HMS ''Rorqual'' (S02) was a ''Porpoise''-class submarine launched in 1956. She was built by the Vickers shipyard in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The boat was named for both the

rorqual Rorquals () are the largest clade, group of baleen whales, comprising the family (biology), family Balaenopteridae, which contains nine extant taxon, extant species in two genus, genera. They include the largest known animal that has ever lived, ...

, a family of whale, and the earlier

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

-era submarine of the same name.

Design and construction

The ''Porpoise''-class was the first class of operational submarines built for the Royal Navy after the end of the Second World War, and were designed to take advantage of experience gained by studying German

Type XXI U-boat Type XXI submarines were a class of German diesel–electric '' Elektroboot'' (German: "electric boat") submarines designed during the Second World War. One hundred eighteen were completed, with four being combat-ready. During the war only two w ...

s and British wartime experiments with the submarine , which was modified by streamlining and fitting a bigger battery. The ''Porpoise''-class submarines were

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was standard and full load surfaced and submerged. Propulsion machinery consisted of two Admiralty Standard Range diesel generators rated at a total of , which could charge the submarine's batteries or directly drive the electric motors. These were rated at , and drove two shafts, giving a speed of on the surface and submerged. Eight 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes were fitted; six in the bow, and two in the stern. Up to 30 torpedoes could be carried, with the initial outfit consisting of the unguided Mark 8 and the homing Mark 20 torpedoes. ''Rorqual'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

Vickers-Armstrongs 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 ...

shipyard on 15 January 1955, was launched on 5 December 1956 and completed on 24 October 1958.

Service

In 1958, ''Rorqual'' experienced a fire. In February 1960, ''Rorqual'' visited 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 ...

, calling at

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

in Italy and

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Faslane His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

at the end of the month. In 1963, she was caught in a trawler's net. An explosion in 1966 killed one junior rate and injured the chief of the watch, who died ashore at

Inhambane Inhambane (also known as Terra de Boa Gente (''Land of Good People'')) is a city located in southern Mozambique, lying on Inhambane Bay, 470 km northeast of Maputo. It is the capital of the Inhambane Province and, according to the 2017 cen ...

, ''Rorqual'' was off the coast of

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

en route to

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. In 1969, ''Rorqual'' rammed a moored

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

, USS ''Endurance'' (MSO-435) while docking at River Point pier in

Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Subi ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The collision punched a large hole in '' Endurance's'' hull but did not damage ''Rorqual''. At the time of the incident, ''Rorqual'' was commanded by Lieutenant-Commander

Gavin Menzies Rowan Gavin Paton Menzies (14 August 1937 – 12 April 2020) was a British submarine lieutenant-commander who authored books claiming that the Chinese sailed to America before Columbus. Historians have rejected Menzies' theories and assertio ...

who retired the following year and later published the controversial book '' 1421: The Year China Discovered America''. ''Rorqual'' won the SOCA Efficiency trophy in 1973. ''Rorqual'' arrived at the Laira breaker's yard near

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

on 5 May 1977. She was broken up by Davies & Cann.

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk's page of photographs of ''Porpoise'' Class submarines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rorqual British Porpoise-class submarines Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1956 ships