BRITISH S CLASS SUBMARINE (1931)

The 'S-class submarines' of the Royal Navy were originally designed and built during the modernisation of the submarine force in the early 1930s to meet the need for smaller boats to patrol the restricted waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea replacing the H class submarines. Due to major naval construction of the Royal Navy during the Second World War, however, the ''S'' class became the largest single group of submarines ever built for the Royal Navy; a total of 62 were constructed over a period of 15 years, with fifty of the "improved" ''S''-class launched between 1940 and 1945.

Contents

Service

Service losses

General characteristics

First Group

Second Group

Third Group

Other ships

References

Sources

Service

The submarines operated in the waters around the United Kingdom and in the Mediterranean, and later in the Far East after being fitted with extra tankage.

After the war S class boats continued to serve in the Royal Navy until the 1960s. The last operational boat in the Royal Navy was HMS ''Sea Devil'', launched in 1945 and scrapped in February 1966.
Several S-class submarines were sold on or lent to other navies:

★ Netherlands 1

★ Portugal 3

★ France 4

★ Israel 2.
A modified version was ordered by the Turkish navy in 1939 as the Oruc Reis class submarine.

Service losses

Of the twelve ''S''-boats that were in service in 1939, only three survived to see the end of World War II, a loss rate that inspired the song "Twelve Little S-Boats", based on a nursery rhyme originally written by Septimus Winner in 1868.^[1]
:Twelve little ''S''-boats "go to it" like Bevin,
::''Starfish'' goes a bit too far — then there were eleven.
:Eleven watchful ''S''-boats doing fine and then
::''Seahorse'' fails to answer — so there are ten.
:Ten stocky ''S''-boats in a ragged line,
::''Sterlet'' drops and stops out — leaving us nine.
:Nine plucky ''S''-boats, all pursuing Fate,
::''Shark'' is overtaken — now we are eight.
:Eight sturdy ''S''-boats, men from Hants and Devon,
::''Salmon'' now is overdue — and so the number's seven.
:Seven gallant ''S''-boats, trying all their tricks,
::''Spearfish'' tries a newer one — down we come to six.
:Six tireless ''S''-boats fighting to survive,
::No reply from ''Swordfish'' — so we tally five.
:Five scrubby ''S''-boats, patrolling close inshore,
::''Snapper'' takes a short cut — now we are four.
:Four fearless ''S''-boats, too far out to sea,
::''Sunfish'' bombed and scrap-heaped — we are only three.
:Three threadbare ''S''-boats patrolling o'er the blue,
::...
:Two ice-bound ''S''-boats...
::...
:One lonely ''S''-boat...
::...
The survivors, left blank in the fatalistic rhyme, were ''Sealion'', ''Seawolf'' and ''Sturgeon''.

General characteristics

First Group

The first group of S-class submarines consisted of four boats. They were smaller and slower than later classes, and carried less armament, but could be crewed by fewer men. All four were built at Chatham Dockyard, between 1930 and 1932. During the war, they operated in home waters, particularly the English Channel, and off the Scandanavian coast. The later second and third groups of S-class submarines would have their fuel capacity expanded to allow them to operate further and overcome this limitation.
The mortality rate of these early ships was particularly high. Only one, HMS ''Sturgeon'', survived to the end of the war.
'Ships:'

★ HMS ''Seahorse''

★ HMS ''Starfish''

★ HMS ''Sturgeon''

★ HMS ''Swordfish''

Second Group

The second group of S-class submarines consisted of nine boats. They were larger than the preceding first group and required more men to crew, but carried similar armament. Construction was divided between Chatham Dockyard, and the yards of Scotts, of Greenock and Cammell Laird & Co Limited, of Birkenhead. Most of the ships were built between 1934 and 1937, but one, ''Sea Devil'' was only built in 1945. During the war, they, like the submarines of the first group, mostly operated in home waters, ranging as far afield as the Bay of Biscay and the Scandanavian coast. One, HMS ''Sunfish'', was assigned to the Soviet Navy and operated in the Baltic Sea, before she was sunk by friendly aircraft.
A large percentage of these submarines were also lost during the war. Only three, HMS ''Sealion'', HMS ''Seawolf'' and HMS ''Sea Devil'' survived to the end of the war, though ''Sea Devil'' had only entered service as the war was drawing to a close.
'Ships:'

★ HMS ''Salmon''

★ HMS ''Sea Devil''

★ HMS ''Sealion''

★ HMS ''Seawolf''

★ HMS ''Shark''

★ HMS ''Snapper''

★ HMS ''Spearfish''

★ HMS ''Sterlet''

★ HMS ''Sunfish''

Third Group

The third and by far the most numerous group of S-class submarines consisted of 48 boats. They were the largest and most heavily armed of the S-class and required more men to crew. They were one knot faster on the surface, but two knots slower when submerged. Most of the group were built at the yards of either Scotts, of Greenock or Cammell Laird & Co Limited, of Birkenhead, with a handful being built at Chatham, or by Vickers Armstrong Ltd, of Barrow-in-Furness. Construction was carried out throughout the war, particularly between 1941 and 1945. Equipped with a greater fuel capacity than their predecessors, they operated much further afield, in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific far east.
Losses continued to be high. Nine ships; ''P222'', ''Saracen'', ''Sahib'', ''Sickle'', ''Simoom'', ''Splendid'', ''Stonehenge'', ''Stratagem'' and ''Syrtis'' were lost during the war, and ''Shakespeare'' and ''Strongbow'' were so badly damaged that they were written off and scrapped. Many surviving ships remained in service after the war. ''Sportsman'', by now transferred to the French navy, was lost off Toulon in 1951 and ''Sidon'' was sunk after a torpedo malfunction in 1955.
'Ships:'

★ Five ships were ordered under the 1939 War Emergency Programme.

★ HMS ''Safari''

★ HMS ''Sahib''

★ HMS ''Saracen''

★ HMS ''Satyr''

★ HMS ''Sceptre''

★ Twenty ships were ordered under the 1940 Programme. These differed from the initial five by having an external ''stern'' torpedo tube fitted, also a 20mm AA gun and air warning RDF installed.

★ HMS ''Seadog''

★ HMS ''Sibyl''

★ HMS ''Sea Rover''

★ HMS ''Seraph''

★ HMS ''Shakespeare''

★ HMS ''P222'' which was lost before a name could be alloted to her.

★ HMS ''Sea Nymph''

★ HMS ''Sickle''

★ HMS ''Simoom''

★ HMS ''Sirdar''

★ HMS ''Spiteful''

★ HMS ''Splendid''

★ HMS ''Sportsman''

★ The final seven further ships (''P81'' to ''P87'') ordered under the 1940 Programme, all from Vickers-Amstrong, were cancelled during 1943 (and were never laid down or named).

★ Fifteen ships (including ''Sea Devil'') were ordered under the 1941 Programme.

★ HMS ''Stoic''

★ HMS ''Stonehenge''

★ HMS ''Storm''

★ HMS ''Stratagem''

★ HMS ''Strongbow''

★ HMS ''Spark''

★ HMS ''Scythian''

★ HMS ''Stubborn''

★ HMS ''Surf''

★ HMS ''Syrtis''

★ HMS ''Shalimar''

★ HMS ''Scotsman''

★ HMS ''Spirit''

★ HMS ''Statesman''

★ Thirteen ships were ordered under the 1942 Programme.

★ HMS ''Sturdy''

★ HMS ''Stygian''

★ HMS ''Subtle''

★ HMS ''Supreme''

★ HMS ''Sea Scout''

★ HMS ''Selene''

★ HMS ''Seneschal''

★ HMS ''Sentinel''

★ HMS ''Sidon''

★ HMS ''Sleuth''

★ HMS ''Solent''

★ HMS ''Spearhead''

★ HMS ''Springer''

★ Four ships were ordered under the 1943 Programme and completed.

★ HMS ''Saga''

★ HMS ''Scorcher''

★ HMS ''Spur''

★ HMS ''Sanguine''

Other ships

Work on four more submarines was cancelled after the war ended in 1945, and they became surplus to peace time requirements. These comprised:

★ HMS ''Sea Robin'' (P267)

★ HMS ''Sprightly'' (P268)

★ HMS ''Surface'' (P269)

★ HMS ''Surge'' (P271)

References

1. Printed in Young (1952), who gives his source as Chief ERA "Skips" Marriott. One Of Our Submarines, , Edward, Young, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1952,

Sources

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