HMS ''Trooper'' (N91) was a T-class

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. She was laid down by Scotts,

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

, and launched in March 1942. On 3 October 2024 it was reported that HMS ''Trooper'' was discovered at a depth of in the Icarian Sea in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. 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 torpedo Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of diver propulsion vehicle on which the diver rides, generally in a seated position behind a fairing. They were used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic concept is still in use. ...

es to sink Italian ships in Palermo harbour. ''Trooper'' sailed from

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

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 was presumed lost on German mines around Leros, but her wreck was later discovered in the Icarian Sea. 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 merchantman, armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the c ...

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

Discovery

HMS ''Trooper'' was discovered at a depth of in the Icarian Sea, north of the island of Donousa, in

. The submarine, found in three distinct sections (bow, mid-section, and stern), had likely been sunk by a German EMF mine containing of

Hexanite Hexanite was a castable German military explosive developed early in the 20th century before the First World War for the Kaiserliche Marine, intended to augment supplies of trinitrotoluene (TNT), which were then in short supply. Hexanite is slig ...

. This discovery, led by Greek researcher Kostas Thoctaridis, resolved an 81-year-old mystery, bringing closure to the families of the 64 crew members lost during the submarine's final mission.

References

Bibliography

* * * 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 Submarines lost with all hands {{UK-mil-submarine-stub