| Built By: | Denny (Leven) |
| Build Group: | L2 |
| Fate: | Sank during typhoon 18th August 1923 in Hong Kong harbour, no losses. She was raised and refitted and put into service for another four years. She was sold for scrap in June 1927, the first L class boat to be sold. |
1923 - Reserve Flotilla. Hong Kong.
Roll of Honour |
1
|
| Francis, Leslie Cyril Kendall |
|
|||||
| Lieutenant | ||||||
| Accidentally drowned | ||||||
| 01-10-1916 | Laid Down |
| 29-01-1918 | Launched |
| 27-05-1918 | Completed |
| 18-08-1932 | Foundered in Hong Kong harbour during a typhoon HMS L9 broke adrift from a buoy in Hong Kong during a typhoon. The submarine struck a merchant ship and damaged a dockyard wall before foundering. She was later salvaged. |
| Length overall | 238 ft 7 inch |
| Beam | 23 ft 6 inch |
| Draught | 13 ft 3 inch |
| Displacement | 914 tons (surface) |
| 1089 tons (submerged) | |
| Diving Depth | 150 ft |
| Speed | Surface 17 knots (design) |
| Surface 17 to 17.5 knots (service) | |
| Submerged 10.5 knots (design) | |
| Submerged 10.5+ knots (service) | |
| No. of shafts | 2 |
| Propeller | 3 blades, 5 ft 7 inch diameter |
| Armament | 4 x 18 inch bow tubes |
| 2 x 18 inch beam tubes | |
| (10 torpedoes carried) | |
| 1 x 4 inch gun | |
| Endurance | Surface: 2800 miles at full power (design) |
| Surface: 2850 miles at full power or 3600 miles at half full power (service) | |
| Submerged: 14 miles at full power (design) | |
| Submerged: 14 miles at full power or 65 miles at 5 knots (service) | |
| Complement | 38 |
U-593 was on her fifteenth patrol when she was sunk, having been in commission over two years. During the course of her long history, she claimed the sinking of 15 merchant vessels and the damaging of three others, in addition to sinking three destroyers. Most of her success was achieved in the Mediterranean which she entered on her fourth patrol in late September or early October 1942
The combined forces invasion of the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on 23 April 1918 remains one of Britain's most glorious military undertakings; not quite as epic a failure as the charge of the Light Brigade, or as well publicised as the Dam Busters raid, but with many of the same basic ingredients.
A force drawn from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines set out on ships and submarines to try to block the key strategic port, in a bold attempt to stem the catastrophic losses being inflicted on British shipping by German submarines. It meant attacking a heavily fortified German naval base. The tide, calm weather and the right wind direction for a smoke screen were crucial to the plan.
Judged purely on results, it can only be considered a partial strategic success. Casualties were high and the base only partially blocked. Nonetheless, it came to represent the embodiment of the bulldog spirit, the peculiarly British fighting elan, the belief that anything was possible with enough dash and daring.
The essential story of the Zeebrugge mission has been told before, but never through the direct, first-hand accounts of its survivors, including that of Lieutenant Richard Sandford, VC, the acknowledged hero of the day, and the author's great uncle. The fire and bloodshed of the occasion is the book's centrepiece, but there is also room for the family and private lives of the men who volunteered in their hundreds for what they knew effectively to be a suicide mission.
Zeebrugge gives a very real sense of the existence of the ordinary British men and women of 100 years ago, made extraordinary by their role in what Winston Churchill called the 'most intrepid and heroic single armed adventure of the Great War.'
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| Length overall | 238 ft 7 inch |
| Beam | 23 ft 6 inch |
| Draught | 13 ft 3 inch |
| Displacement | 914 tons (surface) |
| 1089 tons (submerged) | |
| Diving Depth | 150 ft |
| Speed | Surface 17 knots (design) |
| Surface 17 to 17.5 knots (service) | |
| Submerged 10.5 knots (design) | |
| Submerged 10.5+ knots (service) | |
| No. of shafts | 2 |
| Propeller | 3 blades, 5 ft 7 inch diameter |
| Armament | 4 x 18 inch bow tubes |
| 2 x 18 inch beam tubes | |
| (10 torpedoes carried) | |
| 1 x 4 inch gun | |
| Endurance | Surface: 2800 miles at full power (design) |
| Surface: 2850 miles at full power or 3600 miles at half full power (service) | |
| Submerged: 14 miles at full power (design) | |
| Submerged: 14 miles at full power or 65 miles at 5 knots (service) | |
| Complement | 38 |
U-593 was on her fifteenth patrol when she was sunk, having been in commission over two years. During the course of her long history, she claimed the sinking of 15 merchant vessels and the damaging of three others, in addition to sinking three destroyers. Most of her success was achieved in the Mediterranean which she entered on her fourth patrol in late September or early October 1942
The combined forces invasion of the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on 23 April 1918 remains one of Britain's most glorious military undertakings; not quite as epic a failure as the charge of the Light Brigade, or as well publicised as the Dam Busters raid, but with many of the same basic ingredients.
A force drawn from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines set out on ships and submarines to try to block the key strategic port, in a bold attempt to stem the catastrophic losses being inflicted on British shipping by German submarines. It meant attacking a heavily fortified German naval base. The tide, calm weather and the right wind direction for a smoke screen were crucial to the plan.
Judged purely on results, it can only be considered a partial strategic success. Casualties were high and the base only partially blocked. Nonetheless, it came to represent the embodiment of the bulldog spirit, the peculiarly British fighting elan, the belief that anything was possible with enough dash and daring.
The essential story of the Zeebrugge mission has been told before, but never through the direct, first-hand accounts of its survivors, including that of Lieutenant Richard Sandford, VC, the acknowledged hero of the day, and the author's great uncle. The fire and bloodshed of the occasion is the book's centrepiece, but there is also room for the family and private lives of the men who volunteered in their hundreds for what they knew effectively to be a suicide mission.
Zeebrugge gives a very real sense of the existence of the ordinary British men and women of 100 years ago, made extraordinary by their role in what Winston Churchill called the 'most intrepid and heroic single armed adventure of the Great War.'
20 pages added or updated in the last 1 month
Please help to maintain this site by reporting any Errors, Broken Links, Information or Site Issues on this page using this button
If you find this site useful, please consider supporting my work with a small Donation.
Please Note: Donations made using this option go directly to the site owner and not to the Submariners Association.
Thankyou for your support.

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