HMS Talisman (N78)

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HMS Talisman
Career (UK) Royal Navy Ensign
Builder: Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead
Laid down: 27 September 1938
Launched: 29 January 1940
Commissioned: 17 September 1942
Fate: sunk 17 September 1942
General characteristics
Class and type: British T class submarine
Displacement: 1,090 tons surfaced
1,575 tons submerged
Length: 275 ft (84 m)
Beam: 26 ft 6 in (8.1 m)
Draught: 16.3 ft (5.0 m)
Propulsion:

Two shafts
Twin diesel engines 2,500 hp (1.86 MW) each

Twin electric motors 1,450 hp (1.08 MW) each
Speed:

15.25 knots (28.7 km/h) surfaced

9 knots (20 km/h) submerged
Range: 4,500 nautical miles at 11 knots (8,330 km at 20 km/h) surfaced
Test depth: 300 ft (91 m) max
Complement: 59
Armament:

6 internal forward facing torpedo tubes
4 external forward facing torpedo tubes
6 reload torpedoes

4 inch (100 mm) deck gun

HMS Talisman (N78) was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead and launched on the 29 January 1940.

[edit] Career

Talisman had a relatively short but active career, spending most of her time in the Mediterranean.

One of her first actions was the capture of the French fishing vessel Le Clipper, which was then used to observe U-boat movements off the Gironde estuary before being brought into Falmouth. She later attacked HMS Otus by mistake, but fortunately was unsuccessful. She went on to sink two sailing vessels, the Vichy-French passenger ship Theophile Gautier and the Italian merchant Calitea, as well as destroying the grounded wreck of the German merchant Yalova. She also unsuccessfully attacked the German merchant Salzburg and an Italian convoy, missing the Italian merchant Lauretta, and being heavily depth charged by the escorting Italian torpedo boat Libra.[1]

[edit] Sinking

Talisman left Gibraltar on 10 September 1942 carrying supplies to Malta, where she was due no later than the 18th. She reported sighting a U-boat off Philippeville, Algeria on the 15th, but was not heard from again, and she failed to arrive at Malta. She is presumed to have hit an Italian mine off Sicily on the 17th. She was declared overdue on 18 September 1942.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ HMS Talisman, Uboot.net
  2. ^ Submarine losses 1904 to present day, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport