HMS Trooper (N91)

HMS Trooper (N91)
General data
Ship type :	Submarine
Ship class :	Tempest class ( T class )
Navy :	Royal Navy
Builder :	Scott's Shipbuilding ( Greenock )
Keel laying :	May 7, 1940
Launch :	March 5, 1942
Commissioning:	August 29, 1942
Whereabouts:	Missed in the Mediterranean since October 17, 1943.
Technical data (see Tempest class )

HMS Trooper (N91) was a submarine of the British Royal Navy in World War II . The warship was lost in the Mediterranean in 1943 .

history

see: History of the Tempest Class

The HMS Trooper was laid down at Scott's Shipbuilding ( Greenock ) on May 7, 1940 , and was launched on March 5, 1942. The Trooper was put into service on August 29, 1942.

One of the first combat missions of the submarine was the participation in Operation Principle in January 1943. Together with the sister boat Thunderbolt , several manned torpedoes were brought to the port of Palermo , which on January 3, 1943, the newly built Italian light cruiser Ulpio Traiano with sticky mines sunk.

During further missions, four Italian ships, including a submarine, were sunk between March and September 1943: On March 10, 1943, the HMS Trooper was able to torpedo and sink the Italian tanker Rosarion (5468 GRT) four nautical miles off Punta Milazzo ( Sicily ). Trooper achieved the same on March 17, 1943 south of Naples with the sinking of the Italian freighter Forli (1525 BRT, ex French Sebaa ). On July 29, 1943, the submarine torpedoed and sank south of the Strait of Otranto at 39 ° 48 '  N , 18 ° 43'  E, the Italian transport submarine Pietro Micca (1371 ts). On September 5, 1943, Trooper was able to sink a sailing ship with the deck gun off the Greek island of Skiathos . She reported the damage to two other enemy units.

On September 26, 1943, HMS Trooper left Beirut and began its final patrol. The trooper was supposed to patrol the Aegean Sea off the Dodecanese . Since no contact could be made with the submarine since September 26, it was declared missing on October 17, 1943. Presumably the HMS Trooper ran into a sea ​​mine near Leros .

On October 15, 1943, the German forced Q-Ship GA.45 an unknown submarine with depth charges to surface and bombarded it with then-board artillery. The German side assumed that the HMS Trooper had been sunk in the attack . The attacked submarine was the HMS Torbay , which was able to escape.

Commandant of the HMS Trooper was from June 18, 1942 to October 17, 1943 Lt. John Somerton Wraith.

literature

• Erminio Bagnasco: Submarines in World War II . 5th edition. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-613-01252-9 .
• Robert Hutchinson: FIGHT UNDER WATER - Submarines from 1776 to the present day . 1st edition. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-613-02585-X .

Web links

Commons : Tempest class  - album containing pictures, videos and audio files

• HMS Trooper on uboat.net (engl.)
• Submarine losses of the Royal Navy (Engl.)
• British submarines during World War II (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The information on launching comes from uboat.net .
2. ↑ The sources are contradicting the sinking of the Ulpio Traiano . Robert Hutchinson, www.wlb-stuttgart.de , regiamarina.net ( Memento of the original dated May 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and www.schiffswrackliste.de give the 2./3. January 1943. www.marinearchiv.de gives the 2nd / 3rd June 1943, which is unlikely since the HMS Thunderbolt was lost in March. 
3. ↑ Italian transport submarines ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on regiamarina.net (English)  
4. ↑ John Somerton Wraith 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 . Trooper means soldier .