Author Topic: HM Submarine Sportsman (1942 - 1952)  (Read 2155 times)

Offline stuartwaters

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HM Submarine Sportsman (1942 - 1952)
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2021, 09:25:37 PM »

HMS Sportsman was a Chatham-built submarine of the S class which served during and after the Second World War.


The S Class were the most numerous of Britain's WW2 submarines with 62 boats being built between 1932 and the end of the war with many more being cancelled once the war had ended. They were medium sized submarines for their day. Sportsman was a member of the third group of S class boats, the most numerous sub-group. HMS Sportsman displaced 872 tons fully loaded on the surface and 990 tons dived. The third group of S class boats were armed with 6 bow torpedo tubes and 1 aft. In addition, Sportsman was armed with a 3 inch gun in front of the conning tower, a 20mm cannon on a platform aft of the conning tower and they also carried machine guns.


HMS Sportsman:





The crest of HMS Sportsman:





HMS Sportsman was laid down on No 7 slip on 1st July 1941 and was launched into the Medway on 17th April 1942. She was commissioned at Chatham on 21st December 1942 under Lieutenant Richard Gatehouse DSC RN.


She had a relatively successful career, claiming her first victim whilst in the Mediterranean on 19th May 1943. On that day, she torpedoed and sank the French passenger ship General Bonaparte. On 29th June 1943, she torpedoed and sank the Italian merchant ship Bolzaneto. On 1st July, she attacked an Italian landing craft with gunfire but had to break off the attack because her gun jammed. On 6th September 1943, she sank the Italian fishing vessels Angiolina B and Maria Luisa B with gunfire. On 15th November, she sank an unidentified Greek sailing vessel with gunfire, repeating this on 19th December. On 21st December, she attacked and damaged the Italian sailing ship Spiridon with gunfire. On 23rd December, she torpedoed and sank the Bulgarian troop ship Balkan


On 8th February 1944, HMS Sportsman carried out an attack which caused the largest loss of life caused to an enemy in a single attack by a British submarine. She attacked the German transport ship Petrella, north of Suda Bay, Crete. Unbeknown to Mr Gatehouse, the ship was carrying 3173 Italian Prisoners of War. The Germans refused to open the doors of the POW rooms and when they tried to escape, the guards shot them. Out of the 3173 POWs aboard, 2670 went down with the ship.


On 28th March 1944, Sportsman torpedoed and sank the German tanker Vienna. Three days later, the German sailing ship Grauer Ort was torpedoed and sunk. On 28th April 1944, the Sportsman torpedoed and sank the German merchant ship Luneburg.


That was the last time she saw action and HMS Sportsman survived the rest of the war. Retained by the Navy after the war until 1951, she was loaned to the French Navy and renamed La Sibylle. Unfortunately, she didn't last long under French colours and was lost off Toulon on 24th September 1952, with all hands.
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.