HMS Thistle (N24)

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HMS Thistle (N24)
Royal Navy
HMS Thistle on August 2, 1939
General data
Ship type : Submarine
Ship class : Triton class ( T class )
Navy : Royal Navy
Builder : Vickers -Armstrong ( Barrow )
Keel laying : December 7, 1937
Launch : May 20, 1939
Commissioning: 4th July 1939
Whereabouts: Sunk by U 4 on April 10, 1940 .
Technical data
(see Triton class )

HMS Thistle (N24) was a submarine of the British Royal Navy . The warship was used in World War II and sunk on April 10, 1940 by the German submarine U 4 , which was the first combat loss of the British T-class submarines .

Mission history

see also: History of the Triton Class and Detailed History of the T Class

After the start of the war in September 1939, the submarine was used off the Norwegian coast. The patrols of the following months were largely uneventful.

In April 1940, the German armed forces began landings in Denmark and Norway with the Weser Exercise company . The Royal Navy was aware of the German plans, so that all available British submarines were stationed in advance along the approach route of the invasion fleet, including the HMS Thistle .

On April 9, the day of the invasion, the HMS Thistle discovered the German submarine U 4 west of Stavanger . Commander Haselfoot attacked the German submarine at 5:05 p.m. at 59 ° 0 '  N , 5 ° 10'  E with a fan of four torpedoes. All torpedoes missed their target and U 4 escaped.

The following day, the same German submarine spotted 20 nautical miles west of Stavanger at 59 ° 0 '  N , 5 ° 0'  O HMS Thistle first. The German commander Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Peter Hinsch did not hesitate and ordered a torpedo attack. The German torpedoes hit their target devastatingly.

The HMS Thistle sank on April 10, 1940 with the entire crew.

Commanders

  • According to Cdr. Robert William Stirling-Hamilton (October 18, 1938–1940)
  • According to Cdr. Wilfrid Frederick Haselfoot (1940 - † April 10, 1940)

See also

Web links

Commons : HMS Thistle  - collection of images, 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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hutchinson and Bagnasco do not provide any information on the launching of the T-class submarines. The information on launch runs comes from uboat.net .
  2. ↑ Robert William Stirling-Hamilton in uboat.net (engl.)
  3. ↑ Wilfrid Frederick Haselfoot in uboat.net (engl.)

Remarks

  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 . Thistle is the English word for thistle , the Scottish coat of arms flower.