HMS Simoom (P225)

HMS Simoom
History
Class and type:	S class submarine
Name:	HMS Simoom
Builder:	Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead
Laid down:	14 July 1941
Launched:	October 12, 1942
Commissioned:	30 December 1942
Fate:	Sunk November 4–19, 1943
General characteristics
Displacement:	814-872 tons surfaced 990 tons submerged
Length:	217 ft (66 m)
Beam:	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Draught:	11 ft (3.4 m)
Speed:	14.75 knots surfaced 8 knots submerged
Complement:	48 officers and men
Armament:	6 × forward 21-inch torpedo tubes, one aft 13 torpedoes one three-inch gun (four-inch on later boats) one 20 mm cannon three .303-calibre machine gun

HMS Simoom was an S class submarine of the Royal Navy, and part of the Third Group built of that class. She was built by Cammell Laird and launched on October 12, 1942.

Career

She served in the Mediterranean, where she unsuccessfully attacked an unidentified merchant ship and later fired upon the Italian light cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi. The torpedoes missed the cruiser but hit and sank the destroyer Vincenzo Gioberti instead.

Details after this are sketchy. She possibly sank the Italian merchant (in German service) Trapani and the Greek sailing vessel Trias.^[1]

Sinking

Simoom went on patrol from Port Said to the Aegean on November 2, 1943. On the 5th she was diverted to the entrance of the Dardanelles. Ten days later she was sent ordered to return to port, but never arrived. On 15 November German radio broadcasts stated that a submarine had been destroyed in the Aegean and that several of the crew had been rescued. It is unlikely that this was Simoom, as she would have been miles out of position, nor did any of the claimed survivors state that they were from Simoom. It is more likely that the submarine struck a mine or was lost through an accident.^[2]

References

1. ↑ HMS Simoom, Uboat.net
2. ↑ Submarine losses 1904 to present day, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport

• 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 Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475. 

S-class submarines  Royal Navy First Group Seahorse Starfish Sturgeon Swordfish Second Group Salmon Sealion Seawolf Shark Snapper Spearfish Sterlet Sunfish Third Group P222 Safari Saga Sahib Sanguine Saracen Satyr Sceptre Scorcher Scotsman Scythian Sea Devil Seadog Sea Nymph Sea Rover Sea Scout Selene Seneschal Sentinel Seraph Shakespeare Shalimar Sibyl Sickle Sidon Simoom Sirdar Sleuth Solent Spark Spearhead Spirit Spiteful Splendid Sportsman Springer Spur Statesman Stoic Stonehenge Storm Stratagem Strongbow Stubborn Sturdy Stygian Subtle Supreme Surf Syrtis   Other operators  French Navy Saphir class Saphir Sibylle Sirène Sultane  Israeli Navy Rahav Tanin  Royal Netherlands Navy Zeehond  Portuguese Navy Narval Náutilo Neptuno  Soviet Navy V-1 Preceded by: Rainbow class Followed by: River class List of submarines of the Royal Navy List of submarine classes of the Royal Navy

Coordinates: 44°04′N 9°23′E / 44.067°N 9.383°E / 44.067; 9.383