HMS ''Unbeaten'' was a U-class submarine, of the second group of that class, 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 ...

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of 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 B ...

. She 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 ...

on 22 November 1939 and was commissioned on 10 November 1940. So far she has been the only ship 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 ...

to bear the name ''Unbeaten''.

Career

''Unbeaten'' spent much of her career operating 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 Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, where she sank the Italian sailing vessel V 51 / ''Alfa'', the Vichy-French merchant ''PLM 20'', the and the German submarine . She also claimed to have sunk two sailing vessels with gunfire on 15 July 1941 at Marsa Zuag roads, Libya, but Italian sources only confirm damage to one fishing vessel. ''Unbeaten'' also lightly damaged the Italian merchant ''Vettor Pisani'' on 16 March 1942. She also unsuccessfully attacked the Italian merchant ''Silvio Scaroni'', the Italian troop transport ''Esperia'' and a large Italian troop transport, thought to be either ''Oceania'' or ''Neptunia''.HMS Unbeaten
uboat.net

Sinking

After a refit in Chatham, and subsequent workup, ''Unbeaten'' was attached to the Third Submarine Flotilla in Scotland. Having sailed from

Holy Loch The Holy Loch ( gd, An Loch Sianta/Seunta) is a sea loch, a part of the Cowal peninsula coast of the Firth of Clyde, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The "Holy Loch" name is believed to date from the 6th century, when Saint Munn landed there afte ...

on her last patrol, ''Unbeaten'' completed Operation Bluestone, landing an agent in Spain near

Bayona Baiona is a town and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It's a tourist town with a medieval historical center situated by the outlet of the Vigo Bay. Its population of just over 11,000 rises to ...

. She then completed her patrol in the Bay of Biscay and was returning to the United Kingdom when she went missing. It is believed that she was probably attacked and sunk in error by a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

of No. 172 Squadron,

Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

in the Bay of Biscay on 11 November 1942. She was lost with all hands.Submarine losses 1904 to present day
, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport

Citations

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Unbeaten (N93) British U-class submarines Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1940 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Friendly fire incidents of World War II Maritime incidents in November 1942 Ships sunk by British aircraft Submarines sunk by aircraft