HMS ''Amphion'' (P439), was an ''Amphion''-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 ...

, built by

Vickers Armstrong Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, wi ...

and launched 31 August 1944. HMS ''Amphion'', later S43, was the first of the class to be launched in August 1944. She was originally to be named as HMS ''Anchorite'' but their names were exchanged before launch. Of the class, only ''Amphion'' and HMS ''Astute'' were completed before the end of the war, and neither were involved in hostilities. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Design

Like all

Amphion-class submarine The ''Amphion'' class (also known as the "A" class and ''Acheron'' class) of United Kingdom, British Submarine#Diesel-electric transmission, diesel-electric submarines were designed for use in the Pacific War. Only two were completed before th ...

s, ''Amphion'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of , a beam of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two Admiralty ML eight-cylinder diesel engines generating a power of each. She also contained four electric motors each producing that drove two shafts. She could carry a maximum of of diesel, although she usually carried between . The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of . When submerged, she could operate at for or at for . When surfaced, she was able to travel at or at . She was fitted with ten

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 ...

s, one

QF 4 inch naval gun Mk XXIII The QF 4-inch gun Mark XXIII was introduced in late 1945 as a deck gun for Royal Navy submarines. It was the last type of gun to be fitted to British submarines, finally being retired in 1974. Development and service Development of the Mark XXII ...

, one

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models empl ...

, and a .303 British

Vickers machine gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...

. Her torpedo tubes were fitted to the

bow BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and Winn ...

and stern, and she could carry twenty torpedoes. Her

complement Complement may refer to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class collections into complementary sets * Complementary color, in the visu ...

was sixty-one crew members.

References

Publications

External links

Pictures of HMS ''Amphion'' at Maritime Quest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amphion (P439) Amphion-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1944 ships Maritime incidents in 1967