HMS Upstart

HMS Upstart (P65) was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Upstart. After the war, she was loaned to the Greek Navy and renamed Amfitriti.

HMS Upstart, 15 February 1952
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Upstart
Builder:	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down:	17 March 1942
Launched:	24 November 1942
Commissioned:	3 April 1943
Out of service:	Loaned to Greek Navy from 1945
Fate:	sunk as ASDIC target 29 July 1959
Badge:
Greece
Name:	Amfitriti
In service:	1945
Out of service:	Returned to Royal Navy in 1952
General characteristics
Class and type:	U-class submarine
Displacement:	Surfaced - 540 tons standard, 630 tons full load Submerged - 730 tons
Length:	58.22 m (191 ft)
Beam:	4.90 m (16 ft 1 in)
Draught:	4.62 m (15 ft 2 in)
Propulsion:	2 shaft diesel-electric 2 Paxman Ricardo diesel generators + electric motors 615 / 825 hp
Speed:	11.25 knots (20.8 km/h) max surfaced 10 knots (19 km/h) max submerged
Complement:	27-31
Armament:	4 bow internal 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes - 8 - 10 torpedoes 1 - 3-inch (76 mm) gun

Career

Wartime

Upstart spent most of her wartime career operating off the south coast of France, where she sank the French fishing vessels Grotte de Bethlehem and Torpille, the German auxiliary minelayer Niedersachsen (the former French Guyane) and the German merchant Tolentino (the former French Saumur). She also launched failed attacks against the French merchant Medjerda and the Italian merchant Pascoli.

Greek service

For other ships with the same name, see Greek submarine Amfitriti.

Upstart survived the war and was loaned to the Greek Navy in 1945, where she was renamed Amfitriti. She served with the Greek Navy for seven years, and was returned to the Royal Navy in 1952. She was subsequently sunk as an ASDIC target off the Isle of Wight on 29 July 1959.

References

• Innes McCartney (2002). Lost Patrols: Submarine Wrecks of the English Channel.
• "HMS Upstart (P 65)". uboat.net.
• "Untiring to Urge". British submarines of World War II. Archived from the original on 11 July 2007.
• 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.