Allied Warships

HMS Tuna (N 94)

Submarine of the T class

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypeSubmarine
ClassT 
PennantN 94 
Built byScotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock, Scotland) 
Ordered 
Laid down13 Jun 1938 
Launched10 May 1940 
Commissioned1 Aug 1940 
End service 
Loss position
 
History

Sold to be broken up for scrap on 19 December 1945. Scrapped at Briton Ferry, Wales in June 1946.

Commanding officers:
Lt.Cdr. Maurice Kildare Cavenagh-Mainwaring, RN
4 July 1940 - 3 November 1941
DSO awarded on 12 November 1940

Lt. Michael Beauchamp St. John, RN
3 November 1941 - 21 April 1942

Tuna in dockyard control during refit

Lt. Richard Prendergast Raikes, DSO, RN
24 August 1942 - 17 March 1943
Promoted to Lt.Cdr. on 16 March 1943

Lt. Desmond Samuel Royst Martin, RN
17 March 1943 - 7 November 1943
DSO awarded on 15 June 1943
Bar to DSO awared on 27 July 1943
2nd Bar to DSO awarded on 2 November 1943

Lt. J.H.M. Somerville, RN
7 November 1943 - 15 February 1944

A/Lt.Cdr. Leslie Frederick Lewis Hill, RNR
15 February 1944 - 15 November 1944

Lt.Cdr. Edward Dudley Norman, DSO, DSC, RN
18 November 1944 - 1 June 1945

Lt.Cdr. Robert Love Alexander, DSO, DSC, RN
1 June 1945 - October 1945

 

Commands listed for HMS Tuna (N 94)

Please note that we're still working on this section.

CommanderFromTo
1Lt.Cdr. Maurice Kildare Cavenagh-Mainwaring, RN4 Jul 19403 Nov 1941
2Lt. Michael Beauchamp St. John, RN3 Nov 194121 Apr 1942

3Lt. Richard Prendergast Raikes, RN24 Aug 194217 Mar 1943
4Lt. Desmond Samuel Royst Martin, RN17 Mar 19438 Oct 1943
5Lt.Cdr. (retired) John Robert Garstin Harvey, RN8 Oct 194310 Nov 1943
6Lt. James Hugh Miller Somerville, RN10 Nov 194315 Feb 1944
7Lt. Leslie Frederick Lewis Hill, RNR15 Feb 194421 Nov 1944
8Lt.Cdr. Edward Dudley Norman, DSC, DSO, RN21 Nov 19441 Jun 1945
9Lt.Cdr. Robert Love Alexander, DSO, DSC, RN1 Jun 1945Oct 1945 ?

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Noteable events involving Tuna include:


1 Sep 1940
At 0150 hours HMS Tuna (Lt.Cdr. M.K. Cavenagh-Mainwaring, RN) fires torpedoes at ' what is identified as ' a submarine in the North Sea about 175 nautical east of Dundee, Scotland in position 56º09'N, 02º15'E. All torpedoes fired missed their target. (see map)

22 Sep 1940
HMS Tuna (Lt.Cdr. M.K. Cavenagh-Mainwaring, RN) torpedoes and sinks the German merchant Tirrana (7230 GRT, former Norwegian Tirrana (offsite link) in the Bay of Biscay south of the Gironde estuary, about 15 nautical miles south-west of Soulac-sur-Mer, France in position 45º19'N, 01º20'W.

Tirranna was captured by the German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis in the Indian Ocean about 675 nautical miles east-south-east of Port Louis, Mauritius in position 22º40'S, 69º20'E on 10 June 1940. (see map)

24 Sep 1940
HMS Tuna (Lt.Cdr. M.K. Cavenagh-Mainwaring, RN) torpedoes and sinks the German catapult ship Ostmark (1281 GRT) in the Bay of Biscay about 35 nautical miles south-west of St. Nazaire, France in position 47º01'N, 03º02'W. (see map)

18 Dec 1940
At 0430 hours HMS Tuna (Lt.Cdr. M.K. Cavenagh-Mainwaring, DSO, RN) attacks the Italian submarine Brin with torpedoes and gunfire in the Bay of Biscay about 55 nautical miles east of the Gironde estuary in position 45º28'N, 02º27'W. The Italian submarine escapes unharmed.

At 2314 hours HMS Tuna sinks the French tug Chassiron (172 GRT) with gunfire about 25 nautical miles west-south-west of the Gironde estuary in position 45º28'N, 01º38'E. (see map)

10 Jul 1941
While on patrol in the Bay of Biscay HMS Tuna (Lt.Cdr. M.K. Cavenagh-Mainwaring, DSO, RN) fires two torpedoes at a submerged Asdic contact stearing approximate course 191, of what is thought to be an enemy submarine in position 46º00'N, 09º40'W. The torpedoes misses their target. No Axis submarines were however reported to be near that position at that date, so that attack was most likely against a non-sub target (if any). (see map)

19 Jul 1941
HMS Tuna (Lt.Cdr. M.K. Cavenagh-Mainwaring, DSO, RN) fires 6 torpedoes at the German tanker Benno (8306 GRT, former Norwegian Ole Jacob, offsite link) escorted by the German minesweepers M 18, M 25, M 27 and M 30 60 nautical miles north-west of the Gironde estuary. Although six detanations were heard all torpedoes missed their target(s).

The Ole Jacob was captured on 10 November 1940 by the German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis in the Bay of Bengal in position position 06º30'N, 90º13'E.

7 Dec 1942
HMS Tuna (Lt. R.P. Raikes, DSO, RN) delivered the "Cockleshell Heroes" to the mouth of the Gironde for their daring raid on Bordeaux, France in which 6 German ships were mined. The raid was called Operation Frankton, and only two of the 12 men returned.

7 Apr 1943
The German submarine U-644 was sunk in the North Sea north-west of Narvik, Norway, in position 69º38'N, 05º40'W, by torpedoes from the British submarine HMS Tuna (Lt. D.S.R. Martin, RN). (see map)

14 Apr 1943
HMS Tuna (Lt. D.S.R. Martin, RN) attacks the German submarine U-302 with 4 torpedoes south of Jan Mayen Island. The torpedoes however miss their target.

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