British S class submarine (1931)

The S-class submarines of the Royal Navy were originally designed and built during the modernisation of the submarine force in the early 1930s to meet the need for smaller boats to patrol the restricted waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea replacing the British H class submarines. Due to major naval construction of the Royal Navy during the Second World War, however, the S class became the largest single group of submarines ever built for the Royal Navy; a total of 62 were constructed over a period of 15 years, with fifty of the "improved" S-class launched between 1940 and 1945.

Service

The submarines operated in the waters around the United Kingdom and in the Mediterranean, and later in the Far East after being fitted with extra tankage.

After the war S class boats continued to serve in the Royal Navy until the 1960s. The last operational boat in the Royal Navy was HMS Sea Devil, launched in 1945 and scrapped in February 1966.

Several S-class submarines were sold on or lent to other navies:

• Netherlands 1
• Portugal 3
• France 4
• Israel 2.

A modified version was ordered by the Turkish navy in 1939 as the Oruc Reis class submarine.

Service losses

Of the twelve S-boats that were in service in 1939, only three survived to see the end of World War II, a loss rate that inspired the song "Twelve Little S-Boats", based on a nursery rhyme originally written by Septimus Winner in 1868.^[1]

Twelve little S-boats "go to it" like Bevin,

Starfish goes a bit too far — then there were eleven.

Eleven watchful S-boats doing fine and then

Seahorse fails to answer — so there are ten.

Ten stocky S-boats in a ragged line,

Sterlet drops and stops out — leaving us nine.

Nine plucky S-boats, all pursuing Fate,

Shark is overtaken — now we are eight.

Eight sturdy S-boats, men from Hants and Devon,

Salmon now is overdue — and so the number's seven.

Seven gallant S-boats, trying all their tricks,

Spearfish tries a newer one — down we come to six.

Six tireless S-boats fighting to survive,

No reply from Swordfish — so we tally five.

Five scrubby S-boats, patrolling close inshore,

Snapper takes a short cut — now we are four.

Four fearless S-boats, too far out to sea,

Sunfish bombed and scrap-heaped — we are only three.

Three threadbare S-boats patrolling o'er the blue,

...

Two ice-bound S-boats...

...

One lonely S-boat...

...

The survivors, left blank in the fatalistic rhyme, were HMS Sealion (scuttled), HMS Seawolf (broken up), and HMS Sturgeon (sold).

General characteristics

First Group

The first group of S-class submarines consisted of four boats. They were smaller and slower than later classes, and carried less armament, but could be crewed by fewer men. All four were built at Chatham Dockyard, between 1930 and 1932. During the war, they operated in home waters, particularly the English Channel, and off the Scandinavian coast. The later second and third groups of S-class submarines would have their fuel capacity expanded to allow them to operate further and overcome this limitation.

The mortality rate of these early ships was particularly high. Only one, HMS Sturgeon, survived to the end of the war.

Ships:

Two ordered under the 1929 Construction Programme:

• HMS Swordfish
• HMS Sturgeon

Two ordered under the 1930 Construction Programme:

• HMS Seahorse
• HMS Starfish

Second Group

The second group of S-class submarines consisted of eight boats. They were larger than the preceding first group and required more men to crew, but carried a similar armament. Construction was divided between Chatham Dockyard, and the yards of Scotts, of Greenock and Cammell Laird & Co Limited, of Birkenhead. All the ships were built between 1934 and 1937. During the war, they, like the submarines of the first group, mostly operated in home waters, ranging as far afield as the Bay of Biscay and the Scandinavian coast. One, HMS Sunfish, was assigned to the Soviet Navy and operated in the Baltic Sea, before she was sunk by friendly aircraft.

A large percentage of these submarines were also lost during the war. Only two, HMS Sealion and HMS Seawolf survived to the end of the war.

Ships:

Two ordered under the 1931 Construction Programme:

• HMS Sealion
• HMS Shark

Two ordered under the 1932 Construction Programme:

• HMS Snapper
• HMS Salmon

One ordered under the 1933 Construction Programme:

• HMS Seawolf

Two ordered under the 1934 Construction Programme:

• HMS Spearfish
• HMS Sunfish

One ordered under the 1935 Construction Programme:

• HMS Sterlet

Third Group

The third and by far the most numerous group of S-class submarines consisted of 50 boats. They were the largest and most heavily armed of the S-class and required more men to crew. They were one knot faster on the surface, but two knots slower when submerged. Most of the group were built at the yards of either Scotts, of Greenock or Cammell Laird & Co Limited, of Birkenhead, with a handful being built at Chatham, or by Vickers Armstrongs Ltd, of Barrow-in-Furness. Construction was carried out throughout the war, particularly between 1941 and 1945. Equipped with a greater fuel capacity than their predecessors, they operated much further afield, in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific far east.

There were two distinct subgroups. The first were boats of 842 tons, comprising those ordered under the 1939 War Emergency, 1940 and 1941 Programmes (except Sea Devil and Scotsman), plus the Sturdy and Stygian of the 1942 Programme; these carried an external stern torpedo tube in addition to the six bow tubes. The second subgroup were boats of 814 tons, comprising the Sea Devil and Scotsman of the 1941 Programme, plus those ordered under the 1942 and 1943 Programmes (except Sturdy and Stygian); these carried no external torpedo tube, but had a thicker welded pressure hull providing for an operational depth limit of 350 feet - compared with the 300 feet limit in the first subgroup.

Losses continued to be high. Nine ships; P222, Saracen, Sahib, Sickle, Simoom, Splendid, Stonehenge, Stratagem and Syrtis were lost during the war, and Shakespeare and Strongbow were so badly damaged that they were written off and scrapped. Many surviving ships remained in service after the war. Sportsman, by now transferred to the French navy, was lost off Toulon in 1951 and Sidon was sunk after a torpedo malfunction in 1955.

Ships:

Five ships were ordered under the 1939 War Emergency Programme.

• HMS Safari
• HMS Sahib
• HMS Saracen
• HMS Satyr
• HMS Sceptre

Twenty ships were ordered under the 1940 Programme. These differed from the initial five by having an external stern torpedo tube fitted, also a 20 mm Oerlikon AA gun and air warning RDF installed.

• HMS Seadog
• HMS Sibyl
• HMS Sea Rover
• HMS Seraph
• HMS Shakespeare
• HMS P222 which was lost before a name could be alloted to her.
• HMS Sea Nymph
• HMS Sickle
• HMS Simoom
• HMS Sirdar
• HMS Spiteful
• HMS Splendid
• HMS Sportsman
• The final seven further ships (P81 to P87) ordered under the 1940 Programme, all from Vickers-Armstrongs, were cancelled during 1943 (and were never laid down or named).

Fifteen ships were ordered under the 1941 Programme.

• HMS Stoic
• HMS Stonehenge
• HMS Storm
• HMS Stratagem
• HMS Strongbow
• HMS Spark
• HMS Scythian
• HMS Stubborn
• HMS Surf
• HMS Syrtis
• HMS Shalimar
• HMS Scotsman
• HMS Sea Devil
• HMS Spirit
• HMS Statesman

Thirteen ships were ordered under the 1942 Programme.

• HMS Sturdy
• HMS Stygian
• HMS Subtle
• HMS Supreme
• HMS Sea Scout
• HMS Selene
• HMS Seneschal
• HMS Sentinel
• HMS Sidon
• HMS Sleuth
• HMS Solent
• HMS Spearhead
• HMS Springer

Eight ships were ordered under the 1943 Programme, but only four were completed. The other four submarines was cancelled after the war ended in 1945, and they became surplus to peace time requirements.

• HMS Saga
• HMS Scorcher
• HMS Spur
• HMS Sanguine
• HMS Sea Robin (P267) - cancelled
• HMS Sprightly (P268) - cancelled
• HMS Surface (P269) - cancelled
• HMS Surge (P271) - cancelled

References

Sources

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.