HMS Undaunted (N55)

History
Name:	HMS Undaunted
Builder:	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down:	2 December 1939
Launched:	20 August 1940
Commissioned:	30 December 1940
Fate:	sunk 11 May 1941
Badge:
General characteristics
Displacement:	Surfaced - 540 tons standard, 630 tons full load Submerged - 730 tons
Length:	58.22 m (191 feet)
Beam:	4.90 m (16 ft 1 in)
Draught:	4.62 m (15 ft 2 in)
Propulsion:	2 shaft diesel-electric 2 Paxman Ricardo diesel generators + electric motors 615 / 825 hp
Speed:	11.25 knots max surfaced 10 knots max submerged
Complement:	27-31
Armament:	4 bow internal 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes - 8 - 10 torpedoes 1 - 3-inch (76 mm) gun

HMS Undaunted was a British U class submarine, of the second group of that class, built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 2 December 1939 and was commissioned on 30 December 1940.

Sinking

Undaunted spent much of her short career operating in the Mediterranean.^[1] On 1 May 1941, she sailed from Malta to patrol off Tripoli, Libya. She was due to return to Malta on 11 May but she failed to do so and is presumed lost on mines. It is also possible that she was sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Pegaso, which had sailed from Tripoli on the 12th. Pegaso had signalled that she had attacked a submarine with depth charges and that a large patch of oil had been observed, an indication of the submarine's destruction. Against this theory is the fact that by that date Undaunted should have been back at Malta, but it is possible that a decision to remain at sea longer had been taken, or that she had suffered mechanical problems preventing her return. It is also possible that she was sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Pleiade off Tripoli on the 13th but this is not very likely.^[2]

References

• 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. 
• Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-710558-8. OCLC 53783010.