| Built By: | Vickers (Barrow) |
| Build Group: | Turkish |
| Fate: | The submarine was dispatched to West Africa to provide ASW Training based at Freetown in Liberia. On 18th April 1943 whilst on passage to Takoradi and under escort by MMS 107. P615 was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-Boat U-123 (Oberleutnant zur Zee Horst von Schroeter). The Submarine was lost with all hands |
One of a Class of four submarines built by Vickers at Barrow for the Turkish Navy and launched on 1st November 1940. P615 was to have been called 'ULUC ALI REIS' and was taken over by the Royal Navy in 1941.
Roll of Honour |
44
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| Bigrove, Edward |
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| Telegraphist | ||||||
| Burnell, Denis (RNR) |
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| Lieutenant | ||||||
| Cunningham, William Nelson |
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| Stoker Petty Officer | ||||||
| Daft, Arthur Joseph |
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| Stoker 1st Class | ||||||
| Davies, Austin Francis |
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| Lieutenant | ||||||
| Dinsdale, George Albert |
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| Stoker 1st Class | ||||||
| Dyson, Arthur |
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| Stoker Petty Officer | ||||||
| Edwards, Leonard George |
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| Able Seaman | ||||||
| Fairclough, John Roger DSM |
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| Stoker Petty Officer | ||||||
| Gauntley, Stanley |
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| Able Seaman | ||||||
| Goulstone, Francis Gerald MID |
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| Chief Petty Officer | ||||||
| Griffiths, Samuel James |
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| Stoker | ||||||
| Hayes, Frederick George |
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| Stoker 1st Class | ||||||
| Hubbard, Charles Clarence |
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| Petty Officer | ||||||
| James, Walter Roland Frederick MID |
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| Petty Officer | ||||||
| Kent-Smith, Percy James |
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| Engine Room Artificer 4th Class | ||||||
| Lambert, Charles Walderne St Clair DSC* |
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| Lieutenant | ||||||
| Lowery, Alfred |
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| Able Seaman | ||||||
| Mackie, James Andrew |
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| Petty Officer | ||||||
| McClinton, Robert Walter |
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| Leading Telegraphist | ||||||
| McGuigan, Eric Joseph |
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| Able Seaman | ||||||
| McLaughlan, James (RNR) |
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| Leading Seaman | ||||||
| Nicholl, Desmond Earle (RNVR) |
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| Sub Lieutenant | ||||||
| O'Hare, John |
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| Engine Room Artificer 2nd Class | ||||||
| Ollerenshaw, Daniel |
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| Able Seaman | ||||||
| Oxley, John Henry |
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| Engine Room Artificer 4th Class | ||||||
| Pepper, William Richard |
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| Petty Officer Telegraphist | ||||||
| Price, Harold Reece |
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| Leading Telegraphist | ||||||
| Relly, Maxwell Spicer |
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| Leading Seaman | ||||||
| Schuil, Alphonse Emiel (RNVR) |
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| Lieutenant | ||||||
| Shaw, Gerald Charles Francis |
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| Able Seaman | ||||||
| Sinclair, John |
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| Able Seaman | ||||||
| Slater, William |
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| Stoker Petty Officer | ||||||
| Smith, Arthur Charles DSM |
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| Leading Seaman | ||||||
| South, Arthur |
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| Stoker 1st Class | ||||||
| Starrett, Edward Thomas MID |
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| Chief Engine Room Artificer | ||||||
| Sumby, George William |
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| Petty Officer | ||||||
| Swann, Ernest Edward |
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| Able Seaman | ||||||
| Taylor, Albert Edward DSM |
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| Petty Officer Cook | ||||||
| Tovey, Clifford Charles |
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| Able Seaman | ||||||
| Vail, Albert Henry |
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| Signalman | ||||||
| Wallace, James |
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| Stoker 1st Class | ||||||
| Watkins, William |
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| Leading Stoker | ||||||
| Weeks, Henry Herbert (RNR) |
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| Sub Lieutenant | ||||||
| 24-05-1939 | Laid Down |
| 01-11-1940 | Launched |
| 18-04-1943 | HMS P615 left Freetown under escort by minesweeper HMS MMS-107 on passage to the South Atlantic Command to provide ASW escort training. During the night they lost contact but found each other the next morning. U-123 spotted both vessels at 0344 and missed them with two spreads of two torpedoes at 0534 & 0647, one of the torpedo tracks was sighted by the escort, but was put down to a porpoise. At 1101, a merchant vessel was sighted and at 1153 the U-boat fired one torpedo at the minesweeper on station about 300 yards off the submarines starboard quarter, but missed. At 1154, a spread of two torpedoes was fired at the submarine, which was hit by one of them on the starboard side, exploded and sank immediately about 100 miles SW of Freetown. U-123 then torpedoed at 1239 hours Empire Bruce and left the area after sinking her with two coup de grace. The minesweeper picked up the survivors from the merchantman and returned to Freetown |
Orpheus (N 46) |
|
| Class: | 1925 - 1946: Odin Class |
| Built By: | |
| Build Group: | O2 |
|
Fate: HMS Orpheus was declared overdue on 27th June 1940. The likely cause of her loss with all hands is that she was mined off Benghazi. |
|
A landmark history of the U-Boat war told through the experiences and recollections of the U-Boat crews themselves.
Winston Churchill famously remarked that the threat of the German U-Boats was the only thing that had "really frightened" him during World War Two. The U-Boats certainly claimed a bitter harvest among Allied shipping: nearly 3,000 ships were sunk, for a total tonnage of over 14 million tonnes, nearly 70% of Allied shipping losses in all theatres of the war. With justification, then, they are an integral part of the traditional narrative of the Battle of the Atlantic; a story of technological brilliance, dramatic sinkings, life and death, and, of course, the sinister, unseen threat of the U-Boats themselves.
For Allied seamen during the war, the U-Boat was a hidden menace, a faceless killer lurking beneath the waves; and the urgent needs of survival afforded them little time or energy to consider the challenges and privations of their enemy. History, however, affords us that time and energy, and any pretence of comprehensiveness demands that we consider what life was like for the crews of those most claustrophobic vessels; packed into a steel hull, at the mercy of the enemy, of the elements, and of basic physics.
Germany’s U-Boat crews posted the highest per-capita losses of any combat arm during World War Two. Some 30,000 German submariners were killed, over 75% of the total number deployed, the vast majority of whom have no grave except the seabed. Using archival sources, unpublished diaries and existing memoir literature, this book will give the U-Boatmen back their voice, allowing their side of the narrative to be aired in a comprehensive manner for the first time.
With that testimony, Wolfpack takes the reader from the heady early days of the war, when U-Boat crews were buoyed with optimism about their cause, through to the challenges of meeting the Allied counterthreat, to the final horror of defeat, when their submarines were captured by the enemy or scuttled in ignominy. Using the U-Boatmen’s own voices to punctuate an engaging narrative, it tells their story; of courage, certainly, but also of fear, privation and, ultimately, failure.
13 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.
Orpheus (N 46) |
|
| Class: | 1925 - 1946: Odin Class |
| Built By: | |
| Build Group: | O2 |
|
Fate: HMS Orpheus was declared overdue on 27th June 1940. The likely cause of her loss with all hands is that she was mined off Benghazi. |
|
A landmark history of the U-Boat war told through the experiences and recollections of the U-Boat crews themselves.
Winston Churchill famously remarked that the threat of the German U-Boats was the only thing that had "really frightened" him during World War Two. The U-Boats certainly claimed a bitter harvest among Allied shipping: nearly 3,000 ships were sunk, for a total tonnage of over 14 million tonnes, nearly 70% of Allied shipping losses in all theatres of the war. With justification, then, they are an integral part of the traditional narrative of the Battle of the Atlantic; a story of technological brilliance, dramatic sinkings, life and death, and, of course, the sinister, unseen threat of the U-Boats themselves.
For Allied seamen during the war, the U-Boat was a hidden menace, a faceless killer lurking beneath the waves; and the urgent needs of survival afforded them little time or energy to consider the challenges and privations of their enemy. History, however, affords us that time and energy, and any pretence of comprehensiveness demands that we consider what life was like for the crews of those most claustrophobic vessels; packed into a steel hull, at the mercy of the enemy, of the elements, and of basic physics.
Germany’s U-Boat crews posted the highest per-capita losses of any combat arm during World War Two. Some 30,000 German submariners were killed, over 75% of the total number deployed, the vast majority of whom have no grave except the seabed. Using archival sources, unpublished diaries and existing memoir literature, this book will give the U-Boatmen back their voice, allowing their side of the narrative to be aired in a comprehensive manner for the first time.
With that testimony, Wolfpack takes the reader from the heady early days of the war, when U-Boat crews were buoyed with optimism about their cause, through to the challenges of meeting the Allied counterthreat, to the final horror of defeat, when their submarines were captured by the enemy or scuttled in ignominy. Using the U-Boatmen’s own voices to punctuate an engaging narrative, it tells their story; of courage, certainly, but also of fear, privation and, ultimately, failure.
13 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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