HMS Spearfish
| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | HMS Spearfish |
| Builder | Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead |
| Laid down | 23 May, 1935 |
| Launched | 21 April, 1936 |
| Commissioned | 11 December, 1936 |
| Fate | Sunk 1 August 1940 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | list error: <br /> list (help) 670 tons surfaced 960 tons submerged |
| Length | 208 ft 9 in (63.63 m) |
| Beam | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
| Draught | 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) |
| Propulsion | Twin diesel/electric |
| Speed | list error: <br /> list (help) 13.75 knots surfaced 10 knots submerged |
| Complement | 39 officers and men |
| Armament | list error: <br /> list (help) 6 x forward 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 12 torpedoes one three-inch gun one .303-calibre machine gun |
HMS Spearfish was a Royal Navy S-class submarine which was launched April 21, 1936 and fought in World War II. Spearfish is one of 12 boats named in the song Twelve Little S-Boats. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to be named Spearfish.
Her wartime career started inauspiciously, when on the 24th September, 1939, she was heavily damaged by German warships off Horns Reef. She was unable to submerge but nevertheless managed to escape. A rescue mission was undertaken by the British Humber force and Home Fleet, including the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, and the battleship HMS Nelson, which performed escort duty whilst search and rescue attempts were made. Spearfish safely put in Rosyth on the 26th, and repairs were completed in early March 1940.
Another notable action occurred on April 11 1940, whilst patrolling in the Kattegat, under the command of Lieutenant Commander John Hay Forbes, she torpedoed and damaged the German pocket battleship Lützow, putting her out of action for over a year.[1][2] At the time it was reported that she sank her sister ship the Admiral Scheer.[3] Later that year, on May 20, she sunk two Danish fishing vessels S. 130 and S.175 with gunfire in the North Sea.[1]
Spearfish sailed from Rosyth on July 31 1940, still under the command of "Jock" Forbes, to patrol off the Norwegian coast. On August 1 she was spotted on the surface by U 34 under the command of Wilhelm Rollmann who attacked and sank her. There was only one survivor.[4]
References
- ^ a b HMS Spearfish, Uboat.net
- ^ Template:Nl icon - Go2War2.nl - Deutschland
- ^ I Was There! - We Knew We Had Hit The 'Scheer', The War Illustrated, May 3, 1940.
- ^ Submarine losses 1904 to present day, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport
- 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 Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
See also
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