Small Patrol Submarine

 

Type:
Unity Class
Prototype

Pennant No.:
59.C

Laid Down:
19th February 1937.
Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness.

Commissioned:
20th December 1938.
Lt. Cdr. G.C. Phillips DSO.

Commander:
Nov. 1937 - Apr. 1940
Cdr. G.C. Phillips DSO.
Apr. - Oct. 1940
Lt. Cdr. W.A. Cavaye.
Oct. 1940 - May 1941
Lt. Cdr. A.J. Mackenzie.
May - June 1941
Lt. I.L.M. Mc Geoch.
June - Sept. 1941
Lt. Cdr. A.J. Mackenzie.
Sept. - Nov. 1941
Lt. A.R. Hezlet DSC.
Nov. - Dec. 1941
Lt. I.L.M. Mc Geoch.
Dec. 1941 - Mar. 1942
Lt. A.R. Hezlet DSC.
Mar. 1942 - Jan. 1943
Lt. R.B. Lakin, DSO DSC.
Jan - May 1943
Lt. A.R. Profit, DSC.
May - July 1943
Lt. M.D. Tattersall RNVR.
July 1943 - May 1944
Lt. A.G. Davies.

Complement:
27 (Peacetime)
31 (In War).
4 Officers, 23 Others,
4 Officers, 27 Others.

Service Career:
1938
6th Flotilla, HMS Titania, Portland
Sept. 1939
6th Flotilla, HMS Titania, Blyth.
1940
1st Flotilla, Malta.

1942
8th Flotilla, Gibraltar.
1943
7th Flotilla, Rothesay.
Fate:
Completed Thirtyfour War Patrol before being transferred to the Russian Navy.

First Patrol - 31st August 1939.
Was part of the submarine force which was in the Kattegat and off the coast of Norway during the German invasion of Norway.
9th September 1939 -Launched a total of five torpedoes on 9th September 1939 at U35, all missed.
13th September - Ended First patrol at Blyth.

Second Patrol - 28th October 1939.
Departed Rosyth to patrol in the North Sea.
7th November - Ended Second patrol at Rosyth.

Third Patrol - 22nd November 1939.
Departed Rosyth but was later in the day recalled.
23rd November 1939 - Ended her Third patrol at Blyth.

Fourth Patrol - 4th December 1939.
Departed Rosyth to patrol off the West coast of Denmark and in the Heligoland Bight.
14th December 1939 - Attempted to sink the Leipzig, two of the torpedoes of the four fired sank the escort vessel F9.
20th December 1939 - Ended Fourth patrol at Blyth.

Fifth Patrol - 10th January 1940.
Departed Blyth to patrol off the West coast of Denmark entrance to the Skagerrak.
24th January 1940 - Ended Fifth patrol at Rosyth.

Sixth Patrol - 20th February 1940.
Departed Blyth to patrol off the West coast of Denmark.
3rd March 1940 - Ended Sixth patrol at Blyth.

Seventh Patrol - 12th March 1940.
Departed Blyth to patrol in the Kattegat/Skagerrak.
19th March 1940 - Sank the German steamer Heddernheim.
23rd March 1940 - Stopped the Danish merchant Sejrö but released her after examination.
25th March 1940 - Ended Seventh patrol at Blyth.

Eighth Patrol - 8th April 1940.
Departed Blyth to patrol off the West coast of Denmark entrance to the Skagerrak.
20th April 1940 - Ended Eighth patrol at Blyth.

April to July 1940 in refit.

Ninth Patrol - 30th July 1940.
Departed Blyth to patrol in the North Sea.
12th August 1940 - Ended Ninth patrol at Blyth.

Tenth Patrol - 28th August 1940.
Departed Blyth to patrol off the South-West coast of Norway, near Stavanger.
13th September 1940 - Ended Tenth patrol at Blyth.

Eleventh Patrol - 20th September 1940.
Departed Sheerness to patrol in the English Channel due to the threat of the invasion of England by the Germans.
26th September 1940 - Ended Eleventh patrol at Portsmouth.

Twelfth Patrol - 4th October 1940.
Departed Portsmouth to patrol in the English Channel.
7th October 1940 - Ended Twelfth patrol at Portsmouth.

Thirteenth Patrol - 20th October 1940.
Departed Portsmouth for Gibraltar and to perform an anti-uboat patrol in the Bay of Biscay whilst enroute for two days.
30th October 1940 - Ended Thirteenth patrol at Gibraltar.

Fourteenth Patrol - 16th January 1941.
Departed Gibraltar to patrol in the Gulf of Genoa and to proceed to Malta afterwards.
29th January 1941 - Ended Fourteenth patrol at Malta.

Fifteenth Patrol - 4th February 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol along the shipping route from Sicily to Tripoli near the Kuriat Islands off the East coast of Tunisia.
8th February - Attacked an Italian convoy firing four torpedoes, no hits were registered.
9th February - Attacked an Italian convoy firing two torpedoes, no hits were registered.
11th February 1941 - Ended Fifteenth patrol at Malta.

Sixteenth Patrol - 20th February 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol along the shipping route from Sicily to Tripoli near the Kuriat Islands off the East coast of Tunisia.
22nd February - Damaged two ships (Silvia Tripcovitch and Sabbia) missed the liner Vulcania.
3rd March - Ended Sixteenth patrol at Malta.

Seventeenth Patrol - 19th March 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off Lampedusa to intercept an important Italian convoy that had left Naples for Tripoli.
20th March - Carried out Operation Sich.
24th March - Attacked a convoy East of Cape Bon, Tunisia, No hits were registered.
1st April - Ended Seventeenth patrol at Malta.

Eighteenth Patrol - 9th April 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off the Gulf of Hammamet, near the Kurba Bank. Later ordered to patrol off Cape Bon.
12th April - Attacked a convoy South of Cape Bon.
20th April - Ended Eighteenth patrol at Malta.

Nineteenth Patrol - 27th April 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off Kerkennah and later she shifted to the Gulf of Hammamet.
4th May - Attacked an armed merchant vessel or auxiliary with four torpedoes near the Kerkenah bank.
11th May - Ended Nineteenth patrol at Malta.

Twentieth Patrol - 24th May 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol the approaches to Tripoli, Libya.
27th May - Attacked a merchant vessel with two torpedoes, No hits were obtained.
31st May - Attacked an escorted merchant vessel off Zuara, Libya with two torpedoes. No hits were obtained.
6th June - Ended Twentieth patrol at Malta.

Twentyfirst Patrol - 18th July 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol in an area South of Lampedusa.
1st August - Ended Twentyfirst patrol at Malta.

Twentysecond Patrol - 14th August 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol the Southern approaches to the Stait of Messina.
23rd August - Attacked by aircraft and bombed while at periscope depth about 2 nautical miles East of Taormina, Sicily, Italy. Two bombs were dropped but no damage was sustained.
It was intended that Ursula would land commando's on this patrol but due to bad weather the landing was aborted.
27th August - Ended Twentysecond patrol at Malta.

Twentythird Patrol - 29th August 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol South of Lampedusa. Later she was sent to guard the Eastern approaches to Tripoli, Libya as an important Italian troop convoy had departed Naples for Tripoli that day.
2nd September - Ended patrol at Malta.

Twentyfourth Patrol - 16th September 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off Tripoli, Libya.
18th September.
Attacked the Italian troop transport Vulcania East of Tripoli, Libya. Four torpedoes were fired but all missed.
20th September - Ended patrol at Malta.

Twentyfifth Patrol - 23rd September 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol the Southern approaches to the Stait of Messina.
6th October - Ended patrol at Malta.

Twentysixth Patrol - 17th October 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off the East coast of Tunisia off the Gulf of Hammamet.
18th October - Attacked, torpedoed and damaged the Italian merchant Beppe west of Lampedusa Island. The Beppe is towed to Tripoli.
19th October - Returned to Malta to replenish torpedoes and allocated new patrol area the southern approaches to the Strait of Messina.
28th October - Ended patrol at Malta.

Twentyseventh Patrol - 6th November 1941.
Departed Malta to patrol off Misrata, Libya.
11th November - Attacked a convoy with three torpedoesSouth-East of Misrata. No hits were obtained and Ursula was depth charged by the escorts.
20th November - Ended patrol at Malta.

30th November 1941 - Departed Malta for refit in UK via Gibraltar.

Twentyeighth Patrol - 14th December 1941.
Departed Gibraltar on a anti-uboat patrol to the East of Gibraltar near Alboran Island.
16th December - Ended patrol at Gibraltar.

Twentyninth Patrol - 17th December 1941.
Departed Gibraltar to patrol in the Bay of Biscay and end this patrol in the U.K.
30th December - Ended patrol at Portsmouth.

January to April 1942 - Refitting in Chatham.

Thirtieth Patrol - 24th June 1942.
Departed Lerwick to provide cover for convoys PQ 17 / QP 13.
13th July - Ended patrol at Lerwick.

Thirtyfirst Patrol - 8th October 1942.
Departed Holy Loch for Gibraltar to join the 8th flottilla there as a temporarily reinforcement for the upcoming invasion of North Africa. On passage to carry out a short patrol in the Bay of Biscay.
22nd October - Ended patrol at Gibraltar.

Thirtysecond Patrol -
1st November 1942.
Departed Gibraltar to perform a special operation (during operation Torch) and upon completion to patrol to the West of Ibiza.
3rd November - Landed a folbot with a party of two men for a beach reconnaissance in the Gulf of Arzew. Both men returned in the early hours of 4th November.
7th November - Launched two folbots with two men in each folbot for beach reconnaissance. On completion of this operation she was to act as a beacon for the landing forces. Shortly after arriving in her designated position she carried out the beacon procedure. On completion of the beacon operation she proceeded to her patrol position off Ibiza.
12th November - Ended patrol at Gibraltar.

Thirtythird Patrol - 20th November 1942.
Departed Gibraltar to patrol between Toulon and Genoa. On this patrol two folbots and a party of two that could be employed for train wrecking if a favourable opportunity was to occur.
30th November -Landed a party of two to sabotage a railway tunnel near Laigueglia. The operation was succesful and both returned later that night.
1st December -Sank the Italian submarine chaser V135/Togo with scuttling charges about south of Capo Mele, Italy.
2nd December - Damaged a train with gunfire near San Lorenzo, Italy.
3rd December - Bombarded olive oil storage tanks at Oneglia, Italy. The action had to be broken off when the gun jammed. Meanwhile Ursula became the target of shore batteries so dived and proceeded to seaward.
On the same day sank the German merchant Sainte Marguerite II South-East of Cannes, France.
9th December - Ended patrol at Algiers.

Thirtyfourth Patrol - 21st December 1942.
Departed Algiers to patrol off Marettimo Island.
28th December - Torpedoed and sank the German merchantship Gran, former Norwegian Gran north-west of Marettimo Island, Italy.
30th December - She rammed and damaged while she was in the process of attacking a southbound convoy of three large merchant vessels escorted by four destroyers North of Cape St Vito, Sicily. Having penetrated the destroyer screen and on the point of firing torpedoes when the convoy as a whole changed course and overran Ursula destroying both periscopes and standards, as well as damage to the conning tower. The attack had to be broken off.
4th January 1943 - Ended patrol at Algiers.
22nd February - Departed Algiers for UK via Gibraltar.
8th March 1943 - Attacked a German U-boat with four torpedoes. No hits were obtained.
14th March - Arrived Portsmouth.

August to November 1943 - Refitting at Blyth.

November 1943 to May 1944 - Employed mainly for Anti-submarine Exercises.

30th May 1944 - Decommissioned by the Royal Navy at Rosyth and transferred to the Soviet Union.

Ursula was transferred under the Lend-Lease to the Soviet Navy in 1944 and renamed V.4. She sailed for Polyarnoe in July of 1944 and was returned 10th February 1949.
Scrapped May 1950.