HMS Ursula (N59)
![]() HMS Ursula
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History | |
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Name | HMS Ursula |
Builder | Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness |
Laid down | 19 February 1937 |
Launched | 16 February 1938 |
Commissioned | 20 December 1938 |
Fate | Transferred to Soviet Navy, 26 June 1944 |
Badge | ![]() |
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Name | V-4 |
Acquired | 26 June 1944 |
Fate | Returned to UK, early 1950 and scrapped May 1950 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | U-class submarine |
Displacement |
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Length | 58.22 m (191 ft 0 in) |
Beam | 4.90 m (16 ft 1 in) |
Draught | 4.62 m (15 ft 2 in) |
Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Complement | 27 |
Armament |
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HMS Ursula was a
In 1944, Ursula was transferred to the
Construction and career
Ursula was built by
on 20 December 1938.At the onset of the Second World War, Ursula was a member of the 6th Submarine Flotilla. From 26-29 August 1939, the flotilla deployed to its war bases at Dundee and Blyth.[1] Ursula started the war operating in home waters. On 9 September 1939, she fired the first British submarine torpedoes of the war when attacking the German submarine U-35. The U-boat escaped, but was sunk about two months later.
Attacking Leipzig
On 14 December 1939 Ursula was on patrol off the Elbe estuary when she sighted the German light cruiser Leipzig, escorted by six destroyers. Leipzig was returning to Kiel to undergo repairs, having been torpedoed and damaged by the submarine HMS Salmon.
In spite of the shallow waters, Ursula dived deep enough to remain undetected and close the distance to the cruiser. Upon surfacing, Ursula launched a close-range attack on Leipzig and her escorts, before diving again to escape. Ursula's commander, Lt.Cdr. G.C. Phillips, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and promoted. Leipzig had in fact been missed and the torpedoes had instead hit F9. Leipzig reached port and underwent repair.[2]
Service in the North Sea and Mediterranean
Ursula continued to harass enemy shipping in the North Sea, sinking the German merchant Heddernheim, before being reassigned to operate in the Mediterranean. There she sank the Italian auxiliary submarine chaser V 135 / Togo and the German merchants Sainte Marguerite II (a former French vessel) and Odysseus (the former Norwegian Gran). She also damaged the Italian merchant Sabbia, but was herself damaged by depth charges during a counter-attack by the Italian torpedo boat Generale Carlo Montanari. She also launched unsuccessful attacks against the German transport ships Brook and Tilly L.M. Russ, the Italian troop transport Vulcania and the German submarine U-73. She also attacked and damaged the Italian tanker Beppe, which had to be towed to Tripoli.[3]
The 'Ursula suit'
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Ursula_suit.jpg/220px-Ursula_suit.jpg)
Early in the war Philips and his crew had become dissatisfied with the conventional garb of oilskins and designed a special form of clothing more suitable for submarines.
Soviet service
Ursula was transferred on loan to the
References
- ^ Rohwer, p.1
- ^ "Leipzig Operational History". German-navy.de. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "HMS Ursula (N 59)". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
- ^ Young, Edward (1954). One of our Submarines, Harmonsdworth, Middlesex: Penguin. page 65.
- ^ Sea Your History website Archived 28 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Иосселиани Ярослав Константинович (Iosseliani, Yaroslav Konstantinovich)". warheroes.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 9 April 2016.
Sources
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day. OCLC 53783010.
- 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.