HMS ''Utmost'' was a British 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 on 2 November 1939 and was commissioned on 17 August 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 ''Utmost''.

Career

''Utmost'' spent most 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 merchants ''Capo Vita'', ''Enrico Costa'', and ''Frederico C.'', and the German tanker ''Languste'' and also damaged the Italian merchant ''Manfredo Camperio''. ''Utmost'' also attacked a convoy of five German merchants and three Italian destroyers and torpedoed and sunk the German merchant ''Heraklea'' and torpedoed and damaged ''Ruhr''. An attack on another convoy made up of the German merchant ''Tilly L.M. Russ'' and the Italian merchant ''Cadamosto'', escorted by the Italian torpedo boats and , was less successful. All torpedoes fired missed their targets. HMS Utmost -1-

''Utmost'' went on to destroy the (already grounded and damaged) Italian merchant ''Marigola'', and together with her sister, since transferred to the Poles, ORP ''Sokół'', sank the Italian merchant ''Balilla''. ''Utmost'' later unsuccessfully attacked the Italian merchants ''Fabio Filzi'' and ''Siculo'', as well as the Italian auxiliary minelayer ''Barletta''. She also torpedoed and damaged the Italian cruiser . The Commanding Officer received a

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

for a mission, which is believed to have been the landing of agents behind enemy lines.

Sinking

''Utmost'' left

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 ...

for a patrol in the

in November 1942. On the 23rd she sank an enemy ship, but on 25 November 1942, during her return journey to Malta, she was located, attacked and sunk south west off Sicily by depth charges from the Italian torpedo boat .Submarine losses 1904 to present day
, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport

References

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External links

IWM Interview with John Eaden, who commanded HMS ''Utmost'' in 1940
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utmost (N19) British U-class submarines Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1940 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Lost submarines of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Maritime incidents in November 1942 Submarines sunk by Italian warships