HMS Splendid (P228)

Splendid left Gibraltar on 31 October to patrol off Toulon, France; however, the boat encountered problems with her aft diving planes and had to return to port and abandon the patrol.[7]

The submarine again departed port on 7 November to patrol off Toulon; she was transferred the following week to operate off Naples instead. On 16 November, Splendid fired six torpedoes at a German U-boat, but missed. Later that day, the British submarine surfaced and sank with gunfire the Italian anti-submarine schooner San Paolo northwest of Gorgona, Italy. Splendid fired her six remaining bow torpedoes at the Italian submarine Aradam on 20 November, but all missed. The next day, the boat attacked the Italian Soldati-class destroyer Velite with her single unreloadable aft torpedo; the plan was to surface once the destroyer was sunk and engage the merchant ships with the deck gun on the surface.[7] The torpedo hit and damaged Velite, but the unexpected presence of two additional destroyers foiled the planned surface attack. While returning from her patrol on 23 November, Splendid encountered the Italian merchant Favorita northwest of Sardinia and sank her with gunfire on the surface, having expended all of her torpedoes. The submarine finally ended her patrol on 28 November.[7]

On 8 December, Splendid started another patrol, north of Tunisia. On 14 December, the boat attacked an Italian convoy with four torpedoes and claimed a hit; this was not the case, as a few hours later both merchant ships in the convoy were sunk by HMS Sahib and HMS Unruffled. On 17 December, Splendid sighted another convoy and fired six torpedoes at the heavy German transport Ankara; one torpedo passed 10 metres (33 ft) in front of the ship's bow and another 13 metres (43 ft) behind the ship's stern. The Italian destroyer Aviere was less lucky and was hit twice, going down in ten seconds with 220 dead.[7] The British submarine HMS Saracen observed the attack and confirmed the sinking. Splendid fired her last working torpedo at the Italian submarine Galatea, but missed. The boat then ended her patrol in Algiers on Christmas 1942.[7]

Ship's company of HMS Splendid, Algiers, 7–10 February 1943

Splendid's next patrol started on 5 January 1943, operating off Sardinia. After patrolling for four days, the boat landed two Special Operations Executive men on Sardinia's eastern coast. The submarine was then ordered to patrol off Naples instead, and set course for her new patrol area. On 15 January, Splendid sighted an Italian convoy and fired five torpedoes at the merchant ship Emma, which was transporting 950 tons of supplies and ten tanks. One torpedo hit, and the merchant ship was stopped dead in the water. However, the ship did not sink, and the submarine stayed close by to attack the ship again in daylight. During the night, the Italian ships attempted to tow Emma, but could not due to rough seas, and the submarine attacked the next morning with one torpedo, which sank the ship. A brief counter-attack with depth charges followed, but Splendid evaded the destroyers and was not damaged. The submarine later sank the Italian minesweeper Cleopatra with gunfire east of Sardinia, then damaged the armed trawler Violette with gunfire, and went on to sink the Italian merchant Commercio with torpedoes on the same day, 19 January. Splendid returned to Algiers on 22 January.[7]

On 13 February, the boat departed Algiers again for another patrol in the same area as before, north of Sicily. Splendid sighted an Italian convoy on 17 February and sank the Italian merchant ship XXI Aprile, which was laden with 300 tons of ammunition, 150 tons of supplies, and 50 motorised vehicles. One week later, the submarine attacked another Italian convoy, expending all her torpedoes, but did not sink any ships. Splendid ended her patrol on 28 February in Algiers.[7]

Splendid commenced another patrol on 11 March, north of Sicily as in previous patrols. After patrolling for five days, the boat sank the heavily escorted Italian tanker Devoli, then sank the tanker Giorgio four days later northeast of Cefalù, Sicily. The submarine ended patrol in Malta on 28 March. Splendid's commanding officer, Lieutenant McGeoch, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order following this patrol.[7] Between her first patrol in the Mediterranean in November 1942 and her sinking on 21 April 1943, Splendid was the most successful British submarine in total tonnage sunk between the invasion of French North Africa, codenamed Operation Torch, in November 1942 and the surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia in May 1943.[9]

Location of Splendid's wreck

Splendid departed Malta on 18 April 1943 for a patrol off Naples which was her last. Three days later the submarine's periscope was spotted by the German destroyer Hermes, which also detected the submarine on sonar. Hermes was the largest German ship in the Mediterranean Sea except for auxiliary minesweepers.[7] The destroyer made three attack runs with depth charges, dropping 41 in total; Splendid attempted to escape by diving to 500 feet (150 m), but the last eleven depth charges started leaks inside the submarine's pressure hull, and the boat was forced to surface. She was fired upon by the destroyer's surface guns, which killed 18 crew members and wounded the commanding officer. Splendid was scuttled to prevent her capture by enemy forces, and her surviving crew were imprisoned in Italian prisoner-of-war camps.[7][10] Splendid's commander, Ian McGeoch, despite having lost the use of one eye during the submarine's sinking, made two escape attempts, the second of which was successful; he arrived in Switzerland to have a metal splinter removed from his eye, then travelled through France and Spain to England.[9]