HMS Tarpon (N17)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Tarpon.
British T-Class submarine (example: HMS Tudor)
History
United Kingdom
Builder: Scotts, Greenock
Laid down: 5 October 1937
Launched: 17 October 1939
Commissioned: 8 March 1940
Fate: sunk 14 April 1940[1]
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: British T class submarine
Displacement:
  • 1,090 tons surfaced
  • 1,575 tons submerged
Length: 275 ft (84 m)
Beam: 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m)
Draught: 16.3 ft (5.0 m)
Propulsion:
  • Two shafts
  • Twin diesel engines 2,500 hp (1.86 MW) each
  • Twin electric motors 1,450 hp (1.08 MW) each
Speed:
  • 15.25 knots (28.7 km/h) surfaced
  • 9 knots (20 km/h) submerged
Range: 4,500 nautical miles at 11 knots (8,330 km at 20 km/h) surfaced
Test depth: 300 ft (91 m) max
Complement: 59
Armament:

The second HMS Tarpon (N17) was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Scotts, Greenock and launched in October 1939. She is named after the large fish Tarpon; one species of which is native to the Atlantic, and the other to the Indo-Pacific Oceans.[2]

Career

Tarpon had a short career, serving in the North Sea. She left Portsmouth on 5 April 1940 for Rosyth in company with HMS Severn. The following day they were ordered to Norway. On the 10th Tarpon was ordered to take up a new position. Tarpon was never heard from again.

It is asserted that there are a combination of British and German records which state that she was engaged by Schiff 40.[3] The records show that Tarpon had attacked the Q-ship Schiff 40/Schürbek, but her first torpedoes had missed. The Q-ship picked up the Tarpon on her sonar and her periscope was sighted. The ship dropped numerous depth charges in a sustained counterattack that went on most of the morning. Finally a pattern of depth charges brought wreckage to the surface. The Q-ship remained on the scene until 0500 the next morning when it became clear the submarine had been sunk. Tarpon was reported overdue on 22 April 1940.[4][5]

Wreck

The wreck was found and identified in the Danish part of the North Sea, near the harbour town of Thyborøn, by a Danish commercial diver, Gert Normann Andersen of the company JD-Contractor and British marine archaeologist Dr Innes McCartney in March 2016.[6][7] The wreck was explored in a live TV program by Denmarks Radio on 28 August 2016.[8] The submarine wreck was found with two torpedo tubes empty; confirming it likely they were fired in battle before her sinking.[9] It is therefore still most likely she was then sunk by depth charges.[3] The wreck is submerged in 40 metres of water.[3]

See also

Notes

  1. Colledge (2006), p. 344
  2. ” Megalops atlanticus”, www.fishbase.org, 11 February 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 "Sunken WWII-Era British Submarine Found off Danish Coast". New Historian. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  4. HMS Tarpon, Uboot.net
  5. Submarine losses 1904 to present day, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport
  6. "Wreck of second world war British submarine found off Denmark". The Guardian. 5 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  7. Usædvanligt fund af ubåd fra anden verdenskrig fundet i dansk farvand, Jyllandsposten, 17 Marts 2016
  8. "Live fra dybet". Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  9. "Mystery of the missing submarine". Daily Mail. Retrieved 22 September 2016.

References


Coordinates: 56°43′01″N 6°33′00″E / 56.717°N 6.55°E / 56.717; 6.55

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