British U class submarine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The British U-Class submarines were a class of 49 small submarines built just before and during the Second World War.
These small submarines, of around 630 tons, were originally intended as unarmed training vessels to replace the ageing H class, to be used as practice targets in anti-submarine training exercises. The first three boats, HMS Undine, HMS Unity, and HMS Ursula were ordered in 1936, and during construction were modified to accommodate four internal and two external bow tubes. Apart from Undine and Unity, all boats were also equipped with a 3 inch gun, although they lacked a hatch for the gun crew, who had instead to use the main conning tower hatch.
As war loomed, twelve more vessels were ordered, although only four had the external tubes. These were dropped from later vessels because they generated a large bow wave and made depth keeping more difficult at periscope depth.
Equipped with torpedo tubes, they proved to be useful warships in the confined waters of the North Sea and partuclarly in the Mediterranean. A further 41 vessels, forming the second group, were ordered in 1940 and 1941. They were similar to the first group, but were lengthened by 5 feet to provide a more streamlined shape. All but two of the 49 boats built were constructed by Vickers.
Most of the boats built served with part of the 2nd Submarine Flotilla based at Malta. 19 were lost during the war; 13 in the Mediterranean and the remainder in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. In addition, one vessel, HMS Untamed sank in May 1943 but was salvaged and reconstructed to be recomissioned as HMS Vitality. From 1941, some of the boats were transferred to Soviet, Free French and other allied navies.
The design was developed into the welded V class later in the war.
Most of the submarines were powered by electric motors that could put out about 800 to 1000 horsepower.
One of the most famous U-class submarines was HMS Upholder, commanded for its entire career by Lieutenant-Commander Malcolm Wanklyn. Wanklyn received a Victoria Cross for attacking a well-defended convoy on 25 May 1941 and sinking an Italian liner, Conte Rosso. In her 16 month operational career in the Mediterranean, before she was sunk in April 1942, Upholder carried out 24 patrols and sank around 119,000 tons of Axis ships – 3 U-boats, one destroyer, 15 transport ships and possibly a cruiser and a destroyer.
The last surviving U-class boats were scrapped in 1950.
