HMS P36 (1941)

HMS P36 was a British U class submarine, a member of the third group of that class to be built. She was sunk at the quayside in Malta in 1942, and some of her survivors were shipwrecked again in another submarine less than six weeks later.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS P36.

HMS Ursula, sister ship to HMS P36.
History
United Kingdom
Name: P36
Builder: Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down: 26 July 1940
Launched: 28 April 1941
Commissioned: 24 September 1941
Fate: Sunk 1 April 1942
General characteristics
Displacement:
  • Surfaced – 540 tons standard, 630 tons full load
  • Submerged – 740 tons
Length: 196 ft 9 in (59.97 m)
Beam: 16 ft 1 in (4.90 m)
Draught: 15 ft 2 in (4.62 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 shaft diesel-electric
  • 2 Paxman Ricardo diesel generators + electric motors
  • 615 / 825 hp
Speed:
  • 11.25 knots max surfaced
  • 9 knots (17 km/h) max submerged
Complement: 27–31
Armament:
  • 4 bow internal, 2 bow external 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes: 8 – 10 torpedoes
  • 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) gun
  • 3 × AA machine guns

Service history

On 26 November 1941 on patrol in the Bay of Biscay, P36 attacked a German submarine with torpedoes south-west of Belle-Ile island. The torpedoes missed their target which may have been one of U-133, U-552, U-567 or U-577.[1]

On 13 February 1942 P36 fired four torpedoes against the Italian heavy cruisers Gorizia and Trento in the Ionian Sea about 90 nautical miles (170 km) east of Capo Spartivento, Calabria, Italy. None of the torpedoes hit. Two days later, P36 torpedoed and damaged the Italian destroyer Carabiniere off Taranto.

On 1 April 1942 P36 was lying alongside a jetty at Sliema Harbour in Malta when the Luftwaffe attacked the harbour. A large bomb from a Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 aircraft landed sufficiently near to the submarine to hole her and she began to sink. Despite desperate efforts to save the submarine she rolled over and sank.[2] She was not raised until 7 August 1958 and then scuttled off Malta on 22 August 1958. Following the loss of P36 in 1942, some surviving crew members embarked on board another submarine HMS Olympus bound for Gibraltar. Shortly after leaving Malta on 8 May 1942, Olympus struck a mine and sank. The nine survivors of the 98 passengers and crew swam 7 miles (11 km) back to the Maltese coast.[3]

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References
Notes
  1. Uboat.net – P36
  2. Royal Naval Submarine Museum: list of losses – P36
  3. Uboat.net: HMS Olympus
Bibliography
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-710558-8. OCLC 53783010.


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