HMS ''Sea Nymph'' was a S-class submarine of the third batch built for 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 ...

during World War II. Completed in July 1942, she spent the majority of her career patrolling the waters off Norway in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, then was sent to the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

but was forced back due to technical problems. After three uneventful patrols in the North Sea, the boat conducted one patrol in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

, attacking two surfaced German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

s with torpedoes, but missed. The submarine then participated in

Operation Source Operation Source was a series of attacks to neutralise the heavy German warships – ''Tirpitz'', ''Scharnhorst'', and ''Lützow'' – based in northern Norway, using X-class midget submarines. The attacks took place in September 1943 at K� ...

, an attempt to sink German

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s in Norway threatening allied

Arctic convoys The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

. ''Sea Nymph'' was assigned to tow the midget submarine ''X8'' to off the

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

where the was anchored. While at sea, ''X8'' was scuttled due to technical issues, and the mission was cancelled. The submarine was then tasked with transporting British agents to a fishing vessel off Norway. In her next two patrols, the boat fired torpedoes on three German merchant ships, but missed every attack. In March 1944, ''Sea Nymph'' was sent to the United States for a refit; she returned in October, then after an uneventful patrol, she had her battery changed. With Nazi Germany close to defeat, the submarine was ordered to the Pacific, where war with the Japanese was also ongoing. She had to turn back and have her battery replaced again after encountering problems; after arriving in the Philippines, on 13 July ''Sea Nymph'' caught on fire and was damaged beyond the repair capabilities of local shipyards. She was sent back to Great Britain, but as the war with Japan ended, she was not repaired but placed in reserve. ''Sea Nymph'' was scrapped in

Troon Troon (Scottish Gaelic: ''An Truthail'') is a town and sea port in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with ferry and freight serv ...

, Scotland in June 1948.

Design and description

British S-class submarine schematic drawing

The S-class submarines were designed to patrol the restricted waters of the

and the

Mediterranean Sea 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 Eur ...

. The third batch was slightly enlarged and improved over the preceding second batch of the S-class. The submarines had a length of

overall Overalls or bib-and-brace overalls, also called dungarees in British English, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers ...

, 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 . They displaced on the surface and submerged. The S-class submarines had a crew of 48 officers and ratings. They had a diving depth of .McCartney, p. 7 For surface running, the boats were powered by two

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

. When submerged each propeller was driven by a

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the third batch boats had a range of at and at submerged. The boats were armed with seven 21 inch (533 mm)

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. A half-dozen of these were in the bow and there was one external tube in the stern. They carried six reload torpedoes for the bow tubes for a grand total of thirteen torpedoes. Twelve

mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

could be carried in lieu of the internally stowed torpedoes. They were also armed with a 3-inch (76 mm)

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose w ...

. It is uncertain if ''Sea Nymph'' was completed with a Oerlikon light

AA gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...

or had one added later. The third-batch S-class boats were fitted with either a Type 129AR or 138

ASDIC Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

system and a Type 291 or 291W

early-warning radar An early-warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defences to be alerted as ''early'' as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the air defences the maximum tim ...

Construction and career

''Sea Nymph'' was a third-batch S-class submarine and was ordered by the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...

on 2 September 1940. She 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 ...

in the

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, ...

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

as ''P 73'' on 6 May 1941 and was launched on 29 July 1942.Akermann, p. 339 On 1 November 1942, ''P 73'', under the command of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

Geoffrey D. N. Milner, sailed to

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 ...

, where she was commissioned two days later as HMS ''Sea Nymph''. The submarine was named after mythical sea creatures,

Nereid In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides ( ; ; , also Νημερτές) are sea nymphs (female spirits of sea waters), the 50 daughters of the ' Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris, sisters to their brother Nerites. They ofte ...

s; she was the second ship with this name.

Northern patrols

After going through training exercises off

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...

and Holy Loch, ''Sea Nymph'' set sail on 16 December 1942 for an anti-submarine patrol off

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The patrol was uneventful, and the boat returned to port on 2 January 1943. On 15 February 1943, ''Sea Nymph'' departed

Lerwick Lerwick ( or ; ; ) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. It is the northernmost major settlement within the United Kingdom. Centred ...

for another war patrol in the North Sea, but returned on 11 March having sighted no targets. From 20 March to 9 April, the boat conducted another patrol in the same area, but was again unsuccessful. After torpedo and gunnery exercises of the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

area, the boat commenced another patrol in the

, west of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on 28 June. On 13 July, she sighted two German submarines, ''U-592'' and ''U-669'', and fired a full spread of six torpedoes at them, but missed. The boat returned to port of 22 July. From 3 to 20 August, ''Sea Nymph'' conducted another uneventful war patrol in the Bay of Biscay.

Operation Source

On 31 August 1943, ''Sea Nymph'' conducted training at

Port HHZ Port HHZ was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. It was based at Loch Cairnbawn, Scotland, and was established in 1942. The base was heavily involved in the training for the X-Craft operations (Operation Source) ...

, Scotland with

midget submarine A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, from which they are launched an ...

s in preparation for

, an attack on the German

s in Norway using midget submarines. On 11 September 1943, the boat departed port towing the X-class submarine ''X8'' to her target, the .Grove, p. 127Akermann, p. 455 An auxiliary crew was on board during the passage, which was meant to switch with the operational crew near the target. On 15 September, ''Sea Nymph'' lost her tow with ''X8''. After one day of searching, ''X8'' was found and taken under tow again. Two days later however, the midget submarine was found to be incapable of submerging due to technical issues and was

scuttled Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vesse ...

. ''Sea Nymph'' returned to Lerwick on 8 October.

Arctic patrols

After an uneventful patrol in the Arctic from 15 November to 7 December 1943, ''Sea Nymph'' was ordered to transport British agents and equipment from

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

to off Norway, where they would be transferred to a local fishing vessel. She landed the agents successfully on 7 January 1944, then returned to port on the 10th. On the 16th, she departed again for another war patrol off Norway. After unsuccessfully attacking a German merchant ship and its escort on the 25th, she returned to Lerwick on the 30th. From 2 to 21 February, the boat underwent maintenance, then left for another patrol in northern waters. On 1 March, she unsuccessfully fired four torpedoes at the German merchant ship ''Jupiter'' and her two escorts. Two days later she attacked the German merchant ship ''Levante'', but again missed with all four torpedoes. The submarine returned to Lerwick on 8 March.

Later career

On 25 March 1944, ''Sea Nymph'' departed Great Britain for the US, where she was due to refit at the

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy shipyard and was historically important for nearly two centuries. Construction of the original Philadelphia Naval Shipyard began during the American Revolution in 1776 at Front ...

. After a stop at

Argentia Argentia ( ) is a Canadian commercial seaport and industrial park located in the Town of Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated on the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula and defined by ...

, then

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, the boat underwent her refit between 19 April and 16 September. On 11 October, she returned to Holy Loch and underwent additional training, then the submarine went on another patrol from 6 to 17 January 1945 in the

Norwegian Sea The Norwegian Sea (; ; ) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separate ...

in search of German

s. After having her battery changed during February in Elderslie, Scotland, ''Sea Nymph'' was reassigned to the Pacific theater of operations, arriving at

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

on 22 March. However, upon reaching

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

, the boat developed problems with her battery and was sent back to

Port Said Port Said ( , , ) is a port city that lies in the northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, straddling the west bank of the northern mouth of the Suez Canal. The city is the capital city, capital of the Port S ...

in Egypt for repairs. From 2 to 16 May, she had her battery replaced, then she sailed for

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, passing through

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

and arriving on 28 June. While alongside the submarine depot ship HMS ''Maidstone'' on 13 July, ''Sea Nymph'' caught on fire. A damage assessment concluded that she had to be sent home for repairs, as local dockyards could not perform the task. After temporary repairs allowing her to get underway, she departed Subic Bay and made the trip back to Great Britain, arriving on 30 October 1945. During her return, the war with Japan had ended, and ''Sea Nymph'' was not repaired but placed in reserve. In June 1948, the boat was sold for scrap metal at

, Scotland.

Notes

References

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