August 1st - On This Date - RN Submarine Service

1903	No 2	Submarine HMS No 2 completed
1916	E45	Submarine HMS E45 completed
1916	J4	Submarine HMS J4 completed
1917	K12	Submarine HMS K12 completed
1917	E27	Submarine HMS E27 completed
1940	Tuna	Submarine HMS Tuna completed
1944	Vineyard	Submarine HMS Vineyard completed
1955	Cachalot	Submarine HMS Cachalot laid down
1940	HMS Spearfish	HMS Spearfish sailed from Rosyth on 31 July 1940. The next day she was hit by a torpedo from U-34 and sank. U-34 was returning from her last patrol as a combat boat. She had only one torpedo remaining after a successful patrol (already 4 ships sunk). The U-boat surfaced to look for survivors and found AB William Pester (on his first patrol) who was the only survivor of the sinking, 29 became casualties
1940	HMS Oswald	After detection by the Italians, HMS Oswald is rammed and sunk by Italian destroyer Ugolino Vivaldi. The RN submarine makes no attempt to escape or to attack the Italian ship, possibly because the commander suffers from night blindness when he is suddenly called to the bridge The RN commander (who ordered abandon ship BEFORE the ramming occurred, when Vivaldi was 100 yards away) is court martialed on 5 charges for the loss of his ship and found to have been negligent in performing his duties. He is sentenced to forfeit all seniority as a lieutenant commander, to be dismissed and to be severely reprimanded. There were 3 casualties, but 52 of the crew survived to become POW The sentence was reviewed and reduced to the loss of two years seniority from the time of the loss of Oswald. Summarised initially the sentence included most of the charges he was found guilty of however, in review the charges were split to those actions up to the ramming and depth charging and those after the action. They being rightly two entirely different cases In addition the Board of Inquiry and the Court Martials were held 6 years after the event, memories had time to either forget salient points and enhance opinions. There also seemed to be a raft of Court Martials .... which caused concern in certain circles and caused an MP to question the First Lords as to what was going on.
1941	HMS Regent	HMS Regent sinks the Italian auxiliary minesweeper B 23/Igea with gunfire about 33 nautical miles south of Bengasi.
1943	HMS Unruffled	HMS Unruffled attackes the Italian merchant Citta di Catania with a torpedo off Bridisi, Italy. The torpedo misses.
1944	HMS Storm	HMS Storm sinks 4 Japanese sailing vessels with gunfire of the Mergui Archipelago, Burma.
1944	HMS Vox	HMS Vox claims the sinking of a sailing vessel with gunfire south of Santorini Island, Greece.
1945	HMS Shalimar	HMS Shalimar sinks a Japanese sailing vessel with gunfire in the southern part of the Strait of Malacca.
1945	HMS Taciturn	HMS Thorough and HMS Taciturn attack Japanese shipping and shore targets off northern Bali. Taciturn sinks two Japanese sailing vessels with gunfire.
1945	HMS Thorough	HMS Thorough sinks a Japanese coaster and a sailing vessel with gunfire off northern Bali.
1946	HMS Safari	Lost en route to shipbreakers
1948	HMS Sidon	Placed in Reserve Group "M" at Portsmouth.

SAB