HMS Phoenix (N96)

Last updated

HMS Phoenix (N96).jpg
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameHMS Phoenix
Namesake Phoenix (mythology)
Ordered7 February 1928 [1]
Builder Cammell Laird [2]
Laid down23 July 1928 [2]
Launched3 October 1929 [2]
Commissioned3 February 1931 [2]
FateSunk 16 July 1940 by the Italian submarine chaser Albatros [3]
General characteristics [4]
Displacement
  • 1,760 long tons (1,790 t) surfaced
  • 2,040 long tons (2,070 t) submerged
Length289 ft (88 m)
Beam30 ft (9.1 m)
Draught16 ft (4.9 m)
Propulsion
  • Diesel-electric
  • 2 × Admiralty diesel engines, 4,640 hp (3,460 kW)
  • 2 × electric motors, 1,635 hp (1,219 kW)
  • 2 shafts
Speed
  • 17.5 knots (20.1 mph; 32.4 km/h) surfaced
  • 8.6 kn (9.9 mph; 15.9 km/h) submerged
Endurance
  • 10,750  nmi (12,370 mi) at 8 knots (9.2 mph; 15 km/h) (surfaced) [5]
  • 70 nmi (81 mi) at 4 knots (4.6 mph; 7.4 km/h) knots (submerged) [5]
Test depth300 ft (91 m) [6]
Complement53
Armament

HMS Phoenix was a Parthian-class submarine of the Royal Navy, launched in 1929. She was the eighteenth warship of the Royal Navy to use the name Phoenix. She served on the China Station from her commissioning until the start of the Second World War. Phoenix was then relocated to the Mediterranean Sea and was sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Albatros on 16 July 1940.

Contents

Design

The Parthian class was designed as an improvement of the earlier Odin class; [4] the new class was larger, built with a raked stem, and given a shield to cover the 4-inch gun. [7] The class had a design flaw in that the riveted external fuel tanks leaked, leaving an oil trail on the surface. [6] Phoenix was fitted with a four-cycle blast-injection eight-cylinder diesel engine, [8] which provided 4,640 horsepower (3,460 kW); submerged propulsion was provided by a 1,635 horsepower (1,219 kW) electric motor. [4] [6] Phoenix was 289 feet (88.1 m) long with a breadth of 30 feet (9.1 m) and displaced 2,040 long tons (2,070 t) of water while submerged. [4]

All submarines of the Parthian-class were outfitted with eight 21-inch torpedo tubes, one QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk XII deck gun, and two machine guns. [4] [7] The class was the first to be outfitted with the Mark VIII torpedo. [9] Phoenix had six tubes in the bow and two tubes at the stern. [4] Submarines of the Parthian class were designed for a complement of 53 officers and men. [4] Phoenix had a crew of 56. [7]

HMS Phoenix en route from China Station to the Mediterranean Sea HMS Phoenix cropped.jpg
HMS Phoenix en route from China Station to the Mediterranean Sea

History

Phoenix was laid down at Cammell Laird shipyard in 1928. [4] The ship was the 18th in a series of British warships named after the mythical phoenix, and had the motto Resurgam (Latin for "I will rise again" [10] ) [11] Phoenix was originally deployed on the China Station as part of the 4th submarine flotilla. [11] Ships of the China Station were tasked with trade protection and were used as a symbol of British power. [12] In later September 1935, Phoenix, HMS Pandora, HMS Osiris, HMS Oswald, and the depot ship HMS Medway were ordered to travel to the Mediterranean. [13] While in the Mediterranean, the ships participated in naval exercises including the crash dive manoeuvre. [13] Eight months later, the small group was ordered back to Hong Kong. [13] In April 1940, the flotilla, along with Medway, was ordered to the Mediterranean Sea to support naval operations there [3] and the 1st submarine flotilla was established. [14]

Service in the Second World War

Phoenix was stationed in Alexandria and patrolled the Aegean Sea and waters around the Dodecanese from 14 June to July 1940. [3] In July 1940, Phoenix, under the command of Lt Cdr Gilbert Hugh Nowell, [15] and Rorqual were given the task of screening a convoy of British ships bringing supplies from Malta to Alexandria. [14] Phoenix made a contact report on 8 July after sighting the Italian battle fleet. [16] Admiral Andrew Cunningham ordered his ships to cut off the Italian fleet from their base at Taranto, which led to the Battle of Calabria. [16] Phoenix fired torpedoes at two Italian battleships, Giulio Cesare and Conte di Cavour, but missed both targets. [1] While off the coast of Augusta, Sicily, Phoenix fired torpedoes at the Italian torpedo boat Albatros, but missed her. [1] [3] Albatros counter-attacked and sank Phoenix with depth charges. [5] All hands were lost. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Upholder</i> (P37) Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS Upholder (P37) was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 30 October 1939, launched on 8 July 1940 by Mrs. Doris Thompson, wife of a director of the builders. The submarine was commissioned on 31 October 1940. She was one of four U-class submarines which had two external torpedo tubes at the bows in addition to the 4 internal ones fitted to all boats. They were excluded from the others because they interfered with depth-keeping at periscope depth.

HMS <i>Medway</i> (1928) Submarine depot ship constructed for the Royal Navy

HMS Medway was the first purpose-built submarine depot ship constructed for the Royal Navy. She was built by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness during the late 1920s. The ship served on the China Station before the Second World War and was transferred to Egypt in early 1940. Ordered to evacuate Alexandria in the face of the German advance after the Battle of Gazala in May 1942, Medway sailed for Lebanon at the end of June, escorted by a light cruiser and seven destroyers. Her strong escort could not protect her; on 30 June a German submarine torpedoed and sank her.

HMS <i>Parthian</i> (N75) Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS Parthian was the lead boat of the six Royal Navy Parthian-class submarines, all launched in 1929. The submarine was sunk in 1943 during the Second World War. The submarine was nicknamed Peanut, from the identity letters PN painted on the fin.

HMS <i>Taku</i> (N38) Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS Taku was a British T class submarine built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. She was laid down on 18 November 1937 and was commissioned on 3 October 1940.

HMS <i>Talisman</i> (N78) Submarine of the Royal Navy

The second HMS Talisman (N78), and the first to enter service under the name, was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead and launched on 29 January 1940.

HMS <i>Olympus</i> (N35) Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMSOlympus was an Odin-class submarine, a class originally designed for the Royal Australian Navy to cope with long distance patrolling in Pacific waters. Olympus was built to the same design for the Royal Navy. She served from 1931 to 1939 on the China Station and 1939-1940 out of Colombo. In 1940 she went to the Mediterranean. She was sunk by a mine off Malta in May 1942 killing 89 crew. 9 survivors: Herbert Rawlings,

HMS <i>Unrivalled</i> British submarine

HMS Unrivalled (P45) was a U-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. The boat has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to ever bear the name Unrivalled. Completed in 1942, the boat spent most of the war in the Mediterranean. She sank a number of small merchant ships and naval auxiliaries, but major success eluded her during the war. Too small and slow for the post-war environment, Unrivalled was scrapped in 1946.

HMS <i>P222</i> S-class submarine

HMS P222 was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Commissioned in 1942, the boat had an uneventful first war patrol in the Alboran Sea. She intercepted the Vichy French merchant ship SS Mitidja in July, then provided protection for an Allied convoy to Malta in Operation Pedestal the next month. The navy intended that she was to be sighted on the surface by enemy aircraft to discourage potential attacks by surface warships. Though P222 did not encounter enemy forces, the convoy arrived at its destination on 15 August after sustaining severe losses. She then reconnoitred along the coast of Algeria in advance of Operation Torch, and was attacked by a French patrol ship, but sustained no damage.

SM <i>UB-42</i> German Type UB II submarine

SM UB-42 was a Type UB II submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. UB-42 operated in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas during the war. She was broken up at Malta in 1920.

German submarine U-652 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 5 February 1940 at the Howaldtswerke yard at Hamburg, launched on 7 February 1941, and commissioned on 3 April 1941 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Georg-Werner Fraatz.

German Type IXA submarine German submarine class

The German Type IXA submarine was a sub-class of the German Type IX submarine built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine between 1937 and 1938. These U-boats were designed between 1935 and 1936 and were intended to be fairly large ocean-going submarines. The inspiration for the Type IXA submarine came from the German Type IA submarine, which had a similar diving depth and identical submerged horsepower.

HMS <i>Pandora</i> (N42) Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS Pandora was a British Parthian-class submarine commissioned in 1930 and lost in 1942 during the Second World War. This class was the first to be fitted with Mark VIII torpedoes. On 4 July 1940 she torpedoed and sank the French aviso Rigault de Genouilly off the Algerian coast. In an extension of the Lend-Lease program, Pandora, along with three other British and French submarines, was overhauled at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in the United States. She was sunk on 1 April 1942 by Junkers Ju 87 aircraft from Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 at the Valletta dockyard, Malta.

HMS Khartoum was a K-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, named after the capital of Sudan, Khartoum.

HMS <i>Regulus</i> (N88) Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS Regulus (N88) was a Rainbow-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s.

HMS <i>Proteus</i> (N29) Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS Proteus was a Parthian-class submarine designed and built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering in Barrow-in-Furness for the Royal Navy. She was laid down on 18 July 1928, launched on 22 August 1929 and completed on 17 June 1930. Like other submarines in her class she served on the China Station before the war. In the Second World War, mainly based at Alexandria in the Mediterranean, Proteus sank 15 enemy vessels and damaged several others during her service.

HMS <i>Rainbow</i> (N16) Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS Rainbow was a Rainbow-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s.

German submarine U-568 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She conducted five patrols, sinking one merchant ship, two warships, and severely damaging another warship. On 28 May 1942, she was depth charged and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea; all hands survived.

HMS <i>Pakenham</i> (G06)

HMS Pakenham (G06) was a P-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy built and operated during World War II. Commissioned in early 1942, she took part in the invasion of Madagascar, and several Malta Convoys, before being disabled in a battle with Italian torpedo boats in April 1943 and scuttled.

French submarine <i>Achille</i> (Q147)

Achille was a French Navy Redoutable-class submarine of the M6 series commissioned in 1933. She participated in World War II until she was scuttled in June 1940.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Helgason, Guðmundur. "HMS Phoenix (N 96)". uboat.net. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Akermann, Paul (1989). Encyclopedia of British Submarines 1901–1955. Great Britain: Maritime Books. p. 298. ISBN   1-904381-05-7.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Rohwer, Jürgen (1972). Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two. London: Chatham Publishing. pp. 22, 27, 32. ISBN   1-59114-119-2.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Robert Gardiner and Roger Chesneau, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. p. 48. ISBN   9780870219139.
  5. 1 2 3 "Phoenix (N96)". Submariners Association. Archived from the original on 2 February 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 Brown, David K (2000). Nelson to Vanguard: Warship Design and Development, 1923–1945. London: Chatham Publishing. p. 109. ISBN   9781591146025.
  7. 1 2 3 "Parthian Class". Britsub.net. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ↑ "Parthian Class". Submariners Association. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  9. ↑ Ward, John (2001). Submarines of World War II. St. Paul: Brown Partworks Limited. p. 35. ISBN   0-7603-1170-6.
  10. ↑ "Resurgam". Merriam-Webster. Merriam Webster, Incorporated. 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  11. 1 2 Mason, Geoffrey. "Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War 2 – Summary". Naval-History.net. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  12. ↑ Jackson, Ashley (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 448. ISBN   1-85285-417-0.
  13. 1 2 3 Blamey, Joel C.E. (2002). A submariner's story: the memoirs of a submarine engineer in peace and in war. Cornwall: Periscope Publishing. pp. 63–65. ISBN   1-904381-02-2.
  14. 1 2 McCartney, Innes (2006). British Submarines 1939–45. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 23. ISBN   1-84603-007-2.
  15. ↑ Helgasun, Guðmundur. "Allied Warship Commanders". uboat.net. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  16. 1 2 Ballantyne, Iain (2001). Warspite. South Yorkshire: Leo Cooper. p. 107. ISBN   1-55750-988-3.
  17. ↑ "Eric Benjamin Barnes". bergh apton. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.