HMS/M Rorqual

HMS/M Rorqual

Rorqual found an odd target while she was on patrol in the Adriatic. She was a minelaying submarine and her CO, Lt.Cdr. RH Dewhurst, had just been sent to lay a field off Fiume, at the head of the Adriatic. Further south, while continuing her patrol, 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, 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 tug 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 tug 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 tug. 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. He had to take the Rorqual deep to avoid it. When last seen, the tug was in the act of sinking and the battery still heavily on fire.

See also another account of this action

Rorqual and another picture from a wartime publication