HMS Unswerving

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HMS Unswerving, circa 1944
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Unswerving
BuilderVickers-Armstrongs, High Walker
Laid down17 February 1942
Launched19 July 1943
Commissioned3 October 1943
FateSold for scrap, July 1949
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type
U-class submarine
Displacement
  • Surfaced - 540 tons standard, 630 tons full load
  • Submerged - 730 tons
Length58.22 m (191 feet)
Beam4.90 m (16 ft 1 in)
Draught4.62 m (15 ft 2 in)
Propulsion
  • 2 shaft diesel-electric
  • 2 Paxman Ricardo diesel generators + electric motors
  • 615 / 825 hp
Speed
  • 11.25 knots max surfaced
  • 10 knots max submerged
Complement27-31
Armament
  • 4 bow internal
    21 inch (533 mm)
    torpedo tubes - 8 - 10 torpedoes
  • 1 -
    3-inch (76 mm)
    gun

HMS Unswerving (P63) was a

. So far, she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Unswerving.

Career

Unswerving carried out work-ups at end of 1943, then joined the 1st Flotilla in the

Mediterranean
, where she sank the German guard boats GN 61 and GN 62, the German tanker Bertha (the former French Bacchus) and six sailing vessels, and claimed to have damaged a seventh. She was however unlucky on numerous occasions, unsuccessfully attacking the small German merchant Toni (the former Greek Thalia), the German auxiliary minelayer Zeus, the German transport Pelikan and her escort, the German torpedo boat TA19, and the German merchant Gertrud on two separate occasions.

Under the command of

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
rather than any of them being officers of the regular navy.

Unswerving survived the war and arrived at John Cashmore Ltd, Newport on 10 July 1949 for scrapping.

References

  • "HMS Unswerving (P 63)". uboat.net.
  • "Universal to Untamed". British submarines of World War II. Archived from the original on 11 July 2007.
  • .
  • Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day.
    OCLC 53783010
    .
  • Lennox Kerr, J; Granville, Wilfred (1957). The R.N.V.R. A Record of Achievement. George G Harrap.