HMS ''P47'' was a

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 ...

U-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 ...

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, w ...

. She was transferred to the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

before completion and renamed HNLMS ''Dolfijn''.

Career

September 1942 ― February 1943

''Dolfijn'' spent the time between September 1942 and January 1943 carrying out trials with the 3rd Flotilla, in

Holy Loch The Holy Loch () is a sea loch, part of the Firth of Clyde, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The "Holy Loch" name is believed to date from the 6th century, when Saint Munn landed there after leaving Ireland. Kilmun Parish Church and Argyll Mausole ...

. In January she was assigned to the 8th Flotilla, at Algiers, and between November and December 1943, to the 10th Flotilla, at

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. Whilst on her first war patrol she attacked a so far unidentified German submarine but missed her. On 9 February 1943, she torpedoed and sank the Italian near Cape Spartivento,

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, Italy. She went on to sink the Italian merchant ship ''Egle'', the Italian auxiliary patrol vessel V50 / ''Adalia'', the Italian sailing vessel ''Stefano Galleano'' and four other sailing vessels, including the Greek ''Hydrea'' and ''Theonie'', as well as two small German vessels. She also damaged the Italian merchantmen ''Humanitas'' and ''Sabia'', and launched unsuccessful attacks against the German merchant vessels ''Oria'' and ''Leda'' (the former Italian ''Leopardi''). The attack on ''Leda'' was foiled by the escorting German destroyer ''TA14''. ''Dolfijn'' also torpedoed the wreck of the French merchant ship ''Dalny'' and attacked a small convoy with gunfire, firing 16 rounds and hitting the barge ''Vidi'' twice. ''Dolfijn'' was forced to break off the action and submerge due to swift return fire.

December 1943 ― May 1952

Between December 1943 and March 1944, ''Dolfijn'' was part of the 1st Flotilla, at Beirut. She eventually returned to the UK with convoys and was refitted at Dundee. After the war, she became a training boat for the technische opleiding (TOKM) in Amsterdam between 1947 and 1952. She was decommissioned and nominally returned to the Royal Navy but was broken up in the Netherlands in May 1952.

References

Bibliography

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Career

September 1942 ― February 1943

December 1943 ― May 1952

References

Bibliography

Further reading