| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Submarine |
| Class | T |
| Pennant | N 79 |
| Built by | Chatham Dockyard (Chatham, U.K.) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | 21 Nov, 1938 |
| Launched | 9 Apr, 1940 |
| Commissioned | 14 Jan, 1941 |
| End service | |
| Loss position | |
| History | Sold to be broken up for scrap on 19 December 1945. Scrapped at Briton Ferry, Wales in March 1947. Commanding officers: Lt. Robert Julian Clutterbuck, RN Lt. Compton Patrick Norman, DSO, RN |
| Noteable events involving Torbay include: 28 May, 1941 1 Jun, 1941 The vessel was sighted at 0745 hours (time zone -3). At 0936 hours it was noticed that the vessel was wearing the German flag so Torbay surfaced and sank the vessel with five rounds of gunfire 17 nautical miles bearing 87º from Cape Doro. 3 Jun, 1941 The vessel was sighted at 1600 hours (time zone -3). At 1643 hours Torbay surfaced and sank the vessel with gunfire 21.5 nautical miles bearing 305 Sigri Island. Torbay submerged at 1651 hours and resumed patrol. 6 Jun, 1941 At 1242 hours (time zone -3) a 3000 ton merchant was sighted. Torbay struggled with the strong current to get into an attack postition but at 1415 hours a torpedo was fired, in position 3.5 nautical miles bearing 229º Cape Hellas, that hit the target aft. The ship appeared to be sinking so Torbay left the area to the North-West. Later Torbay closed in again to finish off the ship. At 1545 hours another torpedo was fired. The target was again hit aft but as the ship was already flooded in that part not much more damage was done. After firing this torpedo Torbay once again left the area to the North-West. At 1558 hours, Torbay sighted a 1500 ton merchant approching the Dardanelles from the North, Torbay turned to intercept but the target was later identified as Turkish. Torbay then turned to the west as battery power was running low. At 2115 hours Torbay surfaced in position 8 nautical miles, bearing 152 Avlaka Point (Imbros) and started to charge her depleted battery's. See 7 June 1941. 7 Jun, 1941 At 0448 hours (time zone -3) Torbay submerged and closed the entrence to the Dardanelles once again from the west. At 0600 hours Alberta was sighted still afloat and at anchor. The ship was just within Turkish territorial waters and not aground. At 0751 hours Torbay spotted a merchant of about 1500 tons coming from the entrance of the Dardanelles and gave chase. The ship was later identified as Turkish so it was not attacked. At 1130 hours Torbay was back at the position where Alberta was anchored. The ship appeared deserted. Lt.Cdr. Miers decided not to fire another torpedo but to board the ship after dark to search for valuable documents and to scuttle the ship. At 1515 hours a small Turkish coaster emerged from the Dardanelles and went alongside Alberta but soon continued on to the south. At 1600 hours a merchant of about 4000 tons was sighted approaching the Dardanelles from the south. The ship was identified as the Turkish Refah (3805 GRT, built 1901) so it was not attacked. At 2145 hours Torbay surfaced in position 4.7 nautical miles bearing 222º, Cape Hellas. At 2305 hours Torbay secured alongside Alberta. It proved however impossible to scuttle the ship as the engine room was completely flooded. At 2344 hours Torbay slipped and proceeded back out to sea. At 2359 an explosion was observed aboard Alberta but this failed to sink the ship. see 8 June 1941. 8 Jun, 1941 At 0050 hours (time zone -3) Torbay stopped in position 10.6 nautical miles bearing 120º Avlaka Point (Imbros) to charge her battery's. At 0450 hours Torbay submerged in position 7.8 nautical miles bearing 261º, Cape Hellas. At 0545 hours Alberta was observed chattered by fire and aground on the shoal to the North of Rabbit Island. It was decided to leave the ship there in the hope that she would break up in the next gale. At 1920 hours, Torbay sighted a Turkish merchant ship of about 1500 tons entering the Dardanelles. As bad weather was closing in it was decided to retreat to the northward. See 9 June 1941 9 Jun, 1941 At 0130 hours (time zone -3), Torbay, in position 6 nautical miles bearing 326º Cape Hellas, sighted a large merchant ships approaching the Dardanelles from the south. Torbay closed to the limit of the territorial waters to identify the target. At 0153 hours the target was identified as Turkish. At 0157 hours Torbay submerged in position 4.8 nautical miles bearing 322º Cape Hellas. At 0900 hours a 3000 tons merchant was sighted coming out of the Dardanelles. The ship was identified as the Turkish Tirhan (3085 GRT, built 1938). The ship proceeded towards the Alberta and attempted to tow her off. At 1230 hours a 1500 tons merchant was sighted coming out of the straits. Once again the ship was identified as the Turkish, this time the Trak (1500 GRT, built 1938). At 1700 hours it was observed that the Tirhan had succeeded in towing off the Alberta and was heading towards the strait with the Alberta in tow. Lt.Cdr. Miers decided that Alberta was not allowed to escape and that he had to attack again. At 1742 hours, in position 2.3 nautical miles bearing 236º Cape Hellas, Torbay fired a torpedo that missed the target. The Turks slipped the tow and the Tirhan fled at high speed into the straits. At 1815 hours Torbay sighted a merchant ship resembling the German Salzburg. (Torbay was warned that the German Salzburg was about the leave the Dardanelles). The ship turned towards the south and did not leave Turkish territorial waters. No positive identification could be made and Torbay did not manage the get into attack position. At 1830 hours, as Lt.Cdr. Miers intended to surface to finish off Alberta with gunfire when an Italian torpedo boat of the Spica class was sighted only 2.5 nautical miles away. Torbay went deep and retreated to the North towards Lemnos. At 2237 hours Torbay surfaced in position 12.5 nautical miles bearing 127º Avlaka Point (Imbros). See 10 June 1941. 10 Jun, 1941 Continuation of the events of 9 June 1941. At 0242 hours (time zone -3) Torbay fired 40 rounds and Alberta was left ablaze and in a sinking condition 17 nautical miles east of Lemnos. At 0450 hours, Torbay submerged in position 9.7 nautical miles bearing 270º Cape Hellas. At 0940 hours, while in position 4.8 nautical miles bearing 259º Cape Hellas a convoy of 6 ships escorted by two Italian torpedo boats was sighted bearing 280, distance 5 nautical miles and course 080 degrees. Lt.Cdr. Miers decided to attack and put Torbay into attack position. This was however frustrated by the movements of the enemy. At 1043 hours, Lt.Cdr. Miers finally managed to fire three torpedoes against one of the merchant ships in the convoy. After firing the torpedoes Torbay went deep. Two explosions were heard that were linked with a torpedo hitting the target. At 1049 hours five depth charges were dropped. At 1055 hours a full pattern of depth charges exploded fairly close. Between 1100 and 1125 hours more depth charges were dropped but the were not close. At 1140 hours Torbay came to periscope depth. At 1150 hours, while Torbay was in position 6.1 nautical miles bearing 251 Cape Hellas. One of the Italian escorts was sighted patrolling off the entrance to the Dardanelles. At 1208 hours the Italian tanker Giuseppina Ghirardi (3319 GRT, built 1892) was sighted coming out of the straits. The Italian torpedo boat patrolled a mile ahead. Lt.Cdr. Miers at once turned to attack. At 1259 hours, in position 8.3 nautical miles bearing 255º Cape Hellas, Torbay fired three torpedoes at a range of 700 yards at the tanker. Two torpedoes hit the target. Torbay went deep and increased to full speed to evade the counter attack. The Italian torpedo boat only dropped two depth charges. At 1335 hours Torbay came to periscope depth and at 1045 hours, while in position 10.6 nautical miles bearing 250º Cape Helles, sighted the enemy torpedo boat stopped bout two nautical miles to the eastward in the approximate position where the tanker was sunk. Also two MAS boats were seen approaching at high speed from the westward. Torbay went deep again and proceeded on homeward passage in accordance with her orders to leave her patrol area at 2400 hours on the 10th. At 2200 hours Torbay surfaced in position 21.5 nautical miles bearing 356º Sigri Island (Mytilene) and proceeded south. 11 Jun, 1941 At 0030 hours (time zone -3) Torbay, while in position 15.3 nautical miles bearing 328º Sigri Island (Mytilene), sighted a caique making for Mitylene from the west. Lt.Cdr. Miers decided to destroy the vessel by ramming as he did not want to use his gun while he was escaping the area of his previous sinkings. At 0104 hours Torbay rammed the caique and allowed the Greek crew to abandon ship before completing the destruction. 12 Jun, 1941 At 1115 hours (time zone -3) Torbay sighted a large schooner about three miles away. At 1218 hours, Lt.Cdr. Miers surfaced and gave chase. At 1239 hours, Torbay, in position 19 nautical miles bearing 137º Strati Island, opened fire and sank the enemy ship with 25 rounds of gunfire. At 1252 hours Torbay dived and proceeded to the south. (see map) 16 Jun, 1941 28 Jun, 1941 30 Jun, 1941 At 1810 hours (time zone -3) a laden caique of about 50 tons was spotted. The target was chased. At 2054 hours Torbay surfaced and sank the caique with gunfire in position 264º Phalconeria Island, 6 nautical miles. 2 Jul, 1941 Around 0630 hours (time zone -3), while in position 295º Pt. St.Nikolo (Zea Island) 4.9 nautical miles, two merchants escorted by an Italian torpedo boats of the Libra class was sighted. Overhead of the convoy an aircraft was circling. Torbay took action to get into attack position. (This convoy was made up of the Cittá di Savona (2500 GRT, built 1930) and Cittá di Tripoli (2933 GRT, built 1915) escorted by the Italian torpedo boat Libra and from 0600 (Italian official time) a German aircraft. They were on the way back from Vathi (Samos) where they had landed troops). At 0722 hours, while in position 304º St. Nokolo 4.5 nautical miles, three torpedoes were fired at the leading merchant from 3300 yards. At 0724 hours three torpedoes were fired at the rear ship. At 0725 hours the leading ship was struck by one torpedo. From 0730 to 0840 hours the escorting Italian torpedo boat dropped 18 single depth charges but none were very close. (The escorting German aircraft sighted the torpedo tracks and signalled the ships, Cittá di Tripoli attempted coming about but was not quick enough and was hit at 0623 hrs (Italian official time). Cittá di Savona rescued 48 survivors, there were 11 dead). (see map) 4 Jul, 1941 At 0615 hours (time zone -3) Torbay sighted a large caique of about 100 tons on a direct course from the Doro Channel from Lemnos. The caique was well filled with troops and stores. At 0659 hours Torbay surfaced in position 084º Doro Island 8.5 nautical miles and engaged the caique with gunfire. The caique finally sank at 0943 hours. At 1425 hours, while Torbay was in position 159º Doro Island 6.4 nautical miles, a schooner flying the Nazi coulours and approaching the Doro Channel from the north-east was sighted. The schooner was of about 60 tons and well loaded with troops and stores. Torbay surfaced at 1450 hours and engaged the schooner with gunfire from both Lewis guns. 5 Jul, 1941 At 1946 hours (time zone -3), while Torbay was in position 240º Stapodia Island 11.5 nautical miles, a submarine was sighted bearing 080º 4 nautical miles away. Torbay at once turned to engage the target. At 2016 hours 6 torpedoes were fired from 1500 yards. One minute later an explosion was heard followed by a tremendous double explosion 10 seconds later. The explosion shook Torbay violently causing some light damage. When Lt.Cdr. Miers took a look through the periscope an aircraft was seen approaching so he took Torbay deep. (see map) 8 Jul, 1941 At 0928 hours (time zone -3) HMS Torbay, while in position 059º Cape Malea 7 nautical miles sights an auxiliary schooner of about 200 tons bearing 317º distance 5 nautical miles course 160º. At 1122 hours Torbay surfaced in position 164º Cape Malea 7 nautical miles. The schooner was seen to be full of troops and stores and was wearing the German flag. After firing some rounds with the Lewis gun but before fire wirh the 4" gun could be opened an aircraft was spotted so Torbay dived. The schooner now proceeded westward to flee to Kythera Island. At 1142 hours Torbay surfaced again and resumed the action. The schooner was sunk with 4" gunfire. 9 Jul, 1941 At 0220 hours, while Torbay was in position 100º Cape Malea 24 nautical miles a caique was seen on the horizon in very good visibility. Torbay turned to close. While doing so three more caiques were seen about 2 nautical miles apart all stearing the same course. As Torbay had not much ammo left for the deck gun it was decided that thay were to be stopped with one well aimed round of the deck gun, then clear the decks with the Lewis gun and then scuttle them with demolition charges. At 0320 hours, while in position 126º Cape Malea 22 nautical miles, fire was opened on the first caique with the Lewis gun and the 4" gun. Such a blazing fire was started in the caique that it was not possible to go alongside. Lewis gunfire was continued with until all the occupants were either killed or forced to abandon ship. The caique of about 100 tons was left to burn (This must hsave been L VI) At 0327 hours Torbay set course to engage the 2nd caique. At 0357 hours fire was opened on the second caique. Most of the crew took to the water and those who remained on board made signals as if to surrender shouting 'captain is Greek'. The submarine came alongside and the caique was boarded. A German soldier tried to throw a grenade but he was shot before he could do so. The whole crew turned out to be Germans and they were forced to launch their rubber boat and jump into it. Another German was shot by Torbay's navigating officer when he tried to shoot this officer with a rifle from point blank range. The caique was of about 100 tons, was carrying troop, ammo and petrol. She had L V painted on her side. This caique was fitted with demolition charges. The German soldiers in the rubber boat were shot by the Lewis gun to prevent them from returning to their ship. At 0435 hours the demolition charges exploded and the caique was sunk. Around 0530 hours HMS Torbay sinks the German sailing vessel L XII with gunfire and scuttling charges about 10 nautical miles north of Anti-Kythera, Greece. At 0445 hours a third sailing vessel was sighted, a large auxiliary schooner of about 300 tons making for Anti-Kythera. Torbay chased at full speed but as the target was making a good 10 knots it was not until 0530 that Torbay was close to the target. By that time it was daylight and boarding was out of the question. At 0530 hours, while Torbay was in position 068º Pori Island 11.5 nautical miles, fire was opened. The schooner was filled with petrol and explosives and was quickly ablaze from stem to stern. Torbay dived soon after. This schooner was seen to sink at 0900 hours. The fourth caique escaped due to the arrival of an aircraft. 10 Jul, 1941 At 1355 hours, while Torbay was in position 325º Cape Tamelos (Zea Island) 6.4 nautical miles, an Arado 95 aircraft was sighted. This aircraft appeared to be an escort for the Italian tanker Strombo that was expected to arrive in this position shortly. At 1430 hours smoke was sighted in the direction of the aircraft. At 1446 hours the Strombo was sighted and an attack was commenced. The Strombo was escorted by the above aircraft and an Italian torpedo boat of the Curtatone class that was zig-zagging about half a mile ahead of the target (according to Italian official history this was the Monzambano, indeed a torpedo boats of the Curtatone class). At 1552 hours, while Torbay was in position 269º Pt. St.Nikolo 6.6 nautical miles, four torpedoes were fired from 1200 yards. Two hits were obtained. From 1555 to 1620 hours Torbay was counter attacked by the escort with 13 single depth charges some of which were extremely close. At 1630 hours Torbay came to periscope depth and saw that the tanker had sunk and that the aircraft and escorting torpedo boat were searching to the northward. Torbay went deep again. (According to Italian official history the tanker did not aink, she was taken in tow to Salamis by the Monzambano, there were two dead among the crew). At 1700 hours a fairly loud explosion was heard, which might have been a bomb, Torbay went still deeper. At 1750 hours Torbay returned to periscope depth and saw two 'destroyers' coming towards her. (these were the Italian torpedo boats Climene and Calatafimi). From 1800 to 1920 hours Torbay was hunted. 25 Depth charges were dropped but none were very close. As Torbay was now out of torpedoes and had only 19 rounds for her deck gun left, Lt.Cdr. Miers decided to proceed to Alexandria. (see map) 15 Jul, 1941 12 Aug, 1941 16 Aug, 1941 10 Sep, 1941 11 Dec, 1941 12 Dec, 1941 15 Dec, 1941 22 Dec, 1941 23 Dec, 1941 27 Feb, 1942 5 Mar, 1942 9 Apr, 1942 11 Apr, 1942 18 Apr, 1942 19 Apr, 1942 11 Feb, 1943 25 Feb, 1943 26 Feb, 1943 Torbay also sinks the French merchant Oasis (1327 GRT) with scuttling charges (?) about 30 nautical miles south of Cape Mele, Italy in position 43º27'N, 08º08'E. Both ships were under German control. (see map) 27 Feb, 1943 28 Feb, 1943 3 Mar, 1943 28 Mar, 1943 1 Apr, 1943 11 Apr, 1943 17 Jul, 1943 18 Jul, 1943 23 Jul, 1943 31 Aug, 1943 2 Sep, 1943 15 Oct, 1943 Following these sinkings Torbay had an encounter with the German Q-ship GA 45. Torbay's periscope was sighted first by GA 45 which dropped 5 depth-charges very close. Later Torbay surfaced intending to dispose of GA 45 with her gun but the German vessel was very alert and opened an accurate fire as soon as the submarine surfaced and forced her to break off the action. She did not drop any further depth-charges which led Lt. R.J. Clutterbuck of Torbay to conclude that she was out of depth-charges. The submarine was not damaged during this encounter. 16 Oct, 1943 The Trapani was further damaged that night by the British escort destroyer destroyer HMS Hursley and the Greek escort destroyer destroyer RHS Miaoulis. The wreck of the Trapani was finally destroyed off Kalymnos, Greece the following night by the British destroyers HMS Penn and HMS Jervis. (see map) 21 Nov, 1943 22 Nov, 1943 26 Nov, 1943 27 Nov, 1943 25 Dec, 1943 26 Jan, 1944 31 Jan, 1944 16 Mar, 1945 26 Jun, 1945 At 1100 hours (time zone -7.5) the mast and funnel of a coaster was sighted at 10000 yards. Torbay manouvered to get ahead of the target. At 1250 hours range was still 8000 to 9000 yards. At 1300 Torbay surfaced and gave chase on the surface. At 1306 hours the enemy turned towards the nearest shore zig-zagging wildly. At 1314 hours Torbay opened fire with the deck gun from 6000 yards. At 1329 hours fire was ceased as the target was now on fire from amidships to aft. In all 58 rounds were fired. At 1335 hours Torbay dived in position 02º57'N, 100º04'E. At 1350 hours the target was seen to blow up and sink. (see map) 28 Jun, 1945 At 1915 hours (time zone -7.5) Torbay surfaced in position 03º24'N, 99º42'E. a 10 ton tongkang was boarded. The cargo was made up of solid rubber tyres. The tongkang was sunk by a demolition charge. (see map) |
 Submarine Torbay Chapman, Paul |
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