HMS ''Artemis'' (P449) was an 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 Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. of

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 28 August 1946. The submarine sank while refueling in 1971, was raised and sold for breaking up in 1972.

Design

Like all ''Amphion''-class submarines, ''Artemis'' 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, 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 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.

Service history

In September 1952 ''Artemis'' deployed to Canada a second time for anti-submarine training with the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

. ''Artemis'' replaced the damaged , which had developed issues while training with vessels of the Royal Canadian Navy off

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. On 1 July 1971 ''Artemis'' sank in of water while moored at the shore establishment HMS ''Dolphin'' at

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

during refuelling. The sub dipped by the stern (she was being prepared for fuelling using the aft externals) which filled and the sub sank. All aboard escaped, with decisive action by four crew members resulting in bravery awards. She was raised on 6 July and decommissioned, sold to be broken up for scrap on 12 December 1971.

References

Publications

External links

Boat veterans homepage

{{DEFAULTSORT:Artemis (P449) Amphion-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom Ships built by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company 1946 ships Maritime incidents in 1968 Maritime incidents in 1971