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When the Second World War began on 3 September 1939, British
submarines were on patrol on the opening day of hostilities. The
attack on HMS Spearfish by a German U-boat only minutes
after the commencement of hostilities presaged 5½ years
of dangerous and uncompromising submarine warfare. The new boats
designed in the 1930s were far superior to those which had carried
the burden twenty years before. They were stronger, more heavily
armed, faster, both on and under the water, and more technologically
advanced. Their straightforward yet robust designs facilitated
rapid expansion of submarine numbers when the war began. The main
theatres in which British submarines operated were Norwegian waters,
the North Sea, the Mediterranean and the Far East.
Throughout the war, the Submarine Service mounted patrols in
the North Sea and other Home waters to intercept U-boats and commerce
raiders heading for the Atlantic to attack Allied trade. In the
first five months of war four boats were lost, one unfortunately
sunk in error by another British submarine. More casualties were
suffered from April 1940 onwards as the war intensified with the
German invasion of Norway. However, both by direct action and
minelaying activities, Royal Navy submarines took a heavy toll
of German troop transports, supply ships and escort vessels, quickly
forcing the Germans to adopt defensive convoys. German shipping
in Norwegian waters continued to provide profitable targets for
the rest of the war.
The most important area of operations was the Mediterranean where,
between 1940 and 1944, British submarines based on Alexandria,
Malta, Gibraltar and Algiers waged war against Italian and German
lines of communication and supply routes supporting the Axis campaign
in North Africa and elsewhere. Conditions in this theatre proved
the most testing of the war. The proximity of Italian air and
naval forces and the calm, clear and shallow water which made
submarines vulnerable to detection and attack were factors which
combined to cause high losses. On the other hand, the confined
sea and plethora of targets on the one main supply route available
to the enemy, also meant that successes were frequent. Pre-war
Allied strategy had left the defence of the Mediterranean to the
French Navy. However, France's surrender and Italy's declaration
of war in June 1940 forced the recall of large ocean-going boats
from the Far East. Operating largely from Alexandria, they patrolled
the waters round Greece and Crete and in the Aegean and Adriatic
Seas to compel the commitment of Axis resources away from the
vital North African routes.
Also in 1940, reinforcements of small U class boats were sent
out from Britain to operate from the crucially important base
at Malta, set astride the Italian and German path to Africa. Large
minelaying submarines brought in supplies which helped to keep
the island in the battle despite the heavy Axis assault upon it.
The boats based on Malta, together with S and T class submarines,
were able to dominate the enemy's supply lines to such an extent
that the toll they took of men, fuel and supplies - over one million
tons of shipping - was a decisive contribution to the Allied victory
in North Africa. The ultimate accolade came from General Fritz
Bayerlein, Rommel's Chief of Staff, who said: "we would
have taken Alexandria and reached the Suez Canal if it had not
been for the work of your submarines". However, the price
was high as 45 boats were lost. All five of the Victoria Crosses
awarded to officers and men serving in conventional submarines
during the Second World War were won in the Mediterranean theatre.
When the war in the Far East began at the end of 1941, the rapid
loss of Hong Kong and Singapore to the Japanese forced the withdrawal
of British submarines to bases in Ceylon and Australia. Until
reinforcements could be sent from Europe at the end of 1943, as
the Allied position there improved, operations were on a small
scale. The great distances limited the range of the British boats
to the Indian Ocean, the waters around Malaya and the Dutch East
Indies, and the South China Sea. They could not reach the Pacific.
Conditions were difficult. The coastal waters around the islands
to which Japanese shipping almost invariably clung were swampy
and shallow and the climate was very hot and humid. Targets were
fewer than in Europe and, therefore, harder to find. When they
were encountered many were dispatched by gunfire, not being large
enough to merit a torpedo. British submarines contributed to the
Allied, mainly American, effort which sank 90% of Japan's merchant
navy during the war. Only three boats were lost in the Far East.
During the Second World War, British submarines proved, for the
second time in twenty years, their value and importance as a supreme
strategic weapon. 475 merchant ships, 105 warships and 36 submarines
had been sunk, with many others damaged. The course of the North
African campaign had been decisively altered. However, the cost
was a heavy one. 74 of the 206 boats in the Submarine Service
did not return, while 3,142 men (1in 3 who served) were killed
and 359 captured. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, paid
tribute when he told Parliament: "There is no branch of
His Majesty's forces which in this war have suffered the same
proportion of losses as our Submarine Service. It is the most
dangerous of all services".
See Images 9, 10 and 11 in the Image
Gallery.
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