Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023: The Lost Desert Wind
Above we see the third flight S-class diesel boat, HM Submarine Simoom (P225), underway, likely in 1943, her only year of service. A rather unlucky boat, Simoom fired 15 war shot torpedoes in her career and, although she never hit a target that she intended to punch a hole into, she did manage to spectacularly claim her only “kill” some 80 years ago today.
The mighty S-class
Built to replace the aging boats in RN service, the first pair, HMS Swordfish, and HMS Sturgeon, were ordered in the 1929 program. Small boats, running just over 200 feet in overall length and displacing around 600 tons (900 submerged), they were relatively fast for the day, capable of breaking almost 14 knots on the surface, making them able to catch up to slow-moving merchantmen, and carried a full dozen Mark VIII torpedoes for their six-pack of forward 21-inch tubes. Meanwhile, a 3-inch deck gun and a Vickers light machine gun gave a topside armament. This could be augmented by a dozen mines. Able to operate in shallow waters, with a draft of only 10.5 feet, and able to submerge in 10 fathoms, they could crash dive in just 25-30 seconds with a good crew if needed.
Not bad for a 1920s design.
The 1929 Chatham Dockyard plan of the flight I S-class boats. Chatham would only produce two boats (HMS Shalimar and Sportsman), whereas most were built by Cammell Laird and smaller numbers by Scotts and Vickers.
As noted by Richard Worth in his Fleets of World War II:
“Meant as replacements for the old H-class, they required the same virtues of maneuverability and quick diving. But the Admiralty wanted more– improvements in range, armament, and surface speed. The “S” types became a pillar of His Majesty’s Submarine Force; not remarkable in any respect, rather they performed well all tasks at acceptable levels, a class of well-balanced and workmanlike boats that proved safe and easy to operate.”
A great period color shot of the S-class submarine HMS Seadog (P216), in the foreground moving off, Holy Loch, 1942. The Group 1 T-class submarine HMS Thunderbolt (N25) is in the background. Of note, Thunderbolt was originally HMS Thetis which sank with heavy loss of life in the Mediterranean just before the war and was subsequently salvaged. The two objects seen on her after casing are containers for human torpedo chariots. IWM TR 612
In all, the British would order no less than 73 S-class boats in three flights across 12 construction programs, and they would remain in production from 1930 through 1945, spanning both the interbellum and WWII era. In all, 62 were completed.
Meet HMS Simoom
The name “Simoom” after the desert wind, dates to an 1842 paddlewheel frigate and was used in no less than five other ships by the Royal Navy. The subject of our tale is the sixth and (thus far) final HMS Simoom.
Ordered in the largest batch of S-class boats (20 hulls) under the 1940 war program, she was a third flight vessel and as such had several minor improvements including a slightly higher freeboard forward, a less complicated and simplified engineering layout that allowed a maximum speed approaching 15 knots (one of the batch, HMS Seraph, could hit 16.75 knots). She also had a seventh tube installed, an external one, giving her 13 torpedoes in total. Also, in lieu of a Vickers gun, the 3rd flight S-boats carried a 20mm Oerlikon AAA gun and a primitive air warning RDF receiver. They also carried a Type 138 ASDIC system and a Type 291/291W early-warning radar.
Laid down at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead (a yard that built at least 26 of the class) on 14 July 1941, Simoom was launched the following October and commissioned on 30 December 1942, her construction spanning just under 17 months.
A series of great images were captured of her in April 1943, steaming in conjunction with the captured German Type VIIC U-boat U-570 (HMS Graph, P715).
As detailed by Uboat.net, her wartime service was brief.
Her first war patrol off Northern Norway to provide cover for convoy operations to and from Northern Russia in early 1943 was uneventful as was her second in the Bay of Biscay.
Transferring to the still very active Med, her third patrol, off the West coasts of Corsica and Sardinia was a bust.
Her 4th, providing coverage for the invasion of Sicily harassed some coastal shipping and, in the end, she would sink the Italian destroyer Vincenzo Gioberti on 9 August 1943.
Simoon had fired a brace of six torpedoes at the big boys of RADM Giuseppe Fioravanzo’s 8th Cruiser Division (light cruisers Giuseppe Garibaldi and Emanuele Filiberto Duca d’Aosta) but caught the smaller Vincenzo Gioberti instead, making her the last Italian tin can sunk in the war.
Italian destroyer Vincenzo Gioberti, photographed before World War II. NH 47663
She is believed to have taken 95 men to the bottom with her after dramatically breaking in two parts and sinking. Some 171 survivors of Gioberti were recovered by MAS torpedo boats from La Spezia.
The end of Italian destroyer Vincenzo Gioberti, torpedoed by HMS Simoom on 9 August 1943. She was the last Regia Marina destroyer to be lost in the war against the Allies. Photo by “Storia Illustrata” magazine
Other rather sedate patrols followed.
The mysterious end of Simoom‘s tale came in November while on her 7th patrol.
Via Uboat.net:
2 Nov 1943
HMS Simoom (Lt. G.D.N. Milner, DSC, RN) departed Port Said for 7th war patrol (5th in the Mediterranean). She was ordered to patrol between Naxos and Mikonos, Greece. At 1142B/2 she reported that she did not hold the letter coordinates for November and would use those of October. This prompted Captain S.1 to communicate them the following evening.
On the 5th she was ordered to patrol off the Dardanelles, five nautical miles west of Tenedos.
On the 13th she was ordered to leave her patrol area PM on the 15th passing between Psara and Khios, through 35°06’N, 26°44’E and then on the surface from 34°25’N, 29°59′ E. She was due in Beirut at 0901B/20 but this was later corrected to the 19th.
Simoom did not show up at Beirut. She was declared overdue on 23 November 1943.
At 1729 hours, on 15 November, the German submarine U-565 (KL Fritz Henning) fired a single stern torpedo from 2000 metres at a target described as “probably a submarine” on course 250°, one hit was heard after 3 minutes and 48 seconds. The position recorded was Quadrat CO 3381 (36°51’N, 27°22’E or off the east coast of Kos) and it is unlikely that HMS Simoom was in the area. Post-war analysis concluded that she was probably mined on 4 November 1943 on a new minefield laid off Donoussa Island (ca. 37°06’N, 25°50’E).
Her roll of lost, marked “missing presumed killed” 19 November 1943:
ADAM, William G, Able Seaman, P/JX 344969, MPK
ANGLESEA, John, Engine Room Artificer 5c, D/MX 102924, MPK
BALSON, Lewis F C, Warrant Engineer, MPK
BEDFORD, Maurice A, Ty/Leading Seaman, D/SSX 27992, MPK
BROADBRIDGE, Thomas G, Stoker 1c, C/KX 83568, MPK
CASPELL, George E, Telegraphist, C/JX 163711, MPK
COLE, Edward, Stoker Petty Officer, P/KX 83973, MPK
CROSS, Charles M, Ty/Sub Lieutenant, RNVR, MPK
DAY, Horace C, Signalman, C/JX 207606, MPK
ELLIN, Sidney, Petty Officer Telegraphist, C/JX 135616, MPK
ELLIOTT, Robert, Able Seaman, P/JX 322974, MPK
FRANCIS, Rolland J, Stoker 1c, D/KX 137871, MPK
GARBETT, Basil M, Lieutenant, MPK
GILL, Geoffrey, Able Seaman, C/JX 235129, MPK
GOWLAND, William R, Able Seaman, D/SSX 15958, MPK
GRIFFITH, Ben, Petty Officer, D/J 113001, MPK
HANNANT, James H, Able Seaman, D/JX 202875, MPK
HARRIS, Walter, Stoker 1c, D/KX 134758, MPK
HATTON, Charles W, Able Seaman, C/JX 169095, MPK
HERD, Charles E, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 281907, MPK
HERSTELL, Norman, Able Seaman, P/JX 347783, MPK
JOHNSON, Robert J, Able Seaman, C/SSX 26525, MPK
JONES, Louis F, Ty/Sub Lieutenant, RNVR, MPK
KENNEDY, Gordon A, Leading Telegraphist, D/JX 154462, MPK
KERR, David A, Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 55013, MPK
LANDING, John, Leading Stoker, P/KX 84477, MPK
LILLYCROP, Francis W, Stoker 1c, P/KX 145412, MPK
LOVELL, Ernest A, Able Seaman, P/SSX 18599, MPK
MARSDEN, Tom, Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 79301, MPK
MASON, George H, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 90779, MPK
MAY, Sidney J, Able Seaman, C/SSX 30974, MPK
MCLENNAN, Harold B W, Ty/Act/Leading Telegraphist, C/JX 259236, MPK
MILNER, Geoffrey D N, Lieutenant, MPK
MORTIMER-LAMB, Robert J, Ty/Petty Officer, C/JX 145875, MPK
OLDING, Walter G, Act/Chief Engine Room Artificer, P/MX 46951, MPK
O’LEARY, Michael T, Electrical Artificer 3c, D/MX49539, MPK
RAWE, James A, Act/Chief Petty Officer, RFR, P/JX 136102, MPK
SALMON, Alfred W, Able Seaman, P/JX 295724, MPK
SAUNDERS, Arthur, Able Seaman, P/JX 155201, MPK
SCHOFIELD, Bernard P, Able Seaman, C/JX 241234, MPK
SEABORNE, William J R, Stoker 1c, D/KX 94051, MPK
SHANKS, Thomas S, Ty/Sub Lieutenant, RNVR, MPK
SHARP, Norman, Able Seaman, D/JX 223594, MPK
SHEPHERD, John V, Stoker 1c, P/KX 83132, MPK
SMITH, William J, Stoker 1c, D/KX 145306, MPK
SONGHURST, Thomas J, Stoker 1c, C/KX 83463, MPK
TAYLOR, James, Engine Room Artificer 4c, C/MX 77617, MPK
WARDALE, Irvin, Able Seaman, D/JX 303574, MPK
WILSON, William, Act/Petty Officer, P/SSX 18131, MPK
Epilogue
In 2016, Turkish wreck-hunter Selcuk Kolay found HMS Simoom (P225) about 6 nautical miles northwest of the Turkish Aegean Island of Bozcaada (Tenedos) in 67 meters of water. There was extensive damage near the starboard hydroplane with the conclusion that Simoom had hit a mine while running on the surface. The mine Simoom hit was believed one sown by the German minelayer Bulgaria and the Italian torpedo boats Monzambano and Calatafimi in September 1941.
Likewise, Simoom’s only “kill,” the Italian destroyer Vincenzo Gioberti, had been discovered the year prior.
The Royal Navy’s wartime losses totaled 74 submarines. Of those, no less than 19 were S-class boats.
Across over 3,000 patrols, HM submarines sank 158 enemy combatant ships and damaged 54 others, in addition to sinking 1.6 million tons of enemy merchant shipping. A lot of that came from S-class boats.
Nonetheless, they were small and slow by postwar standards. By 1946, Janes listed just 39 S-class boats under the British fleet’s entry and a half-dozen of those warned “may be discarded in the near future.”
Soon, nine would be transferred to France, Portugal, and Israel.
One, HMS Sidon (P259), was wrecked by its own torpedo explosion on 16 June 1955 then refloated and sunk as a target. Another, HMS Sportsman/French submarine Sibylle, was lost off Toulon in 1952 in a diving accident.
Of the dwindling number of S boats still in RN service, most were withdrawn in the late 1940s and 1950s while still relatively young with just a couple lingering on for a few years longer. HMS Sea Devil, completed just after VE-Day, was paid off for disposal at Portsmouth on 4 June 1962, and was the last of the S class in service with the Royal Navy, completing 17 years of service. She was sold to the shipbreaker Metal Recoveries and arrived at Newhaven on 15 December 1965.
The sparsely used trio of boats operated postwar by Portugal (HMS Saga/NRP Nautilo, HMS Spearhead/NRP Nepunto, and HMS Spur/NRP Narval) were disposed of in 1969.
The last of the class afloat, HMS Springer, was used by Israel until 1972 as INS Tanin and had landed commandos in Egypt during the Six-Day War.
Submarine INS Tanin (ex-HMS Springer) arrives at Port of Haifa in 1959. She would be the last S-class boat
Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.
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