Unbending Crest

Small Patrol Submarine

 

Type:
U Class
Second Group

Pennant No.:
P.37

Laid Down:
30th August 1940 as P37
Renamed January 1943.
Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness.


Commissioned:
5th November 1941.
Lt. H. Winter.

Commander:
1941-1942
Lt. H. Winter.
1942-1943
Lt. Cdr. E.T. Stanley, DSC.
1943
Lt. R.H.H. Brunner.
1943-1944
Lt. J.D. Martin, DSC.
1944-1945
Lt. J. Whitton, DSC.
Apr. - July 1945
Lt. R.G. Wade RNVR..
July 1945
Lt. O. Lascelles, DSC
Lt. P.C. Chapman, DSO, DSC.

Complement:
33
4 Officers, 29 Others.

Service Career:
1942.
9th Flotilla, Dundee.
1943.
10th Flotilla, Malta.
1944.
6th Flotilla, Blyth.
1945.
6th Flotilla, Blyth.

Fate:
10th February 1942 - Departed Lerwick, ordered to patrol off the coast between Stattlandet and Gripholen.

16th May 1942 - Departed Lerwick to patrol off Utvaer.

July 1942 - On passage to Gibraltar.

5th October 1942 - Departed Malta to patrol the eastern approaches to Tripoli.
8th October 1942 - Sank the Italian ship Lupa II with gunfire North-East of Djerba, Tunisia. Two torpedoes had been fired first but these were evaded.
9th October 1942 - Sank a schooner carrying fodder, partly by gunfire but finishing her off by setting her on fire. Later the same day in a night attack, fired two torpedoes one of which hit and sank the Italian merchant ship Alga. She was carrying petrol and burned fiercely before sinking.
19th October 1942 - Torpedoed and sank the Italian destroyer Giovanni da Verazzano and the Italian merchant Beppe south-west off Lampione Island.

1st December 1942 - On patrol in the Lampedusa area,
28th December 1942 - Landed agents in Tunisia.

23rd January 1943 - Torpedoed and damaged the Italian passenger/cargo ship Viminale and sank the Italian tug Luni south-east of Capo dell' Armi, Italy. Having suffered damage to her batteries during the counter attack she returned to Malta.

February 1943 - Patrolling the southern half of the Adriatic.
9th February 1943 - Met a southbound ship off Monopoli firing three torpedoes, one of which hit and stopped the vessel, which was Eritrea.
10th February 1943 - Attacked a small passenger-cargo vessel but missed astern with two torpedoes. The target took shelter in a nearby bay and anchored. Followed up and missed again with another torpedo. Yet another torpedo fired hit her and she was beached with a broken back. This was Carlo Margottini.  Having expended all her torpedoes returned to Malta.

1st March 1943 - Patrolling off the south coast of Sicily.
10th March 1943 - Torpedoed and damaged the Italian merchant ship Carlo Margottini off Gravosa (Gruz, Croatia).
13th March 1943 - Landed a party on the east Calabrian coast, the party became compromised and were unable to be recovered.
14th March 1943 - Torpedoed and sank the Italian merchant ships Citta di Bergamo and Cosenza off Cape Spartivento, Italy.
The landing party who had been landed the previous day made their way into Sicily but were captured and became prisoners of war.

April 1943 - Patrolling off the east Tunisian coast in the Gulf of Hammamet. May 1943 - In Malta.

Sold to be broken up for scrap on 23 December 1949. Scrapped at Gateshead in May 1950.