HMSP311
![]() Practice torpedo is loaded onto P311 at theHoly Loch,Scotland, 1942
| |
History | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Name | HMSP311 |
Ordered | 11 June 1931 |
Builder | Vickers Armstrong,Barrow |
Laid down | 25 April 1941 |
Launched | 5 March 1942 |
Commissioned | 7 August 1942 |
Fate | Sunk 8 January 1943 |
Badge | ![]() |
General characteristics | |
Displacement |
|
Length | 276 ft 6 in (84.28 m) |
Beam | 25 ft 6 in (7.77 m) |
Draught |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed |
|
Range | 4,500 nautical miles at 11 knots (8,330 km at 20 km/h) surfaced |
Test depth | 300 ft (91 m) |
Complement | 61 |
Armament |
|
HMSP311was aT-classsubmarineof theRoyal Navy,the only boat of her class never to be given a name. She was to have received the nameTutankhamenbut was lost before this was formally done.P311was a Group 3 T-class boat built byVickers-ArmstrongatBarrow-in-Furnessandcommissionedon 5 March 1942 under the command of Lieutenant R.D. Cayley. She was one of only two T-class submarines completed without anOerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft gun,the other beingHMSTrespasser.[1][2]
Naming
[edit]Theprime minister,Winston Churchillhad minuted the Admiralty on 5 November 1942, 19 December, and again on 27 December, saying that all submarines should have names. In the last he provided a list of suggestions and insisted that all unnamed submarines be given names within a fortnight.P311was to be assigned the nameTutankhamen,after theEgyptian king.She would have been the only vessel of the Royal Navy, before or since, to bear the name. She was lost in theMediterraneanbetween late December 1942 or early January 1943, before the new name could be formally assigned. She therefore never received the nameTutankhamen,and is officially designated asP311.[3]
Career
[edit]She joined the10th Submarine FlotillaatMaltain November 1942, and was lost with all hands between 30 December 1942 and 8 January 1943 whilst en route toLa Maddalena,Sardinia,where she was to attack two Italian 8-inch guncruisers,theGoriziaand theTrieste,usingchariot manned torpedoescarried on the casing as part ofOperation Principal.[4]The submarine sent her final received signal on 31 December 1942, from position 38º10'N, 11º30'E.[5]She was reported overdue on 8 January 1943 when she failed to return to base.[3]It is presumed that she was sunk by Italianminesin the approaches to Maddalena on or around 2 January 1943.[5]
Wreck discovery
[edit]In late May 2016 the Royal Navy announced that it was investigating a wreck found close toTavolara Islandby diver Massimo Domenico Bondone on 21 May 2016 which Bondone had identified asP311.Bondone reported that he made the identification based on the wreck having two chariots strapped to her hull.[4][6][7]The bodies of the 71 crew members and chariot operators who perished are reported still on board, believed to have died ofsuffocation.The vessel is reported as being in good condition and pictures have been released of the underwater wreck.[8]It is reported that only thebowis seriously damaged due to the mine explosion which sank her.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"warfarehistorynetwork.co, Manned Submarines: Italy's Daredevil Torpedo Riders, 26 August 2015".Archived fromthe originalon 15 December 2017.Retrieved20 July2017.
- ^Human torpedo
- ^abHMS P311,Uboat.net
- ^ab"Tavolara, a cento metri di profondità sommergibile 'fantasma' inglese".Repubblica.it(in Italian). 24 May 2016.Retrieved24 May2016.
- ^abVogt, Andrea (25 May 2016)."Legendary wreck of British Second World War submarine found off Sardinian coast".The Telegraph.Retrieved22 September2016.
- ^"Lost World War Two submarine claim investigated by Royal Navy".BBC News.26 May 2016.
- ^"WWII submarine with 71 bodies inside found off Sardinian coast".metro.co.uk.25 May 2016.
- ^"HMS P311 Pictures".International Business Times.25 May 2016.Retrieved22 September2016.
- ^"Lost WWII Submarine HMS P311 Found With 71 Bodies On Board".War History Online. 26 May 2016.Retrieved22 September2016.
- 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.ISBN978-1-86176-281-8.
- Hutchinson, Robert (2001).Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day.London:HarperCollins.ISBN978-0-00-710558-8.OCLC53783010.
- British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy
- Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
- 1942 ships
- World War II submarines of the United Kingdom
- Ships sunk by mines
- Lost submarines of the United Kingdom
- World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea
- Maritime incidents in December 1942
- Missing submarines of World War II