HMS Sickle (P224)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HMS Sickle (P224) (ex P74)
Royal Navy
HMS Sickle in December 1942
General data
Ship type : Submarine
Ship class : Seraph class ( S class )
Navy : Royal Navy
Builder : Cammell Laird , Birkenhead
Keel laying : May 8, 1941
Launch : August 27, 1942
Commissioning: December 1, 1942
Whereabouts: Missed in the Eastern Mediterranean since June 18, 1944.
Technical specifications

(see Seraph class )

The HMS Sickle (P224) was a British Royal Navy submarine during World War II .

history

The Sickle ( ger .: sickle ) was a boat of the third construction lot of the successful S-Class . This lot is also known as the Seraph class . She was laid down on May 8, 1941 at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, northwest England , launched on August 27, 1942 and was put into service by the Royal Navy on December 1, 1942.

The new war building was mainly used in the Mediterranean . The commander of the submarine was Lt. James Ralph Drummond. Drummond was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for its commitment .

On April 23, 1943, the Sickle attacked the Italian freighter Mauro Croce (1049 GRT) with two torpedoes off Sagunto (Spain) . The torpedoes ran too deep. The subsequent attack with 19 shells from the deck gun also had no effect.

The HMS Sickle sank on 15 May 1943. the Côte d'Azur (France) at 43 ° 25 '  N , 7 ° 25'  O the German auxiliary U-hunter UJ-2213 / Heureux (1116 BRT) with torpedoes. On May 21, followed before Toulon at 42 ° 50 '  N , 6 ° 0'  O an unsuccessful torpedo attack on the German submarine U 755 . On the same day and place, U 303 was successfully torpedoed. Of the 48-strong crew of the German submarine, 28 survived.

On July 18 and 19, 1943, the submarine sank in the Tyrrhenian Sea the Italian auxiliary minesweepers No. 61 / Costante Neri (100 GRT), No. 164 / Rosa Madre (39 GRT) and V 131 / Amigola Maria C. (65 BRT) with the on-board gun. On July 21, the German transporter Oriani (2320 GRT) was sunk 8 nautical miles west-north-west of Elba .

On August 28, 1943 torpedierte and put the HMS Sickle east of Corsica at 42 ° 24 '  N , 9 ° 41'  O the German escort vehicle SG 10 / Felix Henri (2526 BRT).

On October 1, 1943, the German auxiliary U-Jäger UJ 2210 was unsuccessfully attacked with three torpedoes off Portoferraio (Elba) . On November 18, the Sickle sank a Greek kaik (sailing ship) off the Greek island of Leros . The following day the Italian merchant ship Giovanni Boccaccio (3160 GRT) was successfully torpedoed off Monemvasia (Greece) .

On November 25, 1943, the Sickle sank two sailing ships off the Greek island of Milos at 37 ° 22 '  N , 24 ° 15'  E. On December 26th, two more Greek sailing ships were sunk off Mykonos .

On May 8, 1944, the submarine sank three sailing ships in the Doropassage between the Greek islands of Andros and Euboea . Another sailing ship followed on May 12 off the Greek island of Dia . On May 14, the reported Sickle the sinking of a ship sailing north of Rethymno (Crete) at 36 ° 0 '  N , 14 ° 20'  O .

On June 6, 1944, the submarine attacked in the Aegean Sea between the Greek islands of Andros and Skyros at 38 ° 24 '  N , 24 ° 35'  O the German freighter Reaumur (549 BRT) with the deck gun and volleyed it.

The HMS Sickle and the entire crew have been missing since June 18, 1944. The submarine probably ran into a sea ​​mine in the Andikythira Channel .

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 .
  2. ↑ uboat.net: U-303
  3. ↑ The French transporter Felix Henri was converted into an auxiliary cruiser by the French Navy in 1940 . The ship was captured by the Germans on December 14, 1942 in Marseille and used as an escort ship.