Urge Crest

Small Patrol Submarine

 


Type:
U Class
First Group

Pennant No.:
N.17

Laid Down:
30th October 1939.
Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness.

Commissioned:
12th December 1940.
Lt. E.P. Tompkinson DSO*.


Commander:
Sept. 1940 - May 1942
Lt. E.P. Tompkinson DSO*.
1941
Lt. C.P. Norman.
1941
Lt. E.P. Tompkinson DSO*.
1941-1942
Lt. J.D. Martin.
1942
Lt. E.P. Tompkinson DSO*.

Complement:
31
4 Officers, 27 Others.

Service Career:
1941
9th Flotilla, Dundee.
1941
5th Flotilla, Fort Blockhouse.
1941
1st Flotilla, Malta.
1942
10th Flotilla, Malta.

Fate:
Completed Twenty War Patrols.

On completion of work-up.
4th January 1941 - Departed Holy Loch for Dundee.
7th January - Arrived Dundee.
11th January - Departed Dundee for Scapa Flow.
12th January - Arrived Scapa Flow.

First Patrol - 8th February 1941.
Departed Scapa Flow to patrol off the South-West coast of Norway.
15th February - Ended patrol at Dundee.

Second Patrol -
25th February 1941.
Departed Dundee to patrol off Fro-Havet, Norway.
12th March - Ended patrol at Dundee. 31st March 1941 - Departed Dundee for Scapa Flow.
1st April - Arrived Scapa Flow.
5th April - Departed Scapa Flow for Dundee.
6th April - Arrived Dundee.
8th April - Departed Dundee for Sheerness.
10th April - Arrived Sheerness.
11th April - Departed Sheerness for Portsmouth.
12th April - Arrived Portsmouth.

14th April 1941 - Departed Portsmouth for Malta via Gibraltar.
18th April - Torpedoed and sank the Italian tanker Franco Martelli in the Bay of Biscay.
23rd April - Arrived Gibraltar.
28th April - Departed Gibraltar for Malta.
6th May - Arrived Malta.

Third Patrol - 14th May 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol between Tunisia and Lampedusa Island.
20th May - Fired four torpedoes at the Italian merchant ship Capo Orso North-West of Lampedusa Island. The torpedoes however missed.
21st May - Attacked an Italian task force of two light cruisers escorted by three destroyers North-East of Lampedusa. No hits were obtained.
22nd May - Ended patrol at Malta.

Fourth Patrol - 1st June 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol between Tunisia and Lampedusa Island.
9th June - Attacked an enemy convoy north-west of Lampedusa Island. No hits were obtained.
12th June - Ended patrol at Malta.

Fifth Patrol - 23rd June 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol South of the Straits of Messina. She also carried a raiding party that was to be landed on the East coast of Sicily.
27th June - Landed raiding party off Taormina, Sicily.
28th June - Recovered raiding party.
29th June - Attacked the Italian heavy cruisers Trieste and Gorizia with four torpedoes east of Sicily.
2nd July - Fired three torpedoes at an armed merchant cruiser south of the Strait of Messina. All torpedoes fired missed their target.
4th July - Ended patrol at Malta. Sixth Patrol - 18th July 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off Palermo, Sicily.
24th July - Attacked an unescorted convoy of two small merchant vessels off Palermo, Sicily. Two torpedoes were fired at the second merchant vessel in line but these missed.
26th July - Patrol abandoned.
29th July - Ended patrol at Malta.

Seventh Patrol - 7th August 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off the East coast of Sicily to guard the Southern approaches to the Straits of Messina.
11th August - Abandoned patrol due to engine problems.
15th August - Ended patrol at Malta.

Eighth Patrol - 18th August 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol to the North of Pantelleria to intercept an important enemy troop convoy.
19th August - Attempted to attack a convoy of large liners North-North-West of Pantelleria. She was spotted from the air and depth charged by destroyers. She managed to slip away unharmed.
20th August - Ended patrol at Malta.

Ninth Patrol - 25th August 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
27th August - Torpedoed and damaged the Italian passenger ship Aquitania North of Marettimo Islan. In the same attack the Italian tanker Pozarica was missed.
29th August - Fired three torpedoes against the Italian troop transport Victoria South-East of Capri Island. All torpedoes missed their target.
1st September - Ended patrol at Malta.

Tenth Patrol - 22nd September 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off Palermo, Sicily. She is also to conduct a special operation.
24th September - Attacked an enemy merchant vessel off Cape Gallo, Sicily with one torpedo. No hit was obtained as the torpedo had a gyro failure.
1st October - Attempted to pick up the agent that was landed a week before off Cape Gallo, Sicily. The attempt was unsuccessful as Urge was ambushed by the Italians.
3rd October - Attacked the German submarine with four torpedoes West of Ustica Island, Italy. All missed the target.
5th October - Ended patrol at Malta.

Eleventh Patrol - 14th October 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off the South-East coast of Sicily to intercept three Italian destroyers of the Navigatori-class.
16th October - Ended patrol at Malta.

Twelfth Patrol - 18th October 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off the East coast of Tunisia between Kuriat and Lampion Island.
22nd October - Attacked the small Italian merchant Falco near Kuriat.
Later on the same day Urge also torpedoed and further damaged the Italian merchant Marigola off Kuriat, Tunisia. The Marigola was already grounded after being torpedoed by aircraft on 24 September 1941.
28th October - Ended patrol at Malta.

Thirteenth Patrol - 8th November 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol in the Ionian Sea.
17th November - Attacked a convoy West of Cephalonia Island, Greece. No hits were obtained.
21st November - Ended patrol at Malta.

Fourteenth Patrol - 10th December 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol to the South of the Straits of Messina.
14th December - Torpedoed and damaged the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto west-south-west of Capo dell'Armi.
20th December - Ended patrol at Malta.

Fifteenth Patrol - 30th December 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off the East coast of Tunisia between Kuriat and Lampion Island.
11th January 1942 - Ended patrol at Malta.

Sixteenth Patrol - 22nd January 1942.
Departed Malta to patrol the approaches of Tripoli to intercept an important enemy convoy.
24th January - Recalled to Malta.
26th January - Arrived Malta and departed the same day to resume her patrol to the East of Sicily.
1st February - Attacked an enemy convoy off Capo dell Armi, Calabria, Italy. All torpedoes missed the target.
3rd February - Ended patrol at Malta.

Seventeenth Patrol - 12th February 1942.
Departed Malta to carry out two special operations and to patrol to the North of Sicily.
16th February - Landed one of the three agents she had to land near Tunis, Tunisia. The landing of the other two agents had to be abandoned due to bad weather.
17th February - Attempted to land the remaining agents but again due to bad weather the operation had to be aborted.
26th February - Ended patrol at Malta.

Eighteenth Patrol - 9th March 1942.
Departed Malta to patrol in the Southern part of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
11th March - Due to a defective generator the patrol had to be abandoned.
14th March - Ended patrol at Malta.

Nineteenth Patrol - 23rd March 1942.
Departed Malta to patrol in the Southern part of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
29th March - Landed a raiding party.
30th March - Recovered the landing party.
Shortly after lading the raiding party attacked an enemy ship with three torpedoes that all missed. A gun action followed in which three hits were obtained. As the enemy gunfire drew nearer the action was broken off.
1st April - Torpedoed and sank the Italian light cruiser Giovanni delle Bande Nere south-east of Stromboli, Italy.
6th April - Ended patrol at Malta.

Twentieth Patrol - 11th April 1942.
Departed Malta for to patrol between Pantelleria and Lampedusa.
12th April - Attacked an enemy convoy South-East of Pantelleria. No hits were obtained.
13th April - Ordered to form a new patrol line with Upholder and Thrasher to the East of Tripoli, Libya.
15th April - Ordered to patrol to the South of Lampedusa and later to shift to the area North of that Island.
22nd April - Ended patrol at Malta.

27th April 1942.
Left Malta at dawn for Alexandria. Due to the constant bombing of Malta the 10th Submarine Flotilla shifted her base to Alexandria. She was due to arrive at Alexandria on 6th May 1942 but she failed to do so.
It is believed she was sunk by aircraft.

Sunk by aircraft 29th April 1942.

I was contacted some years ago by Jean-Pierre  Misson asking if I could provide any information regarding the loss of H.M. Submarine Urge.  Unfortunately all I could provide him with was what I had been able to find in the many books of my collection.

Since April of this year we have corresponded fairly frequently.  JP firmly believes he has found the remains of Urge off the coast of Libya.  He has contacted various authorities in the UK in an attempt to confirm his findings but unfortunately has had negative responses from these with the exception of pointing out to him that it should be treated with respect and not to be desecrated.  He is well aware of this and does not need reminding by someone sat behind a desk in a snug office.

Due to the political unrest in Libya he has been unable to dive the wreck and all the dive teams in the area have been confined to harbour.

The majority of references refer to Urge's loss as being to a minefield off the coast of Malta and ALSO POSSIBLY sunk by aircraft.

Quotes from JP taken from the Telegraph - "“I very much regret it does not seem anyone can reach this place in Libya any time soon. The area is totally out of bounds and at 76 my only hope is to reach HMS Urge in another lifetime."

“I have put in a statement of identification to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Submariners Associations UK, Royal Navy Submarine Museum and Bridgend Register Office. I hope I have fulfilled all my obligations to the families of the crew.”

“Mind you, there is no chance the wreck will ever be the target of any desecration as it is just too deep and difficult to find."

“My hope is that one day Europe or NATO will organize a visit to the submarine in the bay, to remember and honour all those men as their sacrifice has brought the longtime peace under the European flag.”

Hardly the words of someone intending to be disrespectful or to desecrate a site.