HMS Saracen (P247)

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HMS Saracen (P247) (ex P63, P213)
Royal Navy
HMS Saracen in the Mersey in July 1942
General data
Ship type : Submarine
Ship class : Seraph class ( S class )
Navy : Royal Navy
Builder : Cammell Laird ( Birkenhead )
Keel laying : July 16, 1940
Launch : February 16, 1942
Commissioning: June 27, 1942
Whereabouts: Self-sunk on August 14, 1943 off Corsica after being severely damaged.
Technical data
(see Seraph class )

The HMS Saracen (P247) 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 Saracen ( English Sarazene ) was a submarine of the third batch of the successful S-Class . This lot is also known as the Seraph class . It was launched on July 16, 1940 at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead , north-west England, launched on February 16, 1942 and entered service by the Royal Navy on June 27, 1942.

During the war, the submarine was initially used in the North Sea and later in the Mediterranean . The commandant was Lt.  Michael Geoffrey Rawson Lumby.

On August 3, 1942 torpedoed and sank the HMS Saracen northeast of the Faroe Islands at 62 ° 48 '  N , 0 ° 12'  W , the German submarine U 335 . Only one German seaman survived the attack.

After the submarine was moved to the Mediterranean, it sank on 9 November 1942 north of San Vito lo Capo ( Sicily ) Italian submarine Granito (630 ts) at position 38 ° 34 '  N , 12 ° 9'  O with Torpedoes.

Seven days later, the handle Saracen north of the Gulf of Tunis at 37 ° 30 '  N , 10 ° 40'  O a small convoy the axis with a three subjects at. The convoy consisted of the small Italian tanker laboratory (510 GRT) and the German cargo ship Menes (5609 GRT), which were escorted by the Italian torpedo boats Calliope and Climene . All torpedoes missed the target.

On December 17, 1943, north of Bizerta (Tunisia), an attack on the German transporter Ankara (4768 GRT) and the Italian destroyer Camicia Nera followed . Again, no torpedo hit. On the same day, the sister ship HMS Splendid also attacked the Ankara and sank the escorting destroyer Aviere . The Ankara escaped. She ran into a sea ​​mine laid by HMS Rorqual in January 1943 and sank.

On January 20, 1943, the Saracen sank 30 nautical miles south of Capri (Italy) at 40 ° 14 '  N , 14 ° 10'  E with the deck gun of the Italian auxiliary U-Hunter V3 / Maria Angelette . On February 12, 1943, she sank the French tugs Provincale II (124 BRT) and Marseillaise V (138 BRT) with the on-board gun off Cape Sardineaux (southern France) . On February 15, the Saracen torpedoed and damaged the French tanker Marguerite Finaly (12,309 GRT) in German service southwest of Genoa (Italy ). Four days later two Italian sailing ships with artillery were damaged off Cervo ( Liguria ).

On April 19, 1943, presented Saracen 18 nautical miles west of Elba at 42 ° 46 '  N , 9 ° 46'  O an Italian convoy and put the Transportation Francesco Crispi (7600 BRT) with torpedoes. Three days later, 35 nautical miles south of was Pianosa at 42 ° 3 '  N , 9 ° 48'  O Italian transporter Tagliamento torpediert (5448 BRT) and sunk.

The Saracen torpedoed two more ships on the axis in July 1943. On July 6th, the Italian transporter Tripoli (1166 GRT) was sunk 15 nautical miles south of Capraia . On July 11, the German cargo ship Tell (1349 GRT) sank 25 nautical miles south of Corsica .

The HMS Saracen was northeast on August 14, 1943 by Bastia (Corsica) by the Italian corvettes Minerva and Euterpe with water bombs attacked and forced to surface. The damaged submarine was by the crew at position 42 ° 45 '  N , 9 ° 30'  O abandoned and even submerged . The entire crew went into Italian captivity .

Web links

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

literature

  • Erminio Bagnasco: Submarines in World War II , Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, 5th edition 1996, ISBN 3-613-01252-9
  • Robert Hutchinson: KAMPF UNDER WASSER - Submarines from 1776 to today , Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, 1st edition 2006, ISBN 3-613-02585-X
  • Anthony Preston: The history of the submarines , Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen, German edition 1998, ISBN 3-86070-697-7

Explanations and references

  1. ↑ HMS is the abbreviation for His / Her Majesty's Ship and the name prefix of British ships. HMS means His / Her Majesty's Ship .