Submarine class S (Royal Navy, 1931)
S-class |
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General data | ||
Ship type : | ||
Navies : |
Royal Navy |
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Builders : |
Cammell Laird (Birkenhead) |
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Units: |
62 |
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Technical data (group 3) |
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Crew : |
48 men |
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Displacement : |
surfaced: 814 - 872 ts |
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Length : |
66.1 m |
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Width : |
7.2 m |
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Draft : |
3.4 m |
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Drive : |
Diesel engines : 1900 PS (1420 kW ) |
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Speed : | ||
Driving range : |
6000 NM (11112 km) surfaced at 10 kn |
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Diving depth : |
110 m |
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Alarm dive time: | 25-30 seconds | |
Armament (Group 3) |
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Artillery : | ||
Air defense : | ||
Torpedoes : |
6 × 21 ″ (533-mm) pipes in the bow
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The S-Class is the most produced British submarine - class and was mainly in the Second World War used. The submarines were used by the Royal Navy , but also by the Dutch , Soviet , Portuguese , French and Israeli navies . The last submarines in the class were not decommissioned until the second half of the 1960s.
Building history
In the late 1920s, the British Navy requested a successor to the outdated H-Class . The planned medium submarine was intended for use in confined waters such as the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea and should retain the positive properties of the H-Class, such as fast alarm diving times, high maneuverability under water and easy handling. What was required, however, was a higher surface speed, longer travel distance and stronger armament.
The design of the S-Class met the requirements. In 1929 the building contract was awarded. Four boats of the first assembly had been completed by 1933. This was followed by the eight somewhat larger boats of the second assembly group by 1937.
After the beginning of the Second World War, the S-Class was built in large-scale production under wartime conditions. In 1939 five, thirteen in 1940, fifteen in 1941, twelve in 1942 and nine further S-class submarines in 1943 were commissioned. Four orders were canceled after the end of the war. The submarines built during the war were more efficient and their production was more effective through the use of prefabricated components and more modern working methods. The first war new buildings were put into service in March 1942.
Between 1939 and 1942 four boats of the Oruç-Reis class, developed from the S-class, were built for the Turkish Navy .
Shipyards
The submarines were built at four different shipyards in England and Scotland . Two submarines of the third construction lot were laid down at Scott’s , but completed at Vickers . They are included in the Vickers table :
Shipyard | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | total |
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Cammell Laird in Birkenhead | 3 | 17th | 15th | 35 | |
Chatham Dockyard ( Chatham Naval Yard ) in Chatham | 4th | 4th | 3 | 11 | |
Scott's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. in Greenock | 1 | 8th | 2 | 11 | |
Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness | 5 | 5 | |||
4th | 8th | 33 | 17th | 62 |
Active units
Between 1933 and the end of the war in September 1945, 60 units were put into service. Two more units followed by December 1945. 18 submarines were lost during World War II. Two were irreparably damaged. (see losses in World War II ) When the war began in 1939, twelve submarines were in active service with the Royal Navy. After heavy losses, only four S-boats were still active at the beginning of 1942. As a result of the new war buildings, the stock recovered quickly from 1942:
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Constructive features
The boats were built in four assemblies between 1930 and 1945. The differences between the third and fourth assemblies were small (artillery armament and tank size), so that they are often combined into one group.
The two propellers of the saddle tank submarines were powered by a classic hybrid drive consisting of two diesel engines for surface travel and two electric motors for diving. While the underwater propulsion power remained the same for all assemblies with 1300 HP (970 kW), the surface propulsion power and the resulting speed were increased with the introduction of the third assembly. HMS Sunfish was the only pre-war unit with the enhanced diesel engine. The fuel bunkers have also been enlarged, which also increases the driving distance enormously.
Since the designers feared a negative impact on the magnetic compass , the complete command tower and the periscopes of British submarines of this time were made of bronze . As a result, the periscopes were three to five meters shorter than the steel constructions of all other navies of that time, which relied on gyrocompasses . Due to the lower periscope depth, the submarines were higher than German, Japanese or American boats when using the periscope. This made them harder to maneuver and there was a higher risk of them breaking through the water surface unintentionally. Furthermore, the non-magnetic construction was at the expense of the immersion depth, because the higher weight of the control center was offset by a lighter pressure body .
The submarines were initially designed for a depth of 95 m. The hulls of the submarines built during the war were completely welded and reinforced. The guaranteed diving depth could be increased to 110 m. HMS Stubborn reached in February 1944 after a German water bombing a depth of 165 m and could resurface. During a destruction test in 1948, the unmanned HMS Stoic was crushed at a depth of 183 m. For comparison, the German Type VII-C / 41 boats had a test diving depth of 200 m and a calculated theoretical maximum diving depth of 300 m.
All S-boats were equipped with active and passive acoustic reconnaissance equipment such as the ASDIC device from the start. The first radar devices were installed in 1941 .
The main armament consisted of six torpedo tubes of 21 inches ( inches equal to 53.3 cm) in diameter at the front, for the twelve torpedoes were included in total. Alternatively, the use of up to twelve sea mines was also possible on all submarines. On the submarines of the third group, an external tube of the same caliber, which cannot be reloaded at sea, was installed in the stern . This increased the number of torpedoes carried to 13. Some boats of the second group were retrofitted with the additional torpedo tube. The fire control technology of the torpedo weapon was far inferior to the equipment of German and American submarines. At first, night sights didn't even exist. This disadvantage was later partially offset by the use of radar. The devices for determining the fire solution were primitive and unreliable compared to the sophisticated German target computers. The control of the torpedoes themselves was worse than that of the other navies. Therefore, British submarines often had to aim with the entire hull. However, the British percussion fuses and depth control were much more reliable than the German and US designs from the start.
The artillery armament consisted of a 3-inch (76.2-mm) L / 50 gun. In the case of the submarines of the second sub-assembly, a retractable mount was initially used for the deck gun. This construction was soon removed and replaced by a fixed, free-standing carriage. The units of the fourth group had a 4-inch (102-mm) L / 40 gun mounted in a parapet in front of the turret. For weight reasons, most of the submarines in the fourth batch did not use the external stern torpedo tube.
Two to three 7.7 mm machine guns were used as anti- aircraft armaments , which were dismantled before diving. From 1944 onwards, a 20-mm anti-aircraft gun from Oerlikon-Bührle was retrofitted on some units . The flak was mounted on a platform similar to the "winter garden" of the German submarines behind the tower.
The boats of the fourth subassembly intended for combat in Asia had, in addition to the larger gun, enlarged fuel oil bunkers and could carry up to 98 ts of diesel oil . They also carried more supplies of food and fresh water. The spatial conditions on these submarines were so cramped that ammunition was even stored under the forecastle in the officers' mess.
Technical data of the modules in comparison
Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | |
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Crew: | 36 men | 39 men | 48 men | ← |
Displacement (above water): | 730 ts | 768 ts | 865 ts | ← |
Displacement (submerged): | 927 ts | 960 ts | 990 ts | ← |
Length over all: | 61.70 m | 63.58 m | 66.08 m | ← |
Width (maximum): | 7.28 m | ← | 7.19 m | ← |
Draft: | 3.4 m | ← | ← | ← |
Engine power (surfaced with diesel engines): | 2 times 775 hp | ← | 2 times 950 hp | ← |
Motor power (submerged with electric motors): | 2 times 650 hp | ← | ← | ← |
Maximum speed (over water): | 13.75 kn | ← | 15 kn | ← |
Maximum speed (underwater): | 10 kn | ← | ← | ← |
Driving range (over water at 10 kn): | 3700 NM | 3800 NM | 6000 NM | more than 6000 NM |
Maximum immersion depth (factory specification): | 95 m | ← | 110 m | ← |
Deck gun: | 76 mm / L50 | ← | ← | 102 mm / L40 |
Torpedo tubes: | 6th | ← | 7th | 6th |
Mission history
Details under: History of the S-Class
1939
At the time of the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the Royal Navy only had 12 S-Class units.
In the first months of the war, the submarines mainly operated in the North Sea . The first combat action took place four minutes after the Anglo-French ultimatum to Germany expired, France and Great Britain officially entered the war, when a German submarine unsuccessfully attacked HMS Spearfish with torpedoes on September 3, 11:04 am .
On September 14th, HMS Sturgeon mistakenly attacked HMS Swordfish , but missed the sister ship. Since HMS Oxley ( O-Class ) was lost in a similar incident on September 10, the Admiralty subsequently increased the distances between the patrol areas of British submarines from the original 4 nautical miles to 16 nautical miles.
On November 20, 1939, HMS Sturgeon sank the German outpost boat V-209 / Gauleiter Telschow . It was the first combat success of a British submarine in World War II. On December 4, HMS Salmon sank the German submarine U 36 . On the same voyage, the Salmon torpedoed and damaged the light cruisers Nürnberg and Leipzig on December 13, 1939 , which could not be used for several months afterwards.
1940-1941
Seven months after defeating Poland, Germany ended the seated war phase by landing in Northern Europe on April 10 and invading Western Europe on May 10 . The S-class boats took part in the extensive defensive measures against the German landing forces in Norway. One of the most important successes against the invasion fleet was certainly the torpedo attack by HMS Spearfish against the heavy cruiser Lützow on April 11th. The German pocket battleship was badly damaged, narrowly escaped total loss and was out of action for almost a year.
After the French defeat on June 22, 1940, the area of operations of the S-class submarines extended to the Bay of Biscay . 1940 was the year with the most losses of the war for the S-Class submarines. Seven out of twelve operational units were lost. In February 1941 there was another loss, so that by March 1942 only four units were available.
1942-1943
In the spring of 1942 the first war new buildings were put into service. Since then, there have been continuous influxes which, despite further losses, quickly increased the number of operational boats above the pre-war level. (see Active Units ) A submarine of the first assembly was loaned to the Dutch Navy in October 1943.
In addition to the previous missions in the North Sea and the Biscay, the newly built submarines were now increasingly used in the Mediterranean against supply lines of the Axis powers during the war in North Africa . The bases of the boats were in Gibraltar in the west, on the besieged island of Malta in the central Mediterranean and in Egypt in the east. Against the often inadequately protected Italian transport ships, many sinks were found with the deck gun. Due to the use of the British submarines, the axis was forced to form secured convoy trains . The constant supply problems of the Italian and German forces in North Africa are also due to the successful use of British S-class fighter submarines.
On April 30, 1943 was of board Seraph as part of the top-secret Operation Mincemeat thrown a male corpse in front of the southern Spanish coast into the sea. The dead man, disguised as a British naval officer, wore forged secret papers that were supposed to convince the German defense that the imminent Allied landing in southern Europe should take place in the Balkans .
On September 23, 1943 S and transported T-Class boats used British midget submarines of class X in front of the northern Norway Altafjord . The target of Operation Source were the German battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst . The Tirpitz was mined by the X 7 and at least one other small submarine and badly damaged.
After the surrender of the German / Italian units in North Africa in May 1943 and the subsequent Allied invasion of southern Italy in July, Italy left the axis on September 8, 1943. The combat area of the British submarines in the Mediterranean was therefore concentrated in the following months in the northeastern part of the Mediterranean in front of the Greek islands, which were still occupied by the Germans.
1944-1945
In February 1944, HMS Sportsman sank the German transporter Petrella off Crete . Almost 3,200 Italian prisoners of war were on board, of whom 2,670 were killed. The losses were probably so high because the German guards did not open the prison rooms and forcibly prevented the prisoners from escaping. The tragedy is considered to be the greatest shipping disaster in the history of the Mediterranean.
In addition to operations in the Mediterranean, S-Class submarines also continued to operate in the North Sea. In a successful operation, HMS Scepter transported the X 24 to Bergen in September 1944 , where the small submarine sank a large floating dock.
The submarines, which were now available in large numbers, were no longer used only for pure combat tasks. HMS Satyr and HMS Scepter were disarmed in 1944/45 to make them lighter and faster. They also received a dummy snorkel. The submarines were used by the Navy as training targets for the submarine hunt .
In June 1944, HMS Sunfish was handed over to the allied Soviet Union . On the march to Murmansk in Northern Russia, the submarine was mistaken for an enemy submarine by a British bomber and sunk.
After the Allied victories in North Africa and South Italy, more and more S-boats were transferred to the Asian theater of war , where they were stationed on bases in Ceylon and British India . The boats of the fourth sub-group with their enlarged fuel tanks were specially designed for use in Asia.
The Imperial Japanese Navy was massively decimated in the great sea-to-air battles of Midway (1942), Guadalcanal (1943) and Leyte (1944). Even without the significant losses, the Japanese would hardly have been able to adequately protect their vital but overstretched supply lines in the Pacific and Indian Oceans against Allied submarine attacks, because Japanese merchant shipping was also close to collapse. By the end of 1943, over 3 million GRT of Japanese shipping space had been destroyed. The Japanese often had to resort to small, slow, wooden coastal sailors that sailed in shallow coastal waters, where they were difficult to reach for the large American deep-sea submarines.
The small, agile S-boats and similar Dutch submarines complemented the large ocean-going boats. They operated mainly in the Andaman Sea off Burma , Siam , Malaya and Sumatra ( Dutch East Indies ), the Malakka Strait off Singapore and Penang, and in the Java Sea in shallow waters within the 10 fathoms limit (18 m water depth).
In the case of a great number of attacks on the largely unprotected Japanese and Thai transporters, the S-boats were able to dispense with the use of torpedoes and sink the mostly defenseless ships with the deck guns or with the detonators of their boarding teams. In one of these frequent attacks, HMS Stubborn sank a Japanese patrol boat in the Java Sea on July 25, 1945 . The commander of the British submarine, Albert-George Davies, ordered the Japanese survivors to be shot. The murder order could not be carried out, however, because a Japanese plane forced the submarine to submerge.
On August 18, 1945, three days after the surrender of Japan , HMS Statesman sank a floating Japanese wreck with torpedoes in the Malakka Strait. This was probably the last torpedo attack by a submarine in World War II. Since then, there have only been two other successful submarine torpedo attacks in real war operations. In the Bangladesh War, the Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor sank the Indian frigate Khukri on December 9, 1971, and in the Falklands War, the British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano on May 2, 1982 .
After 1945
After the end of the war, many S-boats were decommissioned within a few years and scrapped or sunk for testing and training purposes. Some units remained in service with the Royal Navy until the early 1960s. The last active British unit was HMS Sea Devil , which was decommissioned in 1962 and scrapped in 1966 .
A total of nine submarines were given to allied nations:
- The Portuguese Navy took over three Group 4 S-Class submarines in 1948 . The last unit was decommissioned in 1969.
HMS saga | P 161 | Náutilo | To Portugal on October 11, 1948, decommissioned in 1969. |
HMS Spearhead | P. 162 | Neptuno | In August 1948 to Portugal, scrapped in 1967. |
HMS track | P. 160 | Narval | 1948 to Portugal, 1969 decommissioned. |
- The French navy took over four S-class submarines of Group 3 in 1951/52 . A boat was lost at sea in 1952. The remaining three units were returned to Great Britain between 1958 and 1961 and then scrapped there.
HMS satyr | sapphire | In February 1952 to France, in August 1961 back to the Royal Navy, in April 1962 sold for scrapping. |
HMS Spiteful | Siren | On January 25, 1952 to France, in November 1958 back to the Royal Navy, scrapped in 1963. |
HMS Sportsman | Sibylle | 1951 to France, sunk on September 23, 1952. |
HMS Statesman | Sultans | 1952 to France, in November 1959 back to the Royal Navy, 1961 sold for scrapping. |
- The Israeli Navy received two Group 4 S-Class submarines in 1958 . The last boat was scrapped in 1972.
HMS Sanguine | Rahav (רחב) | 1958 to Israel, decommissioned in 1968. |
HMS Springer | Tanin | 1958 to Israel, decommissioned in 1972. |
Losses in World War II
Of 62 built units of the class, 17 submarines were lost in the war due to enemy action. Two other boats were so badly damaged during fighting that they were no longer repaired. A submarine was mistakenly sunk by its own aircraft.
boat | date | comment |
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HMS Seahorse | January 7, 1940 | Probably sunk northwest of Heligoland by German depth charges, no survivors. |
HMS Starfish | January 9, 1940 | Sunk by German depth charges near Heligoland, the entire crew was taken prisoner of war . |
HMS Sterlet | April 18, 1940 | Probably in Skagerrak by German U-hunters UJ-125 , UJ-126 and UJ-128 sunk, no survivors. |
HMS Shark | July 6, 1940 | Attacked by German planes off Norway and badly damaged, 2 dead and 19 wounded, then surrender. Towed by German minesweepers, but sunk. The survivors went into German captivity. |
HMS Salmon | July 16, 1940 | Missed in the North Sea , probably run into a German sea mine , no survivors. |
HMS Spearfish | August 1, 1940 | Torpedoed by the German submarine U 34 northeast of Aberdeen , a lone survivor. |
HMS Swordfish | November 16, 1940 | Missing in the Bay of Biscay , probably run into a German sea mine, no survivors. |
HMS Snapper | February 12, 1941 | Missing in the Bay of Biscay, no survivors. |
HMS P222 | December 12, 1942 | In the Mediterranean , missing probably from the Italian torpedo boat Fortunale southeast of Capri sunk with depth charges, no survivors. |
HMS Splendid | April 21, 1943 | Sunk by the German destroyer ZG 3 Hermes south of Capri with depth charges. 30 crew members were rescued from the destroyer. 18 men were killed. |
HMS Sahib | April 24, 1943 | Badly damaged by the Italian corvettes Gabbiano , Climene , Euterpe and then sunk with depth charges by a German Ju 88 of Group II of Lehrgeschwader 1 northeast of Sicily . |
HMS Saracen | August 14, 1943 | Badly damaged by the Italian corvettes Minerva and Euterpe with depth charges off Bastia / Corsica . The crew was able to leave the sinking submarine and fell into Italian captivity. |
HMS Simoom | November 19, 1943 | Missing in the eastern Mediterranean, probably run into a sea mine, no survivors. |
HMS Sickle | January 18, 1944 | Missed off Greece , probably run into a sea mine, no survivors. |
HMS Stonehenge | March 22, 1944 | Missing between Sumatra and the Nicobar Islands , no survivors. |
HMS Syrtis | March 28, 1944 | In Bodø / Norway went on German sea mine, no survivors. |
HMS Sunfish | July 27, 1944 | Delivered to the Soviet Union. On the way to Murmansk mistakenly sunk by a British Liberator with bombs, no survivors. |
HMS Stratagem | November 22, 1944 | Sunk by Japanese depth charges in the Malacca Straits . Ten men were able to save themselves and fell into Japanese hands. Only three men survived captivity. |
HMS Shakespeare | January 3, 1945 | Badly damaged in an artillery duel with the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Wa 1 on Nankauri Strait ( Andamans ) . The Japanese ship was also badly hit. Towed to Ceylon by the sister boat HMS Stygian , but no longer repaired and later scrapped. |
HMS Strongbow | January 13, 1945 | Attacked by Japanese escort ships with depth charges for 14 hours off Port Swettenham ( Malaya ) and badly damaged. No repairs were made. |
Boats of the type
Group 1
Between 1930 and 1933 the four submarines of the first assembly were built at the Chatham naval shipyard . After the first boat put into service, the construction lot is also referred to as the Swordfish class .
Three units were lost as early as 1940. Sturgeon was loaned to the Dutch Navy in 1943 and operated under the name Zeehond until 1945 .
boat | # | Keel laying | Commissioning | End of service |
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HMS Swordfish | 61S | December 1, 1930 | November 28, 1932 | November 7, 1940 |
HMS Sturgeon | 73S | January 3, 1931 | February 27, 1933 | 1947 |
HMS Seahorse | 96S | September 14, 1931 | October 2, 1933 | January 7, 1940 |
HMS Starfish | 19S | September 29, 1931 | October 27, 1933 | January 9, 1940 |
Group 2
Between 1933 and 1938 the eight submarines of the second assembly were built at three different shipyards. In the Naval Shipyard Chatham walked four, at Cammell Laird three and Scott's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. a boat from the deck. After the first boat put into service, the construction lot is also referred to as the Shark class .
Five submarines were lost to enemy action during the war. HMS Sunfish was handed over to the Soviet Navy, but sunk by friendly fire on the march to Northern Russia . The two remaining submarines were decommissioned and demolished in 1945.
boat | # | Shipyard | Keel laying | Commissioning | End of service |
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HMS Shark | N54 | Chatham Dockyard | June 12, 1933 | December 31, 1934 | July 6, 1940 |
HMS Sealion | N72 | Cammell Laird | May 16, 1933 | December 21, 1934 | 1945 |
HMS Salmon | N65 | Cammell Laird | June 15, 1933 | March 8, 1935 | July 16, 1940 |
HMS Snapper | N39 | Chatham Dockyard | September 18, 1933 | June 14, 1935 | February 12, 1941 |
HMS Seawolf | N47 | Scott's | May 25, 1934 | March 12, 1936 | June 23, 1945 |
HMS Spearfish | N69 | Cammell Laird | May 23, 1935 | December 11, 1936 | August 1, 1940 |
HMS Sunfish | N81 | Chatham Dockyard | July 22, 1935 | July 2, 1937 | July 27, 1944 |
HMS Sterlet | N 22 | Chatham Dockyard | July 14, 1936 | April 6, 1938 | April 18, 1940 |
Group 3
Between 1940 and 1945, 33 units of the third assembly were built at four different shipyards. After the Typboot, the class is also known as the Seraph class . 17 boats were built at Cammell Laird , three at Vickers-Armstrong, three at the Chatham shipyard and eight at Scott's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Two boats were keeled at Scott's but completed by Vickers-Armstrong.
Seven boats were lost to enemy action during World War II. Two boats were so badly damaged during the fighting that repairs were no longer worthwhile and they were scrapped after the war.
In the 1950s, four submarines were loaned to the French Navy. One of these boats sank in the Mediterranean in 1952.
Some boats remained in active service until the 1960s.
boat | # | Shipyard | Keel laying | Commissioning | End of service |
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HMS P222 | P222 | Vickers-Armstrong | August 10, 1940 | March 4, 1942 | December 12, 1942 |
HMS Safari | P211 (ex P61) | Cammell Laird | June 5, 1940 | March 14, 1942 | January 7, 1946 |
HMS Sahib | P212 (ex P62) | Cammell Laird | 5th July 1940 | May 13, 1942 | April 24, 1943 |
HMS Seraph | P219 (ex P69) | Vickers-Armstrong | August 16, 1940 | June 10, 1942 | 1965 |
HMS Saracen | P247 (ex P63, P213) |
Cammell Laird | July 16, 1940 | June 27, 1942 | August 14, 1943 |
HMS Shakespeare | P221 (ex P71) | Vickers-Armstrong | November 13, 1940 | July 10, 1942 | January 3, 1945 |
HMS Splendid | P228 (ex P78) | Chatham Docks | March 7, 1941 | August 8, 1942 | April 21, 1943 |
HMS Sibyl | P217 (ex P67) | Cammell Laird | December 31, 1940 | August 16, 1942 | 1948 |
HMS Sea Dog | P216 (ex P66) | Cammell Laird | December 31, 1940 | September 24, 1942 | 1947 |
HMS Sea Nymph | P223 | Cammell Laird | May 6, 1941 | November 3, 1942 | 1948 |
HMS Sickle | P224 (ex P74) | Cammell Laird | May 8, 1941 | December 1, 1942 | June 18, 1944 |
HMS Sportsman | P229 (ex P79) | Chatham Docks | July 1, 1941 | December 21, 1942 | September 23, 1952 |
HMS Simoom | P225 (ex P75) | Cammell Laird | July 14, 1941 | December 30, 1942 | November 19, 1943 |
HMS satyr | P214 (ex P64) | Scott's | June 8, 1940 | February 8, 1943 | 1961 |
HMS Stubborn | P238 (ex P88) | Cammell Laird | September 10, 1941 | February 20, 1943 | 1946 |
HMS Surf | P239 | Cammell Laird | February 1, 1941 | March 18, 1943 | 1949 |
HMS Scepter | P215 (ex P65) | Scott's | July 25, 1940 | April 15, 1943 | 1949 |
HMS Syrtis | P241 | Cammell Laird | October 14, 1941 | April 23, 1943 | March 28, 1944 |
HMS Stonehenge | P232 | Cammell Laird | April 4, 1942 | June 15, 1943 | March 22, 1944 |
HMS Stoic | P231 | Cammell Laird | June 18, 1942 | June 29, 1943 | 1948 |
HMS Sea Rover | P218 (ex P68) | Scott's (completed by Vickers-Armstrong) |
April 14, 1941 | July 7, 1943 | 1949 |
HMS Storm | P233 | Cammell Laird | June 23, 1942 | August 23, 1943 | 1949 |
HMS Sirdar | P226 (ex P76) | Scott's (completed by Vickers-Armstrong) |
April 24, 1941 | September 20, 1943 | 1953 |
HMS Spiteful | P227 (ex P77) | Scott's | September 19, 1941 | October 6, 1943 | 1963 |
HMS Stratagem | P234 | Cammell Laird | April 15, 1942 | October 9, 1943 | November 22, 1944 |
HMS Spirit | P245 | Cammell Laird | October 27, 1942 | October 25, 1943 | 1950 |
HMS Statesman | P246 | Cammell Laird | November 2, 1942 | December 13, 1943 | 1961 |
HMS Strongbow | P235 | Scott's | April 17, 1942 | December 23, 1943 | June 1945 |
HMS Shalimar | P242 | Chatham Docks | April 17, 1942 | April 22, 1944 | 1950 |
HMS Spark | P236 | Scott's | October 10, 1942 | April 28, 1944 | 1949 |
HMS Scythian | P237 | Scott's | February 21, 1943 | August 11, 1944 | 1960 |
HMS Scotsman | P243 | Scott's | April 15, 1943 | December 9, 1944 | 1964 |
HMS Sea Devil | P244 | Scott's | May 5, 1943 | May 12, 1945 | 4th June 1962 |
Group 4
Between 1942 and 1945, 17 units of the fourth assembly were built at two different shipyards. Cammell Laird supplied 15 and Scott's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. supplied two submarines. At Cammell Laird four more boats were commissioned. These construction contracts were canceled in 1945. After the type boat, the construction lot is also referred to as the subtle class .
After the end of the war, three submarines were handed over to the Portuguese and two to the Israeli navy, where they remained in service until the 1960s.
boat | # | Shipyard | Keel laying | Commissioning | End of service |
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HMS Sturdy | P248 | Cammell Laird | December 22, 1942 | December 29, 1943 | July 9, 1955 |
HMS Stygian | P249 | Cammell Laird | January 6, 1943 | February 29, 1944 | 1949 |
HMS Subtle | P251 | Cammell Laird | February 1, 1943 | April 16, 1944 | 1958 |
HMS Supreme | P252 | Cammell Laird | February 15, 1943 | May 20, 1944 | 1947 |
HMS Sea Scout | P253 | Cammell Laird | April 1, 1943 | June 19, 1944 | September 1962 |
HMS Selene | P254 | Cammell Laird | April 16, 1943 | July 14, 1944 | 1961 |
HMS Solent | P262 | Cammell Laird | May 7, 1943 | September 7, 1944 | 1961 |
HMS Sleuth | P261 | Cammell Laird | June 30, 1943 | October 8, 1944 | 1959 |
HMS Sidon | P259 | Cammell Laird | July 7, 1943 | November 23, 1944 | June 16, 1955 |
HMS Spearhead | P263 | Cammell Laird | August 18, 1943 | December 21, 1944 | September 1, 1967 |
HMS track | P265 (?) | Cammell Laird | October 1, 1943 | February 18, 1945 | 1969 |
HMS Scorcher | P258 | Cammell Laird | December 14, 1943 | March 16, 1945 | 1962 |
HMS Sanguine | P266 | Cammell Laird | January 10, 1944 | May 13, 1945 | 1969 |
HMS saga | P257 | Cammell Laird | April 5, 1944 | June 14, 1945 | 1969 |
HMS Seneschal | P255 | Scott's | September 1, 1943 | September 6, 1945 | 1960 |
HMS Sentinel | P256 | Scott's | November 15, 1943 | December 28, 1945 | 1962 |
HMS Springer | P265 (?) | Cammell Laird | May 8, 1944 | August 2, 1945 | 1972 |
HMS Sea Robin | Cammell Laird | Order canceled | |||
HMS Sprightly | Cammell Laird | Order canceled | |||
HMS Surface | Cammell Laird | Order canceled | |||
HMS Surge | Cammell Laird | Order canceled |
See also
- List of French submarine classes
- Submarine class S (other submarine classes with the name S )
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. 1st edition. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-613-02585-X .
- Anthony Preston: The History of the Submarines. German edition. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1998, ISBN 3-86070-697-7 .
- Peter Padfield: The Submarine War 1939-1945. Ullstein Taschenbuchverlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-548-24766-0 .
Web links
- S-Class on uboat.net (English)
- S-Class at submariners.co.uk (English)
- S-Class at www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk (English)
- Israeli S-class submarines (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The uboat.net (see: Weblinks ) gives 715 GRT for the overwater displacement of the Seraph class . Robert Hutchinson (see: literature ) gives 865 ts . Erminio Bagnasco (see: literature) gives 814 ts to 872 ts.
- ↑ a b The uboat.net gives 990 GRT for the underwater displacement of the Seraph class. Hutchinson and Bagnasco give 990 ts.
- ↑ a b The sources uboat.net and Robert Hutchinson give very different dates for the date of commissioning. Bagnasco does not provide dates for individual submarines. According to uboat.net, the first new P222 was put into service on March 4, 1942. According to Hutchinson, the first new building put into service was the Safari on February 15, 1942. The text takes the information from uboat.net as a basis. Contradictions are mentioned in further footnotes.
- ↑ The overview only shows the relationship between departures due to accidents or enemy action and additions due to new buildings. Shipyard stays for overhaul or modernization are not considered. As a result, the number of real operational submarines was lower.
- ^ Peter Padfield: The Submarine War 1939-1945. P. 39, see literature
- ↑ The uboat.net specifies 640 GRT for the overwater displacement of the Swordfish class. Hutchinson gives 730 ts. Erminio Bagnasco gives 737 ts.
- ↑ The uboat.net gives 670 GRT for the above water displacement of the Shark class. Robert Hutchinson and Erminio Bagnasco give 768 ts.
- ↑ The uboat.net specifies 927 GRT for the underwater displacement of the Swordfish class. Hutchinson and Bagnasco give 927 ts.
- ↑ The uboat.net gives 960 GRT for the underwater displacement of the Shark class. Hutchinson and Bagnasco give 960 ts.
- ↑ A feature film about the secret service operation was produced in 1956 under the title The Man Who Never Was (Eng .: The man who never existed ). In the film, HMS Scythian took on the role of HMS Seraph .
- ↑ Source: www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/kriegsrecht/transporte.htm
- ↑ The source: Anthony Preston: The History of the Submarines. (see literature ) is unclear about the point of diving depth. There it is stated on page 59f: "The small Dutch and British submarines could operate within the 10-fathom line (28 m)". But 10 threads would be about 18 m.
- ↑ Source: www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/kriegsrecht/schiffbruechige.htm
- ↑ As of May 9, 2007
- ↑ a b Hutchinson does not mention the sterlet . Bagnasco and uboat.net assign them to the second assembly.
- ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, April 1943. Retrieved on June 13, 2019 .
- ↑ The uboat.net states November 28, 1932 for the Swordfish to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives September 16, 1932.
- ↑ The uboat.net states February 27, 1933 for the Sturgeon to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives December 15, 1932.
- ↑ The uboat.net states October 2, 1933 for the Seahorse to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives July 26, 1933.
- ↑ The uboat.net states October 27, 1933 for the Starfish to be put into service. Hutchinson gives July 3, 1933.
- ↑ The uboat.net states December 31, 1934 for the Shark to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives October 5, 1934.
- ↑ The uboat.net states March 4th 1942 for the commissioning of the P 222. Hutchinson states November 3, 1942.
- ↑ The uboat.net states March 14, 1942 for the safari to go into service. Hutchinson gives February 15, 1942.
- ↑ The uboat.net states March 13, 1942 for the commissioning of the Sahib. Hutchinson states May 30, 1942.
- ↑ The uboat.net specifies June 10, 1942 for the Seraph to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives May 27, 1942.
- ↑ The uboat.net states August 8, 1942 for the Splendid to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives August 4, 1942.
- ↑ The uboat.net states November 3rd, 1942 for the commissioning of the Sea Nymph. Hutchinson gives July 29, 1942.
- ↑ The uboat.net states December 30, 1942 when the Simoom was put into service. Hutchinson states November 28, 1942.
- ↑ The uboat.net states February 8, 1943 for the commissioning of the satyr. Hutchinson gives September 28, 1942.
- ↑ The uboat.net states March 18, 1943 for the start of the Surf. Hutchinson gives November 18, 1943.
- ↑ The uboat.net states April 15, 1943 for the commissioning of the Scepter. Hutchinson gives January 1943.
- ↑ The uboat.net states April 23, 1943 for the Syrtis to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives March 24, 1943.
- ↑ The uboat.net states that the Stoic was put into service as June 29, 1943. Hutchinson gives May 31, 1943.
- ↑ The uboat.net specifies August 23, 1943 for the commissioning of the Storm. Hutchinson gives July 9, 1943.
- ↑ The uboat.net states that the Sirdar was put into service as September 20, 1943. Hutchinson gives August 18, 1943.
- ↑ The uboat.net states October 9, 1943 for the commissioning of the Stratagem. Hutchinson gives August 14, 1943.
- ↑ The uboat.net states that the Strongbow was put into service on December 23, 1943. Hutchinson gives November 17, 1943.
- ↑ The uboat.net states April 22, 1944 for the Shalimar to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives April 3, 1944.
- ↑ The uboat.net states August 11, 1944 for the commissioning of the Scythian. Hutchinson gives July 11, 1944.
- ↑ The uboat.net states December 9, 1944 for the Scotsman's commissioning. Hutchinson gives October 27, 1944.
- ↑ The uboat.net states May 12th 1945 for the commissioning of the Sea Devil. Hutchinson states March 31, 1945.
- ↑ The uboat.net are for the commissioning of the Sturdy on 29 December 1943rd Hutchinson states November 29, 1943.
- ↑ The uboat.net states April 16, 1944 for the Subtle to go into service. Hutchinson gives March 11, 1944.
- ↑ The uboat.net states that the Sea Scout was commissioned on June 19, 1944. Hutchinson states May 15, 1944.
- ↑ The uboat.net states July 14, 1944 for the commissioning of the Selene. Hutchinson gives June 10, 1944.
- ↑ The uboat.net states September 7, 1944 for the Solent to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives July 29, 1944.
- ↑ The uboat.net states October 8, 1944 for the Sleuth to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives September 2, 1944.
- ↑ The uboat.net specifies November 23, 1944 for the Sidon to be commissioned. Hutchinson gives October 24, 1944.
- ↑ The uboat.net states December 21, 1944 for the commissioning of the Spearhead. Hutchinson gives November 21, 1944.
- ↑ a b The uboat.net gives the same tower number 265 for both HMS Spur and HMS Springer .
- ↑ The uboat.net states February 18, 1945 for the commissioning of the track. Hutchinson states January 6, 1945.
- ↑ The uboat.net states March 16, 1945 for the commissioning of the scorcher. Hutchinson states February 6, 1945.
- ↑ The uboat.net states May 13th 1945 for the commissioning of the Sanguine. Hutchinson states February 15, 1945.
- ↑ The uboat.net states June 14, 1945 for the saga to go into service. Hutchinson states May 27, 1945.
- ↑ The uboat.net states that the Seneschal was commissioned on September 6, 1945. Hutchinson states July 31, 1945.
- ↑ The uboat.net states December 28, 1945 for the commissioning of the Sentinel. Hutchinson states November 28, 1945.
- ↑ The uboat.net states August 2, 1945 for the jumpers to go into service. Hutchinson states July 2, 1945.