Vagabond to VikingPage last Updated:
25-Mar-2008
| Name | Class | Pennant | Crew | Built | Builder
| Disposal Date | Method |
Vagabond | V | P18
| 37 | 19-Sep-44 |
Vickers Armstrong Tyne | 26-Jan-50 | Scrap |
| Commanding Officers:
Lt. Ian Macfarlane Stoop DSC RN, 24 October 1944 - 31 August 1945; Lt. D. Hay RN, from 31 August 1945.
Broken up at Newport. |
Vampire | V | P72 | 37 | 20-Jul-43 | Vickers Armstrong Barrow |
01-Mar-50 | Scrap |
Med 1944; Lt. CW Taylor RNR commanding. Operated in the Aegean, conducting operational patrols in June and July of that year,
during which she sank four small coasting vessels.
12 May 44 sank a sailing vessel Monemvassia, Greece through ramming.
23 Jun 44 sank the Greek sailing vessel Abba/KA 1610 (50 GRT) with gunfire off Kandeliusa Island, Greece.
She also sinks three other sailing vessels near Mandraki.
19 Jul 44 while on patrol off Milos, Greece, attacked, but missed, the German merchant Pelikan and the German torpedo
boat TA 19 (former Italian Calatafini).
25 Aug 44 sank three sailing vessels with gunfire off Mykonos Island, Greece in position 37º34'N, 25º30'E.
22 Sep 44 torpedoed and sank the German merchant Peter (3754 GRT, former French PLM 16) about 5 nm north of
Skiathos Island, Greece.
23 Sep 44 attacked but missed the German auxiliary submarine chaser UJ 2102.
Scrapped at Gateshead on 5 March 1950.
|
Vandal | U2 | P64 | 33 | 23
Nov 42
| Vickers Armstrong Barrow | 24-Feb-43 | War Loss |
Lt. J.S. Bridger RN. 3rd Flotilla. Wrecked off Kilbrannan Sound, Lochranza, Clyde 24-Feb-43 on work-up, cause unknown. On
22 Feb 43, left the depot ship Forth, on Holy Loch, to carry out a three-day exercise in the
Clyde areas and between the Mull of Kintyre and the Isle of Arran, which was to include a deep dive on the 24th.
During the exercise the submarine was under no obligation to communicate with her base and no alarm was felt when she did not do so.
On 24-February Vandal was observed leaving her anchorage at
Loch Ranza, just north of the Isle of Arran. A theory about the cause of her loss is at the
Starfish Diving website. The Starfish
team dived on Vandal and came to a possible - but unproven - conclusion, that the torpedo
compartment became flooded when the 'log' was raised during calibration trials - while the boat was on
the surface - and inadvertently caused flooding to the submarine. This theory is not corroborated in any way by the RN Submarine Museum or the local branch of the Submariners Association.
|
Varangian | U2 | P61 | 33 | 04-Apr-43 |
Vickers Armstrong Tyne | 01-Jun-49 | Scrap |
 Commanding Officers:
Lt. Jeremy Nash, DSC, RN, 30 March 1943 - 22 November 1943;
Lt. S.J. Fevargue, RN, 22 November 1943 - 15 May 1944;
Lt. G.T. Gellie, RANVR, 15 May 1944 - 17 August 1944;
Lt. A.J. Sumption, DSC, RNVR, 17 August 1944 - 26 June 1945
Lt. J.H.N. Pope, RN, from 26 June 1945.
Carried out patrols in the Norwegian Sea, covering Arctic Convoys.
Broken up at Gateshead. |
Variance HNoMS Utsira | V | P85 | 37 | 01-May-44 |
Vickers Armstrong Barrow | 01-Dec-65 | Scrap | Norwegian Utsira
24 August 1944, until 1965.
5 Apr, 1945 (Lt.Cdr. Valvatne) torpedoed and sank the Norwegian merchant
Torridal (1381 GRT) off the Follafjord, Norway.
Broken up in Hamburg. |
Varne (i) HNoMS Ula | U2 | P66 | 33 | 01-Jan-43 |
Vickers Armstrong Barrow | 01-Dec-65 | Scrap |
 Originally
built for RN as Varne, then Royal Dutch Navy wanted to man her and name her Haai. The Dutch crew
(mainly 34 from the decommissioned submarines KIX, KX and KXII) needed to be taken from Sydney,
via Capetown. Their ship from Capetown to the UK was the Abosso II, 11.350 tons, and, unescorted,
was attacked and sunk in the Atlantic, 48.30N 28.50W, by the German U Boat Type VIIc U575 on the
night of 29 Oct 1942. More details.
'Varne' became the Norwegian Ula from 1943 to 1965 - details.
It carried out 14 patrols, operating as part of the 'Norwegian Section' of
the 9th SM Flotilla at Dundee. 19 Apr 44, (CO Lt R M Saars RNoN) (another
source - Uboat.net - says Lt. Valvatne)- 1000m south east of Loten on the western
Bokanfjorden, near Stavanger, Norway. Fired a salvo of 4 torpedoes at
German Type VIIc U-boat U-974 at about 1200 meters. One torpedo hit
its target just behind the conning tower and the U-boat was blown in two and
sunk, though eight survived. Broken up in Hamburg.
Ula visiting the Netherlands base at Rotterdam after the war.
|
Varne (ii) | V | P81
| 37 | 24-Feb-44 |
Vickers Armstrong Tyne | 01-Sep-58 | Scrap |
| Commanding Officers:
Lt. I.G. Raikes, DSC, RN, 30 March 1944 - 3 August 1945; Lt. R.H. Akeroyd, DSC, RN, from 3 August 1945.
Broken up at Troon. |
VeldtHHMS Pipinos | V | P71,
Y8 | 37 | 01-Jul-43 |
Vickers Armstrong Barrow | 01-Dec-57 | Scrap |
Transferred to Greece 1 Nov 43, to become Pipinos
(1943-1957).
8 Mar 44 (Lt.Cdr. Rallis) attacked but missed the German minelayer Drache and the German merchant Burgas
in the Aegean Sea.
13 Apr, 1944 sank the Greek sailing vessel Taxiarchios (585 GRT) by ramming about 30 nautical miles north-west of Milos Island, Greece.
9 Aug, 1944 (Lt Cdr Loundras) at 1705, torpedoed and sank the German torpedo boat TA 19 (1046 tons, former Italian Calatafimi)
off Karlovassi, Greece in position 37.45N, 26.59E. On the same day, at 1914, while still off Karlovassi, Pipinos fired
four torpedoes at the German merchant Orioni (800 GRT, former Italian), but missed.
3 Sep, 1944 sank a small coastal vessel off Iraklion, Crete, Greece.
Broken up at Dunston on Tyne in Feb 1958.
|
Vengeful HHMS Delphin, Y9 | V | P86
| 37 |
20-Jul-44 | Vickers Armstrong Barrow | 01-Mar-58 | Scrap |
| Lt. Anthony Stuart Melville-Ross, DSC, RN
17 July 1944 until handing over to Greece as the Delphin 45-57. Broken up at Gateshead (Pictured below at the scrapyard).
|
Venturer HNoMS Utstein
| V | P68, S302 | 37 | 4 May 43
| Vickers
Armstrong Barrow | 1965 | Scrap |
 (Lt.
James S. Launders) Joined the 9th Sub. Flotilla at Dundee.
2 March 44 sank German
merchant steamer Thor, 2,500 tons.
11 Sep 44 sank 600 ton Norwegian
steamer Vang, near Lista, Norway, 58.03N,06.34E;
Sank two German U boats - on 11-Nov-44 sank the Type VIIc U771, Andfjord, near Harstad, Norway (69.17N,
16.28E);
22 Jan 45 sank a 600 ton steamer
9 Feb 45 - sank the Type IXD2 U864, near the island
of Fedje, off Bergen, Norway, (60.46N, 04.35E). The sinking of U-864 was a first, both boats being dived at the time.
Intelligence reports had indicated that U864 was on
her way to Japan with an important cargo - since discovered to be around 70 tons of
mercury, and parts for jet engines and missile guidance systems.
The German's sloppy periscope drill gave Venturer two good sightings
and four torpedoes were fired at U864, one of which hit. The wreck was
discovered in 2003 and is now a considerable environmental hazard.
Wikipedia version: Sent to the Fedje area,
Venturer was then ordered (on the basis of Enigma decrypts) to seek, intercept and destroy U864
which was in this area carrying a cargo of 65 tonnes of mercury and Messerschmitt jet engine parts to Japan.
On February 6, 1945 U864 passed the Fedja area without being detected, but on the 9th Venturer heard U-864's
engine noise (Launders had decided not to use ASDIC since it would betray his position) and spotted the U-boat's
periscope as her captain looked for his escort. In an unusually long engagement for a submarine and in a situation for
which neither crew had been trained, Launders waited 45 minutes after first contact before going to action stations,
waiting for U864 to surface and thus present an easier target. Upon realizing they were being followed by the
British submarine and that their escort had still not arrived, U-864 zig-zagged underwater in attempted evasive
manoeuvres, with each submarine occasionally risking raising her periscope.
Venturer had only 4 torpedoes as opposed to U-864's 22, and so after 3 hours Launders decided to make
a prediction of his opponent's zig-zag, and release a spread of his torpedoes into its predicted course. This manual
computation of a firing solution against a three-dimensionally manoeveuring target was the first occasion on which
techniques were used which became the basis of modern torpedo computer targeting computer systems.
The first torpedo was released at 12.12 and then at 17 second intervals after that (taking 4 minutes to reach their target),
and Launders then dived suddenly to evade any retaliation from his opponent. U864 heard the torpedoes coming
and also dived deeper and turned away to avoid them, managing to avoid the first three but unknowingly steering into
the path of the fourth. Exploding, U864 split in two, was sunk with all hands and came to rest more than 150m (500 ft)
below the surface on the seafloor. Launders was granted a bar to his DSO for this action.
Venturer went on to sink a 1000 ton steamer 19 March 45.
Transferred to Norway after the war to become the Utstein, serving for another 20 years. Broken up at Sarpsborg, Norway.
Utstein, in RNoN, ex-Venturer
|
Vigorous | V | P74 | 37 |
15-Oct-43 | Vickers Armstrong Barrow | 01-Dec-49 | Scrap |
Lt J.C. Ogle, DSC, RN. To the Mediterranean in early 1944. Conducted patrols in August and October of that year;
27 Jul 44 sank the Greek sailing vessel Doxa with gunfire 18 miles south of Milos Island, Greece.
3 Sep 44 claimed the sinking of two sailing vessels off Paximadia Island, Greece.
24 Sep 44 claimed the sinking of a sailing vessel south-east of Cape Drepano, Sithonia Peninsula, Greece.
27 Sep 44 torpedoed and sank the German merchant Salomea (751 BRT, former Greek Evangelista Nomikos) off Kassandra, Greece.
She also sinks the German ferry SF 121 (110 BRT)
Early 1945 deployed to Far East, (Lt. N.R. Wood, RN) mainly for anti=submarine training around Colombo, but conducting a patrol in
the Malacca Straits in July 45, sinking one coaster with gunfire north of Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies.
Broken up at Stockton on Tees.
|
VikingHNoMS Utvaer
| V | P69 | 37 | 5 May 43 | Vickers Armstrong Barrow | 1949 | Scrap | Joined 9th
Flotilla at Dundee (Lt. Rawdon Bannar-Martin, DSC, RN). Based on Holy Loch, conducted patrols along Norwegian coast.
5 Jul 44 While on patrol in the Norwegian Sea fired from 600 yards a four-torpedo spread at the German submarine U-965 in approximate
position 70º00'N, 00º00'W. As the Germans saw the torpedo tracks they managed to avoid them.
1 Sep 44 attacked, but missed, a German convoy with torpedoes off Egersund, Norway in position 58º36'N, 05º39'E.
4 Sep 44 attacked, but missed, a German convoy with torpedoes about 10 nm south-east of Egersund, Norway.
14 Oct 44 torpedoed and sinks the Norwegian merchant Standard
(1286 GRT) off the Saltfjorden, Norway in position 67º09'N, 14º09'E.
Transferred to Norwegian Navy in 1946, to become HNoMS Utvaer. |
|
Vineyard to Vulpine