 to 26 August 1939 the 2nd Submarine Flotilla moved to their war bases at Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
and Blyth.
On 1 September, the day the war started, ''Swordfish'' departed Dundee for her first war patrol, southwest of Stavanger
Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...
, Norway. On 14 September, southeast of Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, Scotland in position 56°22'N, 01°28'W, she was mistaken for a U-boat by her sister ship , which fired three torpedoes. ''Swordfish'' dived and the torpedoes missed. On 23 September she left Dundee for her second patrol, west of Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
. Informed the next day of the attack of , she was ordered to stay away from the area and returned to Dundee on 3 October. Between 3 October 1939 and 13 March 1940, she refitted in Dundee, then conducted training exercises. On 22 March, she left port for another patrol, in the western approach to the Skagerrak strait. ''Swordfish'' sighted only neutral ships during this patrol and returned to Blyth on 8 April.[
''Swordfish'' departed Blyth again on 16 April for another patrol in the Skagerrak. On 20 April, she sighted and attacked a German convoy, made up of Three heavy transports and four escorts in position . Her torpedoes missed, but ''Swordfish'' was attacked with depth charges until the evening by the convoy's escorts. Two days later, she sighted another convoy of trawlers and escorts but did not attack them due to their shallow draught, which would have caused the torpedoes to run under the ships. In the morning of 26 April, ''Swordfish'' sighted several drifting mines coming towards her; one of these struck as ''Swordfish'' was diving, but failed to explode. ''Swordfish'' returned to Blyth two days later, ending her fourth patrol.][
''Swordfish'' conducted an uneventful patrol from 10 to 25 May 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 ...
. On 5 June, she departed Blyth for her sixth war patrol in the North Sea. The next day, she was bombed in error by a Lockheed Hudson
The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and prim ...
of No. 224 Squadron RAF
No. 224 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron that saw service in both the First and Second World Wars.
History
It was formed on 1 April 1918, at Alimini, Italy from part of No. 6 Wing RNAS, equipped with the de Havilland DH.4. In Jun ...
, but no damage was sustained. After returning to Blyth, ''Swordfish'' conducted another patrol, but only aircraft were sighted. On her eighth patrol, she same across the yacht ''Maski'', which was fleeing to the United Kingdom. After taking in the yacht's crew, ''Swordfish'' sank it with gunfire. She then conducted a tenth and eleventh patrol, missing several ships with torpedoes.[
Nothing was heard from her following her departure from ]Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
on 7 November 1940 with 40 crew on board to relieve which was on patrol off the Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is an approximately rectangular area of the Atlantic Ocean lying immediately to the west of Ireland and parts of Great Britain. Its north and south boundaries are defined by the corresponding extremities of Britain. The c ...
near Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
*Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
*Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
**Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Brest, ...
, France. At the time it was thought that she had been sunk by a German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
. However she was discovered by a local diver in 1983, split into two just forward of the gun by a mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
. The wreck lies in about 46 metres of water roughly 12 miles south of St. Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
in position .[ It is likely that she struck the mine shortly after sailing whilst carrying out a trim dive. The wreck site is designated as a protected place under the ]Protection of Military Remains Act 1986
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
.
References
Citations
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Swordfish
World War II shipwrecks in the English Channel
British S-class submarines (1931)
Maritime incidents in November 1940
Lost submarines of the United Kingdom
1931 ships
World War II submarines of the United Kingdom
Ships sunk by mines
Ships lost with all hands