HMS Scepter (P215)

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HMS Scepter (P215) (ex P65)
Royal Navy
HMS Scepter (P215) in April 1943
General data
Ship type : Submarine
Ship class : Seraph class ( S class )
Navy : Royal Navy
Builder : Scotts SB & Eng. Co. (Greenock)
Keel laying : July 25, 1940
Launch : January 6, 1943
Commissioning: April 15, 1943
Whereabouts: Scrapped in 1949
Technical data
(see Seraph class )

The HMS Scepter (P215) 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 Scepter ( English: scepter ) was a boat of the third batch of the S-Class . This lot is also known as the Seraph class . She was laid down at Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock on July 25, 1940 , launched on January 6, 1943, and entered service by the Royal Navy on April 15, 1943.

In September 1943, the Scepter took part in Operation Source . Also that were in the campaign sister boats Stubborn , Syrtis and Sea Nymph , two boats of the T-class and six mini-submarines of the X class participates. The aim of the operation was to attack the German capital ships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst and the armored ship Lützow with the small submarines. Due to their short range, the X-boats had to be towed to their target areas by larger submarines and then transported away again after the attack. The Scepter was the mother ship of the X 10 . The small submarine had to abandon its attack due to various technical problems. At least two of the other X-boats reached the Tirpitz and were able to inflict serious damage on her.

On March 7, 1944 torpedierte the Scepter the freighter lip (7849 BRT ) before Foldafjord ( Norway ) at 64 ° 32 '  N , 10 ° 38'  O . The German merchant ship was badly damaged and stranded after the attack.

On May 20, 1944, the Scepter sank the German cargo ship Hochheimer (ex British Ronwyn ; 1894 BRT) off Bilbao at 43 ° 24 ′  N , 3 ° 30 ′  W with torpedoes. In the same attack, the German outpost boats V 402 and V 405 were missed.

Three days later, on May 23, 1944, the British submarine torpedoed and sank the German freighter Baldur (ex Danish Jacob Christensen ; 3630 GRT) off Castro Urdiales .

On September 20, 1944, Scepter attacked the Norwegian cargo ship Vela (1184 GRT) and the German minesweeper M 132 (874 ts) with torpedoes eleven  nautical miles west-southwest of Eigerøya at 58 ° 23 '  N , 5 ° 34'  E. Both ships were sunk. In the same month, she transported the miniature submarine X 24 to Bergen , where it sank a large floating dock .

On October 20, 1944 sank Scepter ago Lister (Norway) at 58 ° 37 '  N , 5 ° 30'  O the German auxiliary U-hunter UJ 1111 with torpedoes.

After combat operations, the scepter was used as a target for exercise. In order to be able to simulate the modern and fast German Type XXI boats at least to some extent, they were equipped with more powerful accumulators, all dispensable superstructures including the deck gun were dismantled for a better streamline shape and the rest of the armament was also completely dispensed with to save weight.

The Royal Navy also used the submarine for training after the war. On April 15, 1947, the scepter collided with the British battleship Nelson , damaging the capital ship.

On August 8, 1949, the scepter was badly damaged in an explosion of the accumulators and was scrapped in Gateshead in September of the same year .

See also

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

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b The uboat.net states April 15, 1943 for the commissioning of the Scepter. Hutchinson (see literature ) gives January 1943.
  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 .
  3. ↑ See Vela at www.warsailors.com/homefleet. (engl.)