HMS Aurochs (P426)

HMS Aurochs (P426), was an Amphion-class submarine of the Royal Navy, built by Vickers Armstrong and launched 28 July 1945.[1] Her namesake was the aurochs (Bos primigenius), an extinct Eurasian wild ox ancestral to domestic cattle and often portrayed in cave art and heraldry.

HMS Aurochs
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Aurochs
Namesake: Aurochs
Ordered: Very late in World War II
Builder: Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down: 21 June 1944
Launched: 28 July 1945
Commissioned: 7 February 1947
Decommissioned: 1966
Identification: Pennant number P246
Fate: Sold for scrap on 7 February 1967. Scrapped at Troon, Scotland in February 1967.
General characteristics
Class and type: Amphion-class submarine
Displacement:
  • 1,360 long tons (1,382 t) surfaced
  • 1,590 long tons (1,616 t) submerged
Length: 293 ft 6 in (89.46 m)
Beam: 22 ft 4 in (6.81 m)
Draught: 18 ft 1 in (5.51 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × 2,150 hp (1,600 kW) Admiralty ML 8-cylinder diesel engines
  • 2 × 625 hp (466 kW) electric motors
  • 2 shafts
Speed:
  • 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph) surfaced
  • 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) submerged
Range:
  • 10,500 nautical miles (19,400 km) at 11 knots (20 km/h) surfaced
  • 16 nautical miles (30 km) at 8 knots (15 km/h) or 90 nautical miles (170 km) at 3 knots (5.6 km/h) submerged
Test depth: 350 ft (110 m)
Complement: 5 officers & 55 enlisted
Armament:
  • 6 × 21 inch (533 mm) (2 external) bow torpedo tubes
  • 4 × 21 in (2 external) stern torpedo tubes
  • 20 torpedoes
  • 26 × Mines
  • 1 × 4 in (102 mm) main deck gun
  • 3 × 0.303 in (7.70 mm) machine guns
  • 1 × 20 mm AA Oerlikon 20 mm gun

Operational history

In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.[2]

On 17 May 1958 Aurochs was patrolling the Molucca Sea off Indonesia when an unidentified aircraft machine-gunned her.[3] The aircraft remained at high altitude and Aurochs sustained no casualties or damage.[3] President Sukarno's Indonesian government told the UK's Conservative Government that its armed forces had not made the attack.[3] The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office stated that it accepted the assurance and assumed that North Celebes rebels had carried out the attack.[3]

It is true that Permesta rebels in North Sulawesi were supported by a "Revolutionary Air Force", AUREV (Angkatan Udara Revolusioner).[4] However, all AUREV aircraft, munitions and pilots were supplied by the Nationalist Chinese air force[5] or the CIA.[6] Two CIA pilots, William H. Beale[7] and Allen Pope,[8] had been using Douglas B-26 Invader aircraft to attack Indonesian and foreign targets in the area since April 1958. By 17 May Beale had quit the operation,[9] but Pope continued to fly sorties until the day after Aurochs was attacked, 18 May, when he tried to attack an Indonesian Navy convoy[10] but was shot down[11] and captured.[12]

Apart from the Affray which had been lost in an accident in 1951, Aurochs was the only one of her class not to be modernised.[13] In March 1961, the submarine was among the vessels that took part in a combined naval exercise with the United States Navy off Nova Scotia.[14]

Aurochs was decommissioned in 1966 and arrived at Troon in February 1967 for breaking up.[13]

Commanding officers
FromToCaptain
19531953Lieutenant-Commander A. G. Tait DSC RN
19571959Lieutenant-Commander C. A. J. French RN
19581962Lieutenant-Commander O. B. Sharp RN
19661966In reserve
gollark: I don't do any special processing of it. Blame a combination of Discord, discord.py, and TIO.run.
gollark: <@!290323543558717441> no. bad.
gollark: ++exec -L c-gcc ```c#include <stdio.h>char*c[]={"","\rfizz","\rbuzz","\rfizzbuzz"};int main() { printf("%d\n", t); for(int i = 1; i < 100; i++) { printf("%d%s\n",i,c[((810091024>>(((i-1)&0xf)*2))&0x3)]); }}```
gollark: ++exec ```c#include <stdio.h>char*c[]={"","\rfizz","\rbuzz","\rfizzbuzz"};int main() { printf("%d\n", t); for(int i = 1; i < 100; i++) { printf("%d%s\n",i,c[((810091024>>(((i-1)&0xf)*2))&0x3)]); }}```
gollark: THANK YOU.

References
  1. Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2011). "HMS Aurochs (P426)". uboat.net. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  2. Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15 June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden
  3. David Ormsby-Gore, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (11 June 1958). "Indonesia (British Vessels)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 202–203. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  4. Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 85.
  5. Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 101,105.
  6. Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 86–87.
  7. Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 99.
  8. Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 100.
  9. Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 125.
  10. Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 136–137.
  11. Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 138–139.
  12. Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 140–141.
  13. Warlow, Ben. Channel Sweep. Liskeard: Maritime Books. p. 13. ISBN 0-907771-40-8.
  14. "A/S Exercise Off Nova Scotia". The Crowsnest. Vol. 13 no. 6. Queen's Printer. April 1961. p. 2.

Sources
  • Conboy, Kenneth; Morrison, James (1999). Feet to the Fire CIA Covert Operations in Indonesia, 1957–1958. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-193-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)


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