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Syrtis (P 241)

Built By: Cammell Laird (Mersey)
Build Group: S3
Fate: Syrtis left Lerwick on 16th March 1944 for a patrol off the Norwegian Coast in Latitude 63° 36’ North. On 20th March 1944 the Submarine was ordered to an area in the vicinity of Bödo. records indicate that she carried out attacks on enemy vessels in the area on 22nd March.

Syrtis was ordered to leave her Patrol Area on 28th March 1944 but failed to return to Lerwick as expected on 30th March 1944. An air search was carried out but no sign of the Submarine was found.

Mines are now known to have been laid in the area in which HMS Syrtis was working and it is almost certain that HMS Syrtis was lost with all hands by striking a mine off Bödo sometime between 22nd and 28th March 1944.

Syrtis (P 241)

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Roll of Honour

49
Blythe, Charles (RNR)
Died: 7th Feb, 1944.
Aged: 33
From: Berwick-on-Tweed
Lieutenant
HMS Syrtis was towing the X-Craft X22 in the Pentland Firth in bad weather when the Submarine was pooped and the First Lieutenant was washed overboard and was lost.

On 7th July 1941 he was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS Medway (1st Submarine Flotilla) at Alexandria, Egypt for Submarines. He returned home with an appointment to HMS Dolphin for Submarines on 25th July 1941.

His next appointment was to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS Cyclops for Submarine HMS Otway as Navigating Officer to date 9th March 1942.

This was followed by an appointment to HMS Dolphin for Submarine HMS Shakespeare completing and as Navigating Officer on Commissioning to date 6th June 1942.

On 15th October 1942 he was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS Forth at the Holy Loch for Submarine P614 as First Lieutenant and then to HMS Forth for Submarine HMS Syrtis as First Lieutenant.
Ainslie, John MacPherson (RNVR)
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 21
Lieutenant
Aitken, Robert
P/KX 83273
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 29
Leading Stoker
Alexander, Percy
P/KX 158563
Born: 10th Mar, 1925.
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 19
Stoker 1st Class
RN DoB 10/03/1924
Allam, Harold Richard
C/JX 156270
Born: 15th Apr, 1918.
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 25
Petty Officer
Ashton, George Charles
D/J 107365
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 36
Leading Seaman
Beardsley, Albert
P/JX 159090
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 21
Able Seaman
Blackley, James Hamilton
C/MX 504341
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 19
Engine Room Artificer 4th Class
Boyd, Richard Loudon
C/JX 359213
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 19
Telegraphist
Burgess, George William
D/KX 148044
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 21
Stoker 1st Class
Denne, Bernard Herbert
C/KX 97606
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 23
Stoker 1st Class
Forsyth, Hugh Gemmell
C/SSX 25989
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 23
Able Seaman
Fowler, Hugh Messer MID
C/JX 152175
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 28
Petty Officer
Fyson, Donald Alexander (RNR)
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 23
Lieutenant
Goldsmith, Bernard John
P/MX 98856
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 20
Engine Room Artificer 4th Class
Green, John
P/SSX 24927
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 24
Able Seaman
Hagerty, John Patrick
C/JX 224730
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 21
Telegraphist
Hallworth, John Bancroft
P/JX 361955
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 21
Able Seaman
Harris, William Charles MID
C/SSX 19504
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 24
Able Seaman
Henshall, Geoffrey
D/SSX 22749
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 24
Leading Seaman
Hill, Royston Henry
D/KX 153006
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 20
Leading Stoker
Holder, Frank
D/KX 159521
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 19
Stoker 1st Class
Hosie, Andrew
D/MX 64044
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 24
Leading Cook
Hull, Leslie
P/KX 137032
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 21
Leading Stoker
Jamieson, William
P/MX 88769
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 21
Engine Room Artificer 4th Class
Jupp, Michael Hugh DSC*
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 24
Lieutenant
Kay, John Matthew
D/JX 564161
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 19
Ordinary Seaman
Lynch, Denis Henry DSM
(Ex. M45637)
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 34
Warrant Engineer
Mackenzie, Donald
D/J 107897
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 36
Chief Petty Officer
Malley, Leslie
C/KX 82455
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 29
Stoker Petty Officer
McAllister, William
P/KX 92004
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 27
Leading Stoker
McCarthy, Ronald Dowler
P/JX 161391
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 20
Signalman
O'Carroll, Thomas Christopher
D/SSX 28087
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 23
Able Seaman
Osman, Fred
P/JX 130488
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 32
Petty Officer
Page, Sidney Edwin
C/MX 53249
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 22
Engine Room Artificer 4th Class
Parker, William Thomas
P/SSX 33340
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 23
Leading Telegraphist
Picknell, William George
C/JX 154405
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 22
Leading Seaman
Powell, Robert Howard
D/JX 145188
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 24
Petty Officer Telegraphist
Readman, John Henry
P/JX 193267
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 23
Able Seaman
Richardson, Arthur
D/JX 158363
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 21
Able Seaman
Shields, Thomas Henry
C/JX 407347
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 18
Ordinary Seaman
Spratt, Frederick Edward
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 22
Lieutenant
Steel, Sydney
C/JX 193464
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 26
Able Seaman
Storey, Frederick Arthur
P/JX 367602
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 20
Able Seaman
Stubbs, George John DSM
P/MX 49527
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 26
Chief Engine Room Artificer
Willcocks, Arthur Charles Percy
P/MX 98380
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 23
Engine Room Artificer 4th Class
Wilson, Leslie Edmund
P/JX 217680
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 24
Able Seaman
Woodards, Frederick Charles
C/KX 140770
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 19
Stoker 1st Class
Young, William
P/KX 145666
Died: 28th Mar, 1944.
Aged: 21
Stoker 1st Class

Events

14-10-1941  Laid Down
04-02-1943  Launched
23-04-1943  Completed
22-03-1944  HMS Syrtis sank Norwegian SS Narvik near Sleipnesodden, Helgeland with gunfire
28-03-1944  Mined & sunk

HMS Syrtis left Lerwick on 16th March 1944 for a patrol off the Norwegian coast. On 20th March she was ordered to an area near Bodo, some 70 miles inside the Arctic Circle. Two days later she sank the steamer Narvik with gunfire. On the 28th a signal was sent to Syrtis ordering her to return to Lerwick. This signal was never acknowledged and the submarine failed to return. German reports indicate the sinking of a submarine in the Bodo area at the time by shore batteries, but the most likely cause of her loss is a mine.

Official
S3 Specification
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