HMS Unity (N66)

Unity was built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 19 February 1937 and was commissioned on 5 October 1938.

At the onset of the Second World War, Unity was a member of the 6th Submarine Flotilla. From 26–29 August 1939, the flotilla deployed to its war bases at Dundee and Blyth.[1] She served in home waters in the North Sea, making a failed attack on the German submarine U-2.[2]

Unity sailed from Blyth on 29 April 1940 to patrol off Norway, where she collided with the Norwegian ship Atle Jarl; sinking five minutes later.[3] Two members of her crew, Lieutenant John Low and able Seaman Henry Miller, gave their lives by remaining behind in the flooded control room so that their shipmates could escape from the sinking vessel.[4]

The wreck is accessible by technical divers, lying between 55m and 48m[5] off the Farne Islands.[6]

• List of shipwrecks in 1940

• 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.
• Gray, Edwyn (1996). Few Survived A Comprehensive Survey of Submarine Accidents and Disasters. London: Leo Cooper. ISBN 978-0850524994.
• 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.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Revised & Expanded ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.