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: | |
| 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: |
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| Speed: | |
| Range: |
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| Test depth: | 350 ft (110 m) |
| Complement: | 5 officers & 55 enlisted |
| Armament: |
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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
| From | To | Captain |
|---|---|---|
| 1953 | 1953 | Lieutenant-Commander A. G. Tait DSC RN |
| 1957 | 1959 | Lieutenant-Commander C. A. J. French RN |
| 1958 | 1962 | Lieutenant-Commander O. B. Sharp RN |
| 1966 | 1966 | In reserve |
References
- Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2011). "HMS Aurochs (P426)". uboat.net. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
- Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15 June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden
- 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.
- Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 85.
- Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 101,105.
- Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 86–87.
- Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 99.
- Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 100.
- Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 125.
- Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 136–137.
- Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 138–139.
- Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 140–141.
- Warlow, Ben. Channel Sweep. Liskeard: Maritime Books. p. 13. ISBN 0-907771-40-8.
- "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.