Fighting the U-boats

Allied Navies

British Naval forces

Dolphins

British Submarines of WW2

British submarines fought a deadly battle with their German counterparts during World War Two. The British submarines succeeded in sinking 12 German U-boats, for the loss of 4 of their own (P-615, Spearfish, Thristle and Doris) to U-boats. Doris was a French submarine on loan and under British command. The submarine Seal was captured in early 1940 and renamed UB by the Germans.

British submarine development between the wars owed much to the versatile E-boats built at he start of the Great War. The most notable types were the H and L-classes that continued in service until well into the Second World War. The L-boats in particular were well liked by their crews and many successful submarine commanders were trained in them.

The Royal Navy's wartime submarines were principally of two basic types:

Large, long range patrol submarines

The nineteen O,P and R class boats were built between 1925 and 1931 had a surface displacement of about 1400 tons, armament of a 4in gun and eight 21" torpedo tubes. They had a surface range up to 20,000 miles. There was a bit of trouble with leaks from external fuel tanks but apart from that they were an excellent design for Pacific warfare. Unfortunately they were too large and unmanoeuvrable for Mediterranean work and suffered heavy losses when they were deployed there because of a shortage of more suitable boats. (11 were lost out of 15 deployed in the Mediterranean in 1940)

T-Class
The British submarine Thistle.


T Class

The T class were the designed replacements for the O,P and R class boats. The size (1325 tons) was kept down to allow more hulls to be built within the tonnage restrictions of the London Treaty. In common with the S boats they had a very powerful torpedo armament, carried all their fuel internally and were constantly being improved throughout the war. Boats specifically intended for the Pacific had extra fuel tanks fitted to increase the range.

The A class submarines developed from the T boats and were designed for operations against Japan, but arrived too late for use in the war. However, they, like the surviving T boats, were streamlined and equipped with snort masts. They were to form the backbone of the submarine service until the arrival of the highly successful modern P and O class patrol submarines that started coming into service in 1958.

Medium size patrol submarines

U-Clas

U Class

The U class were originally developed as unarmed training boats to replace the WW1 H-class. They were fitted with torpedo tubes to allow them to be used operationally. Small and manoeuvrable (630 tons) they were well suited to the confined waters of the North Sea and Mediterranean. They were succeeded replaced by the very similar but partially welded V class. Cheap, reliable and quickly produced, these were the workhorses of the wartime Submarine Service.

S-Class

S class

The S class was the new medium sized patrol submarine, designed with the proposed international restriction of 600 tons displacement in mind. Intended for use in North European or Mediterranean waters, they were highly manoeuvrable and fast diving with a heavy armament of torpedoes. This allowed large salvoes to be fired from long range in an effort to counter the improved A/S techniques. This proved to be a very successful design that was put back into production during the war, 62 boats of this class being built. Some boats were partially welded and the later ones fully welded construction, improving the strength of the pressure hull and consequently increasing their diving depth.

Minority classes:

Return to the Royal Navy page


Allied Navies