HMS Swordfish (61S)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Swordfish.
HMS Swordfish
Career
Name: HMS Swordfish
Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Laid down: 1 December 1930
Launched: 10 November 1931
Commissioned: 28 November 1932
Fate: Sunk by mine 7 November 1940
General characteristics
Displacement:640 tons surfaced
935 tons submerged
Length:202 ft 6 in (61.72 m)
Beam:24 ft (7.3 m)
Draught:10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Propulsion:Twin diesel/electric
Speed:13.75 knots surfaced
10 knots submerged
Complement:36 officers and men
Armament:6 x forward 21-inch torpedo tubes
12 torpedoes
one three-inch gun
one 20 mm cannon
one .303-calibre machine gun

HMS Swordfish (61S) was a group one British S class submarine that was sunk on a combat patrol in the English Channel in November 1940 during the Second World War.

Nothing was heard from her following her departure from Portsmouth on 7 November 1940 with 40 crew on board to relieve HMS Usk which was on patrol off the Western Approaches near Brest, France. At the time it was thought that she had been sunk by a German destroyer.[1] However she was discovered by a local diver in 1983, split into two just forward of the gun by a mine.[2][3] The wreck lies in about 46 metres of water roughly 12 miles south of St. Catherine’s Point, Isle of Wight.[4] It is likely that she struck the mine shortly after sailing whilst carrying out a trim dive. The wreck site is designated as a protected place[5] under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

See also

References

  1. Submarine losses 1904 to present day, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport
    • Innes McCartney (2002). Lost Patrols: Submarine Wrecks of the English Channel.
  2. Disappearance of HMS Swordfish, Isle of Wight index
  3. HMS Swordfish, Uboot.net
  4. "Statutory Instrument 2008/0950". Office of Public Sector Information, 1 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-19.

Coordinates: 50°28′N 1°21′W / 50.467°N 1.350°W