HMS Sportsman (P229)

Sportsman

The Sportsman on December 23, 1942

Ship data flag  United Kingdom of France   other ship names Sybille Ship type Submarine class Seraph class (S class) Owner Royal Navy French Navy Shipyard Chatham Dockyard (Chatham) Keel laying July 1, 1941 Launch April 17, 1942 Commissioning December 21, 1942 1951 (F) Whereabouts Sunk off Toulon on September 24, 1952

annotation Technical specifications see Seraph class

The HMS Sportsman (P229) was a British Royal Navy submarine during World War II . The Sportsman torpedoed the German transport ship Petrella in February 1944 , resulting in one of the greatest shipping disasters in the history of the Mediterranean.

The boat was handed over to the French Navy in 1951 and renamed La Sibylle . The La Sybille sank in an accident in 1952.

history

The Sportsman ( ger .: athletes ) was a boat of the third construction lot of the successful S-Class . This lot is also known as the Seraph class . It was on July 1, 1941 the Navy Yard Chatham in southeast England Chatham placed on Kiel, ran on 17 April 1942 by stack and has been asked by the Royal Navy on 21 December 1942 in service.

The Royal Navy used the Sportsman mainly in the Mediterranean . In 1943 and 1944, Lt. Richard Gatehouse commands.

HMS Sportsman torpedoed and sunk on May 19, 1943. Nice at 43 ° 1 '  N , 7 ° 40'  O the Vichy-French passenger ship Général Bonaparte (2795 BRT), where 137 people were killed; 148 were rescued by two German torpedo boats , TA 10 and TA 11 , under Corvette Captain Konrad Loerke . Seven days was off the southern French coast at later 42 ° 53 '  N , 6 ° 8'  O the vichyfranzösische tanker Marguerite Finaly (GRT 12309) unsuccessfully with six torpedo attack.

On June 29, 1943, the submarine sank the Italian transporter Bolzaneto (2220 GRT ) with torpedoes ten nautical miles from La Spezia . Two days later the Sportsman attacked a landing craft in the Ligurian Sea off Imperia , but the attack had to be abandoned because the deck gun failed.

On September 6, 1943, the Italian fish catchers Angiolina P (39 GRT) and Maria Luisa B (37 GRT) were sunk with artillery on board in the port of Aléria ( Corsica ) . On September 28, the Italian sailing ship Angiolina (39 GRT) was also sunk off Corsica .

The Sportsman sank a Greek sailing ship with the deck gun on November 15, 1943 between the Cyclades islands of Mykonos and Naxos . On December 19, 1943, another sailing ship with the deck gun was sunk off the Greek island of Limnos . Two days later, the submarine attacked the Greek sailing ship Spyridon south of Limnos with artillery and damaged it.

On December 23, 1943, the Sportsman torpedoed and sank the Bulgarian troop transport Balkan (3838 GRT) south of Mudros ( Limnos ).

On February 8, 1944, one of the greatest maritime disaster in the history of the Mediterranean , as HMS Sportsman north Suda Bay ( Crete ) at 35 ° 32 '  N , 24 ° 18'  O the German steamer Petrella (ex French. Aveyron ; 4785 GRT) sunk with torpedoes. On board the ship were 3173 Italian prisoners of war , of which 2670 were killed. When the ship went down, the German guards closed the prison rooms and even shot at the defenseless men.

The HMS Sportsman torpedoed and sank the German tanker MT 3 / Vienna (425 GRT) on March 28, 1944 off Monemvasia . Three days later, she sank the German sailing ship Grauer Ort (212 GRT) with torpedoes off Cape Malea .

On April 28, 1944, north of Heraklion (Crete) at 35 ° 26 '  N , 25 ° 7'  E, the German merchant ship Lüneburg (ex Greek Constantin Louloudis ; 5809 GRT) was sunk with torpedoes.

The HMS Sportsman was handed over to the French Navy in 1951 and renamed Sibylle . On September 23, 1952, the Sibyl sank 40 nautical miles east of Toulon . The entire crew of 47 men was killed.

See also

• Sibylle (other French ships named Sibylle )
• List of French submarine classes

Web links

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

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

literature

• Erminio Bagnasco: Submarines in World War II. (Technology - Classes - Types. A Comprehensive Encyclopedia). 5th edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 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. ↑ Source: www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/kriegsrecht/transporte.htm

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap