HMS Safari (P211)

HMS Safari (P211) (ex P61)
General data
Ship type :	Submarine
Ship class :	Seraph class ( S class )
Navy :	Royal Navy
Builder :	Cammell Laird ( Birkenhead )
Keel laying :	June 5, 1940
Launch :	November 18, 1941
Commissioning:	March 14, 1942
Whereabouts:	Sold for scrapping on January 7, 1946. Sunk during removal.
Technical data (see Seraph class )

The HMS Safari (P211) was a British Royal Navy submarine during World War II .

history

see: History of the Seraph Class and Detailed History of the S Class

The Safari was a submarine from the third batch of the successful S-Class ; this lot is also known as the Seraph class . It was launched on June 5, 1940 at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead , northwest England, launched on November 18, 1941, and was commissioned by the Royal Navy on March 14, 1942.

The safari was used in the Mediterranean .

In July and August 1942 the submarine sank or damaged four Italian transport ships off Sardinia :

July 12		Sailing ship	Adda	(792 GRT )	before Orosei
15th of July		Cargo ship	Tigrai	(1302 GRT)	before Orosei	(only damaged)
17th August		Sailing ship	Ausonia	(218 GRT)	before Orosei
18th of August		Cargo ship	Perseo	(5225 GRT)	before Serpentara

Beginning in October 1942 was patrolling the Safari in the Adriatic . On October 2, it took before the Croatian port Korčula at 42 ° 56 '  N , 17 ° 17'  O Italian transport ship Veglia at (896 BRT) with torpedoes and artillery. The former Yugoslav ship ( Kosovo ) was rescued despite the severe damage, but was later declared a total loss. Torpedoed on October 5 and damaged the Safari south of the Croatian port Sebenik at 43 ° 38 '  N , 15 ° 52'  O the Italian cargo ship Eneo (545 BRT).

On October 20, the recessed Safari off the Tunisian coast at 34 ° 45 '  N , 12 ° 31'  O Italian transport ship Titania (5397 BRT) with torpedoes. The Titania had been torpedoed and damaged by the British submarine HMS Unbroken the day before and was in tow of the Italian destroyer Ascari during the attack .

In November and December 1942, six Italian and German transport ships were sunk off the North African coast :

November 13th		Cargo ship	Bice	(269 GRT)	south of Sousse ( Tunisia )
November 16		Cargo ship	Hans Arp	(2645 GRT)	off Libya at 30 ° 28 '  N , 18 ° 48'  E
November 17th		Lighter	F 346	(220 GRT)	off Misratah (Libya)
December 18th		Sailing ship	Eufrasia	(49 GRT)	in front of Hammamet (Tunisia)
December 27th		Sailing ship	Eleonora Rosa	(54 GRT)	south of Sousse
December 29th		Cargo ship	Torquato Gennari	(1012 GRT)	off Sfax (Tunisia) at 34 ° 20 ′  N , 10 ° 49 ′  E

Two Italian auxiliary warships were sunk during the same period. On December 20, the safari off Hammamet torpedoed the Italian patrol boat F 139 / Constantina (345 GRT) at 36 ° 4 ′  N , 10 ° 30 ′  E. The Italian unit was badly damaged and later abandoned. On December 21, the submarine also sank the auxiliary minesweeper Rosina S. (297 GRT) off Hammamet .

On January 30, 1943, the HMS Safari sank the Italian ships Aniello (77 BRT) and Gemma (67 BRT) with the deck gun off Scalea . Three days later, the submarine discovered an Italian convoy off Capri . On February 2, the recessed Safari at 40 ° 35 '  N , 14 ° 29'  O Italian transport ships Valsavoia (5733 BRT) and Salemi (1176 BRT) with torpedoes.

Between March 9 and April 9, 1943, the safari off the Italian coast sank several smaller units with the on-board gun:

9th March		Sailing ship	Stefano M.	(69 GRT)	in front of San Vito lo Capo ( Sicily )
3rd of April		Fishing vessel	Nasello	(314 GRT)	before Orosei
3rd of April		Fishing vessel	S. Francisco di Paola A.	(77 GRT)	before Orosei
9th April		Auxiliary minesweeper	No. 295 / Bella Italia	(117 GRT)	in front of Sardinia

It was also on April 6 against Cagliari a torpedo attack on the Italian merchant ship Cap Figalo (2811 BRT) tried. All three torpedoes missed their target.

On April 10, another Italian convoy was cleared up near Sardinia. The British submarine torpedoed and sank the cargo ships Loredan (1355 GRT), Entella (2691 GRT) and Isonzo (3363 GRT).

From May to July 1943, eleven other ships on the axis were sunk and another was damaged:

2.May		Cargo ship	Sogliola	(307 GRT)	before Asinara (near Sardinia)
May 6th		Auxiliary minesweeper	R 106 / Onda	(98 GRT)	before Asianara
8th of May		freighter	Peppino Palomba	(2034 GRT)	in front of Porto Torres (Sardinia)
8th of May		freighter	Liv	(3068 GRT)	in front of Porto Torres	(only damaged)
June 10th		freighter	KT-12	(834 GRT)	before Orosei
July 18th		Auxiliary minesweeper	No. 47 / Amalia	(101 GRT)	near Sardinia
July 19		Lighter	Maria Paula		before Corsica
July 19		armed yacht	Margherita	(88 GRT)	before Corsica
20th of July		Pilot boat	F 50 / Silvio Onorato	(208 GRT)	east of Corsica
22nd of July		Mine layers	Durazzo	(530 ts)	east of Corsica
July 25th		Auxiliary minesweeper	FR 70 / La Coubre	(120 GRT)	west of Elba at 42 ° 42 ′  N , 10 ° 30 ′  E

As part of the convoy battle known as Operation Pedestal , the safari damaged the Italian cruisers Bolzano and Attendolo on August 13, 1943 .

The HMS Safari was sold as scrap to J. Cashmore on January 7, 1946 . During the transport for scrapping, the submarine sank on January 8, 1946 southeast of Portland.

Web links

Commons : British S-Class  album with pictures, videos and audio files

• HMS Safari on uboat.net ( engl. )
• British submarines during World War II (Engl.)

literature

• Erminio Bagnasco: Submarines in World War II . 5th edition. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-613-01252-9 .
• Robert Hutchinson: Fight Under Water - Submarines from 1776 to the Present . 1st edition. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-613-02585-X .
• Anthony Preston: The History of the Submarines . Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1998, ISBN 3-86070-697-7 .
• Arthur P. Dickison: Crash Dive - In Action with HMS Safari . Sutton Publishing, Phoenix Mill Thrupp Stroud Gloucestershire 1999, ISBN 0-7509-2089-0 .

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} The uboat.net states March 14, 1942 for the safari to go into operation. Hutchinson (see literature ) gives February 15, 1942.
2. ↑ HMS is the abbreviation for His / Her Majesty's Ship and the name prefix of British ships. HMS means His / Her Majesty's Ship .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Liv at www.warsailors.com/homefleet. ( engl. )

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap