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Rorqual (N 74)

Built By: Vickers (Barrow)
Build Group: G2
Fate: Scrapped on 17th March 1946 at Newport

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Rorqual
Rorqual
Rorqual, the only submarine of the class to survive World War II, She was taken out of service in 1946
Rorqual, the only submarine of the class to survive World War II, She was taken out of service in 1946
Commanders

1940 - 1st Flotilla: HMS Medway, Alexandria. (At Malta June 1940)
1941 - 10th Flotilla: Malta.

This boat was the most successful of the class, laying a total of 2,284 mines.

Participated in the 'Magic Carpet' runs.

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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