HMS Shark (54S)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 HMS Shark |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | S-class submarine |
| Name: | HMS Shark |
| Builder: | Chatham Dockyard |
| Launched: | May 31, 1934 |
| Fate: | Sunk July 6, 1940 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 670 tons surfaced 960 tons submerged |
| Length: | 208 ft 9 in (63.6 m) |
| Beam: | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
| Draught: | 10 ft 6 in (3.2 m) |
| Propulsion: | Twin diesel/electric |
| Speed: | 13.75 knots surfaced 10 knots (19 km/h) submerged |
| Complement: | 39 officers and men |
| Armament: | 6 x forward 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 12 torpedoes one three-inch (76 mm) gun one .303-calibre machine gun |
HMS Shark was a Royal Navy S-class submarine which was launched May 31, 1934 and fought in World War II. Shark is one of 12 boats named in the song Twelve Little S-Boats.
She was surfaced whilst on patrol off Skudesnes, south-west Norway on July 5, 1940, when a seaplane was sighted astern. As the submarine submerged, she was bombed, the explosions causing considerable damage. Without steering gear and the hydroplanes jammed hard to rise, the submarine’s bow broached the surface, where she continued to be bombed. Shark began to sink by the stern and all high-pressure air was used to return her to the surface. Once on the surface she attempted to get underway steering on main engines, but was sighted yet again, and attacked. The No. 4 ballast tank was holed, and with more aircraft arriving she had no option but to capitulate. At about 0400 hours the next day three German minesweeping trawlers M-1803, M1806 and M-1807 arrived to take Shark under tow but she began to sink stern first about 25 nautical miles (46 km) west-south-west of Egersund, Norway.[1] The wreck of the Shark was found by a survey vessel whilst surveying a cable route in April 2008 at a position of 58.7N 4.35E at 251 metres depth.[citation needed] Later the same week the vessel also charted the wreck of HMS Salmon after it appeared on her sonar scan.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Submarine losses 1904 to present day, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport
- Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
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