HMS Swordfish (61S)
 HMS Swordfish |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Swordfish |
| Builder: | Chatham Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 1 December 1930 |
| Launched: | 10 November 1931 |
| Commissioned: | 28 November 1932 |
| Fate: | Sunk by mine 7 November 1940 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 640 tons surfaced 935 tons submerged |
| Length: | 202 ft 6 in (61.72 m) |
| Beam: | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
| Draught: | 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) |
| Propulsion: | Twin diesel/electric |
| Speed: | 13.75 knots surfaced 10 knots submerged |
| Complement: | 36 officers and men |
| Armament: | 6 x forward 21-inch torpedo tubes 12 torpedoes one three-inch gun one 20 mm cannon one .303-calibre machine gun |
HMS Swordfish (61S) was a group one British S class submarine that was sunk on a combat patrol in the English Channel in November 1940 during the Second World War.
Nothing was heard from her following her departure from Portsmouth on 7 November 1940 with 40 crew on board to relieve HMS Usk which was on patrol off the Western Approaches near Brest, France. At the time it was thought that she had been sunk by a German destroyer.[1] However she was discovered by a local diver in 1983, split into two just forward of the gun by a mine.[2][3] The wreck lies in about 46 metres of water roughly 12 miles south of St. Catherine’s Point, Isle of Wight.[4] 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[5] under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Submarine losses 1904 to present day, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport
- ^ *Innes McCartney (2002). Lost Patrols: Submarine Wrecks of the English Channel.
- ^ Disappearance of HMS Swordfish, Isle of Wight index
- ^ HMS Swordfish, Uboot.net
- ^ "Statutory Instrument 2008/0950". Office of Public Sector Information, 1 April 2008. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20080950_en_1. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
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