HMS Seahorse (98S)
![]() Seahorse on the surface
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History | |
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Name | Seahorse |
Ordered | 16 March 1931 |
Builder | Chatham Dockyard |
Laid down | 14 September 1931 |
Launched | 15 November 1932 |
Completed | 2 October 1933 |
Identification | Pennant number: 98S |
Fate | Sunk, 7 January 1940 |
Badge | ![]() |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | S-class submarine |
Displacement |
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Length | 202 ft 6 in (61.7 m) |
Beam | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
Draught | 11 ft 11 in (3.6 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | 3,700 nmi (6,900 km; 4,300 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surface; 64 nmi (119 km; 74 mi) at 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) submerged |
Test depth | 300 feet (91.4 m) |
Complement | 38 |
Armament |
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HMS Seahorse was a first-batch
At the start of
Design and description
The S-class submarines were designed as successors to the
For surface running, the boats were powered by two 775-
The boats were armed with six
Construction and career
Ordered on 13 March 1931, HMS Seahorse was
On 22 September 1938, Seahorse was damaged in an accidental collision with the destroyer HMS Foxhound.[6]
World War II
At the onset of
On 12 September, Seahorse returned to Dundee after repairs and left for her second war patrol on 16 September, again assigned to the southwest coast of Norway. The next day, Seahorse sighted the surfaced German U-boat U-36 which was attacking the Danish merchant ship N.J. Ohlsen. Three torpedoes were launched in position 56°42′N 00°52′E / 56.700°N 0.867°E, but all missed their target. On 2 October, Seahorse ended her second war patrol in Dundee, and, after a stop at Rosyth, departed for her third patrol on 17 October. This time, Seahorse was ordered to patrol the southern coast of Norway. On 30 October 1939, Seahorse sighted a submarine, which may have been the German U-21, but the submarine dived before torpedoes could be fired. On 31 October, Seahorse returned to Rosyth, ending her third war patrol.[5]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Z21_Wilhelm_Heidkamp_-_NH_83980.jpg/220px-Z21_Wilhelm_Heidkamp_-_NH_83980.jpg)
After a stop at Blyth, Seahorse departed for her fourth war patrol on 12 November, to the northwest of the Netherlands. On 18 November, she sighted two ships, very probably the German destroyers Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp and Z19 Hermann Künne, but Seahorse could not maneuver into an attack position. On 28 November, Seahorse returned to Blyth after her uneventful fourth patrol.[5]
On 13 December, Seahorse departed Blyth to patrol the British east coast, but returned to port two days later after, having been recalled.[5]
Last patrol
On 26 December, Seahorse departed for her sixth and last war patrol, off Heligoland Bight. Her orders were to initially patrol off Heligoland and then move to the mouth of the Elbe on 30 December. She was expected to return to Blyth on 9 January. Initially it was assumed that she was likely to have been mined but after the end of the war after examining German records it was considered possible that she could have been sunk by the German First Minesweeper Flotilla which reported carrying out a prolonged depth charge attack on an unknown submarine on 7 January 1940.[8] It is however also possible that she was rammed and sunk by the German Sperrbrecher IV/Oakland southeast of Heligoland on 29 December 1939.[5] Seahorse was the first British submarine lost to enemy action during World War II.[9]
Notes
References
- Akermann, Paul (2002). Encyclopaedia of British Submarines 1901–1955 (reprint of the 1989 ed.). Penzance, Cornwall: Periscope Publishing. ISBN 1-904381-05-7.
- Bagnasco, Erminio (1977). Submarines of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-962-6.
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- English, John (1993). Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. Kendal, England: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-64-9.
- Harrison, A. N. (January 1979). "The Development of HM Submarines From Holland No. 1 (1901) to Porpoise (1930) (BR3043)". RN Subs. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
- McCartney, Innes (2006). British Submarines 1939–1945. New Vanguard. Vol. 129. Oxford, UK: Osprey. ISBN 1-84603-007-2.
- Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Revised & Expanded ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.