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Allied Warships

HNoMS Ula (P 66)

Submarine of the U class

NavyThe Royal Norwegian Navy
TypeSubmarine
ClassU 
PennantP 66 
Built byVickers Armstrong (Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.) 
Ordered 
Laid down29 Apr, 1942 
Launched22 Jan, 1943 
Commissioned3 Apr, 1943 
End service 
Loss position
 
HistoryHMS Varne was supposed to be transferred the the Royal Netherlands Navy as Haai but due to the loss of most of it's new crew the transfer did not took place. For more info see this website (offsite link).

Instead HMS Varne was transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy before completion on 28 March 1943. She was commissioned as Ula on 3 April 1943.

Ula was sold to be broken up for scrap in December 1965 to H. Eckhart GmbH (Hamburg, Germany). She was scrapped in Hamburg in 1966. 

Former nameHMS Varne

Noteable events involving Ula include:

22 Nov, 1943
HNoMS Ula (Lt. S. Valvatne) torpedoes and sinks the Norwegian merchant Arcturus (1681 GRT, offsite link) north of Stadlandet in the Vanylsgapet, about 2.5 nautical miles north-east of Honningsvåg, Norway in position 62º14'N, 05º14'E.

The Acturus was already damaged, on fire and under tow after an attack by British aircraft earlier in the day. The Arcturus and the tug were escorted by one escort. Ula fired one torpedo at the tug and one torpedo at the Arcturus. Both torpedoes however hit the Arcturus. Ula escaped without any counterattack. (see map)

24 Nov, 1943
HNoMS Ula (Lt. S. Valvatne) spots a merchant (of about 8000 GRT) heading south escorted by two escorts. Ula fires two torpedoes but these miss their intended target and hit land instead. After this attack Ula spots a merchant heading north escorted by a M-class minesweeper, Ula fires two torpedoes at the merchant, one of these hit and sinks the German merchant Eisstrom (928 GRT, former Dutch Marietje Bohmer) off Alesund, Norway in position 62º26'N, 06º04'E. (see map)

25 Feb, 1944
HNoMS Ula (Lt. R.M. Sars) fires three torpedoes against the Norwegian merchant (German controlled) Ryfylke (898 GRT, offsite link) off Lista, Norway. All torpedoes fired missed their target.

21 Mar, 1944
While on patrol near Alesund, Ula (Lt. S. Valvatne) fires 3 torpedoes at a merchant (approx. 2000 GRT) in a covoy of 3 escorts and 2 merchants. All torpedoes missed and 2 torpedoes hit land. Ula escaped without counterattack.

4 Apr, 1944
HNoMS Ula (Lt. S. Valvatne) torpedoes and damages the German tanker Ill (read ill) (7603 GRT, former norwegian Turicum offsite link) off Stadlanded, Norway in position 62º15'N, 05º58'E. Ula fired four 4 torpedoes, one of these hit and damaged the Ill. The tanker Ill was in convoy with 7 merchants escorted by 7 escorts. 2 escorts attacked Ula for several hours with total of 114 depth charges. Ula finally escaped under a minefield. (see map)

6 Apr, 1944
HNoMS Ula (Lt. S. Valvatne) torpedoes and damages the German merchant Wesergau (1923 GRT) off Stadlandet, Norway in position 62º10'N, 05º05'E. The German ship was run aground but was not salvaged.

Wesergau was in a convoy with two other merchants and two escorts. Ula fired three torpedoes. Two torpedoes hit Wesergau. The escorts attacked Ula for several hours dropping a total of 68 depth charges, many close but aft of Ula. Ula finally escaped by passing the shallow grounds at Havfluene. (see map)

19 Apr, 1944
While on patrol off the Boknafjord near Stavanger, Norway, the Norwegian submarine Ula (Lt. S. Valvatne) fired a spread of 4 torpedoes towards U-974 at the range of about 1200 meters. One of those hit the boat just aft of the conning tower causing a major explosion which shook the Ula which crash dived and during that dive they could hear the U-974 break in two as it sank in position 59º08'N, 05º23'E. U-974 was escorted by an M-class minesweeper and two other escorts were patrolling nearby. After the attack Ula was attacked with 18 depth charges, some of these were very close. Ula eventually escaped by diving underneath a minefield. (see map)

22 Apr, 1944
HNoMS Ula (Lt. S. Valvatne) torpedoes and sinks the German merchant Bahia (4117 GRT) off Lista, Norway in position 58º07'N, 06º27'E. Bahia was in a convoy with 2 lines of escorts. Ula penetrated the first line of the escort on surface and in heavy fog and fired four torpedoes. One torpedo hit and sank Bahia. Two torpedoes hit land. Ula dived and escaped undetected towards the west. Ula counted 148 depth charges being dropped far aft. (see map)




Diary of a Submariner

de Majnik, John

Books dealing with this subject include:

Battle of the Atlantic, Nesbit, Roy C., 2002
Between Human and Machine, David A. Mindell, 2002
Building American Submarines, 1914 - 1940, Weir, Gary E., 1991
Diary of a Submariner, de Majnik, John, 1996
Discharged Dead, Hart, Sydney, 1956
Fight for the Sea, Turner, John Frayn, 2001
Fleet Submarines of World War Two, Walkowiak, Thomas F., 1988
The Hunting Submarine, Trenowden, Ian, 1994
Sea-Wolf Hunter, Collenette, Eric J., 1989
Stalin's Silver, Beasant, John, 1999
Suicide Squads, O\'Neill, Richard, 1999
Tin Can Sailor, Calhoun, C. Raymond, 1993
What Britain Knew and Wanted to Know About U-boats, Showell, Jak P. Mallmann, 2001


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