Rorqual (N74)
| Built By: | Vickers (Barrow) |
| Build Group: | G2 |
| Fate: | Scrapped on 17th March 1946 at Newport |
Rorqual, the only submarine of the class to survive World War II, She was taken out of service in 1946
Related Pages
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| The Adriatic, radiant in summer, with its many islands strung like jewels along the Dalmatian coast, is a pleasant sea in time of peace. With the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece, it became yet another area of perilous opportunity for the Submarines of the Royal Navy. Among the shoals off Italy's eastern seaboard and the innumerable islands of the Yugoslavian coast, where the enemy played a desperate game of hide and seek with his ore ships bound for Fiume, the Submarines carried out many adventurous patrols. | |
Events
| 11-03-1933 : | Completed |
| 01-05-1935 : | Laid Down |
| 21-07-1936 : | Launched |
| 15-06-1940 : | HMS Rorqual makes an unsuccesful torpedo attack on an Italian submarine in the Strait of Otranto. |
| 05-07-1940 : | Lt Patrick Maule Kerr Griffiths, RN died at Devonport on Friday 5th July 1940. In the early hours of Wednesday 3rd July 1940, all French Naval vessels at Plymouth were taken into Royal Navy control. The crew of the French Submarine Surcouf resisted the takeover and, in the confusion, he was shot, and he died later in hospital. |
| 21-07-1940 : | HMS Rorqual hit the Italian merchant Securitas with a dud torpedo off Tulmaythah, Libya. Rorqual also lays a minefield on this day. |
| 17-08-1940 : | HMS Rorqual laid a minefield (50 mines) off Tukrah, Libya. |
| 21-08-1940 : | HMS Rorqual sank unknown 5000 ton Italian supply ship by torpedo |
| 04-10-1940 : | HMS Rorqual lays a minefield (50 mines) off Benghazi, Libya. |
| 05-11-1940 : | HMS Rorqual lays a minefield (50 mines) north-west of Tripoli, Libya. |
| 27-12-1940 : | The Italian merchant Caffaro is damaged north-west of Tripoli, Libya, when she hits a mine laid on 5 November 1940 by the British submarine HMS Rorqual. |
| 28-01-1941 : | HMS Rorqual lays mines off the Adriatic coastal port of Ancona |
| 31-01-1941 : | HMS Rorqual attacked the tug Ursus and a floating battery in the Adriatic north west of Dubrovnik. After completing an operation to lay mines off Fiume the submarine came across an unusual target she sighted a floating battery of two 5-inch guns and an anti-aircraft gun, mounted on a lighter which was being towed by an armed tug. The lighter could hardly be torpedoed, as she was of too shallow draft for the normal depth setting of the torpedoes, and the only other weapon the Rorqual had was a single 4-inch gun. Undeterred by the odds against him, Dewhurst surfaced at about 500 yards range. She hit the Ursus with her first shot and set it on fire, then shifted her fire to the battery. Again she hit, starting a blaze amidships, but the Italians in the tug were gallant men and ignoring the fire in their small vessel, they manned their guns and opened fire on the Rorqual. She was forced to shift her fire from the battery and engage the Ursus again. This time she made certain of her. She was ablaze for and aft and those of her crew who had not been killed were forced to abandon her. But the men manning the floating battery were no less gallant than their companions in the Ursus. Although their own craft was on fire amidships, they manned the two guns and by their accurate fire forced the Rorqual to dive. Dewhurst then set a torpedo to run on the surface and carried out a submerged attack, only to find that the torpedo developed a gyro failure and was returning on its own tracks. Rorqual had to dive deep to avoid it. When last seen, the Ursus was in the act of sinking and the battery still heavily on fire. The battery however did not sink she was later towed to Dubrovnik. |
| 25-03-1941 : | HMS Rorqual laid a minefield off Capo Gallo, Sicily, Italy. The next day two ships from a convoy ran into this minefield and sank. Two days later Italian torpedo boat Generale Antonio Chinotto also sank in this minefield |
| 30-03-1941 : | HMS Rorqual torpedoes and sinks the Italian tanker Laura Corrado north-east off Capo Gallo, Sicily, Italy. |
| 31-03-1941 : | HMS Rorqual torpedoed & sank the Italian submarine Pier Capponi south of Stromboli, Italy |
| 11-05-1941 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines in the Gulf of Saloniki. |
| 12-05-1941 : | HMS Rorqual sinks two Greek sailing vessels with gunfire off Lemnos, Greece. |
| 25-08-1941 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines off Cap Skinari, Greece. |
| 28-08-1941 : | HMS Rorqual torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant Cilicia about 40 nautical miles south-south-west of Schiza Island. |
| 08-10-1941 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines in the Gulf of Athens. |
| 21-10-1941 : | HMS Rorqual lays 10 mines off Isola dei Cavoli off south-east Sardinia. |
| 22-10-1941 : | HMS Rorqual lays 40 mines off Capo Ferrato, south-east Sardinia. |
| 19-11-1941 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines in the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle, France. |
| 30-08-1942 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines south-east of Corfu. She also torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant Monstella in the Ionian Sea off Corfu Island. |
| 08-12-1942 : | HMS Rorqual lays 33 mines off Bizerte, Tunisia. |
| 13-12-1942 : | HMS Rorqual lays 11 mines off Isola d'Ischia near Naples, Italy. |
| 18-12-1942 : | HMS Rorqual torpedoes and damages the Italian merchant Piero Foscari in the Gulf of Gaeta, Italy north-east of Ischia island. |
| 24-02-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines off Isola Marettimo, to the west of Sicily, Italy. |
| 22-03-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines off Trapani, Sicily, Italy. |
| 22-04-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines off Isola Favignana west of Sicily, Italy. |
| 30-04-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines off Isola Marettimo, to the west of Sicily, Italy. |
| 15-05-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines off Punta Stilo, Calabria, Italy. |
| 02-07-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays 29 mines off the Gulf of Kassandra, Greece. |
| 03-07-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays 21 mines in the Skiathos Channel. |
| 07-07-1943 : | HMS Rorqual torpedoes and sinks the German tanker Wilhemsburg about 5 nautical miles west of Tenedos Island, Greece. |
| 05-08-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays 29 mines off the Gulf of Saloniki, Greece. |
| 07-08-1943 : | HMS Rorqual torpedoes and sinks the French merchant (in German service) Nantaise in the Aegean Sea. |
| 08-08-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays her remaining 21 mines off Lemnos, Greece. |
| 09-09-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays 15 mines off Trikeri, Greece. |
| 10-09-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays another 15 mines in the Skiathos Channel. |
| 11-09-1943 : | HMS Rorqual lays her remaining 20 mines off Lemnos, Greece. |
| 03-01-1945 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines (minefield ML 022) off Phuket, Siam. |
| 04-01-1945 : | HMS Rorqual lays 10 mines (minefield ML 023) off Phuket, Siam. These mines were laid from the torpedo tubes. |
| 22-01-1945 : | HMS Rorqual lays 50 mines (minefield ML 026) off the Ritchies Archipelago to the east of Andaman Island. |
| 23-01-1945 : | HMS Rorqual lays 12 mines from her torpedo tubes (minefield ML 027) off the Andaman Islands. |
| 25-03-1945 : | HMS Rorqual sinks a Japanese sailing vessel with gunfire west of Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies. |
| 27-03-1945 : | HMS Rorqual sinks two Japanese coasters and damages a third with gunfire west of Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies. |
| 02-04-1945 : | HMS Rorqual sinks two Japanese sailing vessels with gunfire west of Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies. |
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