The ''Grampus''-class submarines were a group of
minelaying
A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing contro ...
submarines built for the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
in the late 1930s. These boats are sometimes referred to as the ''Porpoise'' class from the single prototype, HMS ''Porpoise'' built in 1932. Five boats to a modified design were built between 1936 and 1938. The ships were all named after marine mammals.
Design
The
naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ve ...
s were stored in a special "gallery" with a conveyor belt built into the outer casing as pioneered by the converted
M-class submarine . These boats were of a
saddle tank type.
Service
Boats of this class were used extensively in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...
, particularly as part of
the supply effort to the
besieged island of Malta in a service nicknamed the "magic carpet".
Only one, , survived the war.
Boats in class
References
* ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946''
- page from U-boat.net
{{WWII British ships
Minelayers of the Royal Navy
Submarine classes