HMS Untamed

HMS Untamed (P58) was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrongs.[1] So far, she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Untamed. On May 30, 1943, she sank during a training exercise in the Firth of Clyde with the loss of all 35 of her crew. [2] [3] Untamed was subsequently salvaged and renamed HMS Vitality, another unique name, and lasted until 1946 when she was scrapped.

HMS Vitality moving away from the quayside with some of the crew on deck
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Untamed
Builder: Vickers-Armstrongs, Newcastle upon Tyne
Laid down: 9 October 1941
Launched: 8 December 1942
Commissioned: 14 April 1943
Fate:
  • Sunk on 30 May 1943
  • Salvaged on 5 July 1943
  • Recommissioned
Badge:
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Vitality
Commissioned: July 1944
Fate: Sold for scrapping on 13 February 1946
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: U-class submarine
Displacement:
  • Surfaced - 540 tons standard, 630 tons full load
  • Submerged - 730 tons
Length: 191 ft (58.2 m)
Beam: 16 ft 1 in (4.9 m)
Draught: 15 ft 2 in (4.6 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 shaft diesel-electric
  • 2 Paxman Ricardo diesel generators + electric motors
  • 615 / 825 hp
Speed:
  • 11.25 knots (20.84 km/h; 12.95 mph) max surfaced
  • 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) max submerged
Complement: 27-31
Armament:

Sinking

Untamed, under the command of Lt Gordon Maurice Noll RN,[4] was on a training exercise with the 8th Escort Group in the Firth of Clyde on 30 May 1943 acting as a target.[5] In the second exercise that day, Untamed was used as a target for anti-submarine mortar practice by the yacht HMS Shemara. When the submarine did not respond to attempts to contact her nor surface, assistance was summoned. Shemara located Untamed with sonar and heard the sounds of her engines being run and tanks being blown. HMS Thrasher arrived but no more was heard from Untamed after 17:45 – nearly three hours from the first indication of a problem. Weather prevented divers inspecting the submarine until 1 June. There was no outward sign of damage and it was not until after Untamed was salvaged on 5 July 1943 that it was found that she had been flooded through a sluice valve.

Untamed was salvaged, refitted and named Vitality, returning to service in July 1944. As Vitality, she had a short and uneventful career and was sold to be broken up for scrap on 13 February 1946. She was broken up at Troon.

The Sandbank War Memorial at Hunters Quay is in part dedicated to the crew of Untamed[6] who were buried at Dunoon cemetery.[7]

Notes
  1. National Archives
  2. "HM Submarine Untamed (P58) – 1943", by Catherine Beale
  3. "HMS Untamed (P58) (+1943)", "The Wreck Site" database
  4. "HMS Untamed". uboat net. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  5. RN Submarine Museum
  6. The Scottish War Memorials Project
  7. "The War Graves Photographic Project". Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2010.

References


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