HMS P311
Practice torpedo is loaded onto P311 at the Holy Loch, Scotland, 1942
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS P311 |
Ordered | 11 June 1931 |
Builder | Vickers Armstrong, Barrow |
Laid down | 25 April 1941 |
Launched | 5 March 1942 |
Commissioned | 7 August 1942 |
Fate | Sunk 8 January 1943 |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Displacement |
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Length | 276 ft 6 in (84.28 m) |
Beam | 25 ft 6 in (7.77 m) |
Draught |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | 4,500 nautical miles at 11 knots (8,330 km at 20 km/h) surfaced |
Test depth | 300 ft (91 m) |
Complement | 61 |
Armament |
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HMS P311 was a
Naming
The
Career
She joined the 10th Submarine Flotilla at Malta in November 1942, and was lost with all hands between 30 December 1942 and 8 January 1943 whilst en route to La Maddalena, Sardinia, where she was to attack two Italian 8-inch gun cruisers, the Gorizia and the Trieste, using chariot manned torpedoes carried on the casing as part of Operation Principal.[4] The submarine sent her final received signal on 31 December 1942, from position 38º10'N, 11º30'E.[5] She was reported overdue on 8 January 1943 when she failed to return to base.[3] It is presumed that she was sunk by Italian mines in the approaches to Maddalena on or around 2 January 1943.[5]
Wreck discovery
In late May 2016 the Royal Navy announced that it was investigating a wreck found close to
See also
References
- ^ "warfarehistorynetwork.co, Manned Submarines: Italy's Daredevil Torpedo Riders, 26 August 2015". Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
- ^ Human torpedo
- ^ a b HMS P311, Uboat.net
- ^ a b "Tavolara, a cento metri di profondità sommergibile 'fantasma' inglese". Repubblica.it (in Italian). 24 May 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
- ^ a b Vogt, Andrea (25 May 2016). "Legendary wreck of British Second World War submarine found off Sardinian coast". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
- ^ "Lost World War Two submarine claim investigated by Royal Navy". BBC News. 26 May 2016.
- ^ "WWII submarine with 71 bodies inside found off Sardinian coast". metro.co.uk. 25 May 2016.
- ^ "HMS P311 Pictures". International Business Times. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
- ^ "Lost WWII Submarine HMS P311 Found With 71 Bodies On Board". War History Online. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day. OCLC 53783010.