The S-class submarines 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 Fr ...

were originally designed and built during the modernisation of the

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

force in the early 1930s to meet the need for smaller boats to patrol the restricted waters of the

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and the

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, replacing the

British H-class submarine The British H-class submarines were Holland 602 type submarines used by the Royal Navy. The submarines constructed for the British Royal Navy between 1915 and 1919 were designed and built in response to German boats which mined British wat ...

s. As part of the major naval construction for the Royal Navy during the Second World War, the S class became the single largest group of submarines ever built for the Royal Navy. A total of 62 were constructed over a period of 15 years, with fifty of the "improved" S class being launched between 1940 and 1945.

Service

The submarines operated in the waters around the

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and in the

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, and later in the Far East after being fitted with extra tankage. British S-class submarines in Service

After the war S-class boats continued to serve in the Royal Navy until the 1960s. The last operational boat in the Royal Navy was , launched in 1945 and scrapped in February 1966. was in Israeli service as INS ''Tanin'' and was decommissioned in 1972. Several S-class submarines were sold on or lent to other navies: *Netherlands 1 *Portugal 3 *France 4 *Israel 2. (HMS ''Springer'' as INS ''Tanin'' (S71), landed commandos and fought with an Egyptian ship in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 ...

) A modified version was ordered by the Turkish navy in 1939 as the .

Service losses

Of the twelve S-class boats that were in service in 1939, only three survived to see the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, a loss rate that inspired the song "Twelve Little S-Boats", based on a

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From ...

originally written by

Septimus Winner Septimus Winner (May 11, 1827 – November 22, 1905) was an American songwriter of the 19th century. He used his own name, and also the pseudonyms Alice Hawthorne, Percy Guyer, Mark Mason, Apsley Street, and Paul Stenton. He was also a teacher ...

in 1868. :Twelve little ''S''-boats "go to it" like Bevin, :: ''Starfish'' goes a bit too far — then there were eleven. :Eleven watchful ''S''-boats doing fine and then :: ''Seahorse'' fails to answer — so there are ten. :Ten stocky ''S''-boats in a ragged line, :: ''Sterlet'' drops and stops out — leaving us nine. :Nine plucky ''S''-boats, all pursuing Fate, :: ''Shark'' is overtaken — now we are eight. :Eight sturdy ''S''-boats, men from Hants and

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, :: ''Salmon'' now is overdue — and so the number's seven. :Seven gallant ''S''-boats, trying all their tricks, :: ''Spearfish'' tries a newer one — down we come to six. :Six tireless ''S''-boats fighting to survive, ::No reply from ''Swordfish'' — so we tally five. :Five scrubby ''S''-boats, patrolling close inshore, :: ''Snapper'' takes a short cut — now we are four. :Four fearless ''S''-boats, too far out to sea, :: ''Sunfish'' bombed and scrap-heaped — we are only three. :Three threadbare ''S''-boats patrolling o'er the blue, ::... :Two ice-bound ''S''-boats... ::... :One lonely ''S''-boat... ::... The survivors, left blank in the fatalistic rhyme, were HMS ''Sealion'' (scuttled), HMS ''Seawolf'' (broken up), and HMS ''Sturgeon'' (sold).

General characteristics

First group

Shadowgraph S british class groupe I submarine

The first group of S-class submarines consisted of four boats. They were smaller and slower than later classes, and carried less armament, but could be crewed by fewer men. All four were built at Chatham Dockyard, between 1930 and 1932. During the war, they operated in home waters, particularly the

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, and off the Scandinavian coast. The later second and third groups of S-class submarines would have their fuel capacity expanded to allow them to operate further and overcome this limitation. The mortality rate of these early boats was particularly high. Only one, HMS ''Sturgeon'', survived to the end of the war. Ships: Two ordered under the 1929 Construction Programme: * HMS ''Swordfish'' * HMS ''Sturgeon'' Two ordered under the 1930 Construction Programme: * HMS ''Seahorse'' * HMS ''Starfish''

Second group

Shadowgraph S british class groupe II submarine

The second group of S-class submarines consisted of eight boats. They were larger than the preceding first group and required more men to crew, but carried a similar armament. Construction was divided between Chatham Dockyard, and the yards of

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, of

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and

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

& Co Limited, of

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. All the ships were built between 1934 and 1937. During the war, they, like the submarines of the first group, mostly operated in home waters, ranging as far afield as the Bay of Biscay and the Scandinavian coast. One, HMS ''Sunfish'', was assigned to the Soviet Navy (named ''V-1'') and was sunk by friendly aircraft on the transfer route from Dundee to Murmansk. A large percentage of these submarines were also lost during the war. Only two, HMS ''Sealion'' and HMS ''Seawolf'', survived to the end of the war. Ships: Two ordered under the 1931 Construction Programme: * HMS ''Sealion'' * HMS ''Shark'' Two ordered under the 1932 Construction Programme: * HMS ''Snapper'' * HMS ''Salmon'' One ordered under the 1933 Construction Programme: * HMS ''Seawolf'' Two ordered under the 1934 Construction Programme: * HMS ''Spearfish'' * HMS ''Sunfish'' One ordered under the 1935 Construction Programme: * HMS ''Sterlet''

Third group

Shadowgraph S british class groupe III submarine

The third and by far the most numerous group of S-class submarines consisted of 50 boats. They were the largest and most heavily armed of the S class and required more men to crew. They were one knot faster on the surface, but two knots slower when submerged. Most of the group were built at the yards of either

, of

& Co Limited, of

, with a handful being built at Chatham, or by Vickers Armstrongs Ltd, of

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 t ...

. Construction was carried out throughout the war, particularly between 1941 and 1945. Equipped with a greater fuel capacity than their predecessors, they operated much further afield, in the

and in the

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. There were two distinct subgroups. The first were boats of 842 tons, comprising those ordered under the 1939 War Emergency, 1940 and 1941 Programmes (except ''Sea Devil'' and ''Scotsman''), plus ''Sturdy'' and ''Stygian'' of the 1942 Programme; these carried an external stern

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

in addition to the six bow tubes. The second subgroup were boats of 814 tons, comprising ''Sea Devil'' and ''Scotsman'' of the 1941 Programme, plus those ordered under the 1942 and 1943 Programmes (except ''Sturdy'' and ''Stygian''); these carried no external torpedo tube, but had a thicker welded pressure hull providing for an operational depth limit of - compared with the limit in the first subgroup. Losses continued to be high. Nine ships; ''P222'', ''Saracen'', ''Sahib'', ''Sickle'', ''Simoom'', ''Splendid'', ''Stonehenge'', ''Stratagem'' and ''Syrtis'' were lost during the war, and ''Shakespeare'' and ''Strongbow'' were so badly damaged that they were written off and scrapped. Many surviving ships remained in service after the war. ''Sportsman'', by now transferred to the French Navy, was lost off Toulon in 1952 and ''Sidon'' was sunk after a torpedo malfunction in 1955. Ships: Five ships were ordered under the 1939 War Emergency Programme. * HMS ''Safari'' * HMS ''Sahib'' * HMS ''Saracen'' * HMS ''Satyr'' * HMS ''Sceptre'' Twenty ships were ordered under the 1940 Programme. These differed from the initial five by having an external ''stern'' torpedo tube fitted, also a

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AA gun and air warning RDF installed. * HMS ''Seadog'' * HMS ''Sibyl'' * HMS ''Sea Rover'' * HMS ''Seraph'' * HMS ''Shakespeare'' * HMS ''P222'' which was lost before a name could be allotted to her. * HMS ''Sea Nymph'' * HMS ''Sickle'' * HMS ''Simoom'' * HMS ''Sirdar'' * HMS ''Spiteful'' * HMS ''Splendid'' * HMS ''Sportsman'' * The final seven further ships (''P81'' to ''P87'') ordered under the 1940 Programme, all from Vickers-Armstrongs, were cancelled during 1943 (and were never laid down or named). Fifteen ships were ordered under the 1941 Programme. * HMS ''Stoic'' * HMS ''Stonehenge'' * HMS ''Storm'' * HMS ''Stratagem'' * HMS ''Strongbow'' * HMS ''Spark'' * * HMS ''Stubborn'' * HMS ''Surf'' * HMS ''Syrtis'' * HMS ''Shalimar'' * HMS ''Scotsman'' * HMS ''Sea Devil'' * HMS ''Spirit'' * HMS ''Statesman'' Thirteen ships were ordered under the 1942 Programme. * HMS ''Sturdy'' * * HMS ''Subtle'' * HMS ''Supreme'' * HMS ''Sea Scout'' * HMS ''Selene'' * HMS ''Seneschal'' * HMS ''Sentinel'' * HMS ''Sidon'' * HMS ''Sleuth'' * HMS ''Solent'' * HMS ''Spearhead'' * HMS ''Springer'' – sold to Israel, recommissioned August 1959 as , participated in the

Eight ships were ordered under the 1943 Programme, but only four were completed. The other four submarines was cancelled after the war ended in 1945, and they became surplus to peacetime requirements. * HMS ''Saga'' * HMS ''Scorcher'' * HMS ''Spur'' * HMS ''Sanguine'' – sold to Israel, recommissioned August 1959 as INS ''Rahav'' * HMS ''Sea Robin'' (P267) – cancelled * HMS ''Sprightly'' (P268) – cancelled * HMS ''Surface'' (P269) – cancelled * HMS ''Surge'' (P271) – cancelled

Ships in foreign service

Several S-class submarines were sold on or lent to other navies.Conway p51-52
From the First group: *In 1943 HMS ''Sturgeon'' was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy as ''Zeehond''. She was returned in 1945 From the Second group *In 1944 HMS ''Sunfish'' was transferred to the Soviet Navy (and renamed ''V-1''); she was sunk in a friendly fire incident while on transfer to Murmansk. From the Third group *In 1948 three submarines were transferred to Portugal ** HMS ''Spearhead'' became ''Neptuno'' ** HMS ''Saga'' became ''Nautilo'' ** HMS ''Spur'' became ''Narval'' *In 1952 four submarines were transferred to France and were known as the ''Saphir'' class ** HMS ''Satyr'' became ''Saphir'' ** HMS ''Spiteful'' became ''Sirene'' ** HMS ''Sportsman'' became ''Sibylle'' but was lost in a diving accident in September 1952 ** HMS ''Statesman'' became ''Sultane'' *In 1959 two submarines were sold to Israel ** HMS ''Springer'' became INS ''Tanin'' and saw action during the

Six Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...

** HMS ''Sanguine'' became INS ''Rahav''

In popular media

A fictional third generation S-class submarine, ''Saraband'' is the main setting of the sixth "Harry Gilmour" novel, ''Never Too Old For A Pierhead Jump'' by author David Black.

References

Sources

* * {{WWII British ships S class submarine, British, 1931 S class submarine