HMS ''Trooper'' (N91) was a T-class submarine of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

. She was laid down by

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, Greenock and launched in March 1942.

Career

''Trooper'' spent most of her short career serving 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 Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

. She sank the Italian tanker ''Rosario'', the Italian merchant ship ''Forli'', a sailing vessel and the . She also damaged two other enemy vessels, and unsuccessfully attacked the Italian merchant ''Belluno'' (the former French ''Fort de France''). On her first operation, she took part in Operation Principal, which used human torpedoes to sink Italian ships in Palermo harbour. ''Trooper'' sailed from

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

on 26 September 1943, on her 8th War Patrol to cover in the Aegean Sea off the Dodecanese islands. On 14 October she challenged Levant Schooner Flotilla F8 off Alinda Bay, Leros. She failed to return on 17 October and was reported overdue on that day. She is presumed lost on German mines around Leros. The Germans claimed that ''Trooper'' was sunk by

Q-ship Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open f ...

''GA.45'' on 15 October 1943. The submarine ''GA-45'' attacked was actually HMS ''Torbay'' which escaped undamaged.

References

* * * British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built on the River Clyde 1942 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Lost submarines of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Maritime incidents in October 1943 Ships lost with all hands {{UK-mil-submarine-stub