HMS ''Tigris'' was a T-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 ...

. She was laid down at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham, Kent, Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham; at its most extens ...

and launched in October 1939.

Career

''Tigris'' had a relatively active career, serving 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 ...

and 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 ...

Home waters

''Tigris'' was active 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 ...

from July 1940, under the command of Commander Howard Bone. She sank the French fishing vessels ''Sancte Michael'', ''Cimcour'', ''Charles Edmond'' and ''Rene Camaleyre'', the French merchantmen ''Jacobsen'' and ''Guilvinec'', and the German tanker ''Thorn''. She unsuccessfully attacked a number of submarines, including the On 5 October 1940, ''Tigris'' made an unsuccessful attack on two Italian submarines off

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, and . On 5 July 1941 ''Tigris'' torpedoed and sank the Italian submarine 150 nm off the

Gironde estuary The Gironde estuary ( , US usually ; , ; , ) is a navigable estuary (though often referred to as a river) in southwest France and is formed from the meeting of the rivers Dordogne and Garonne just downstream of the centre of Bordeaux. Coverin ...

as the Italian submarine was on passage to the Atlantic.Kemp 1990, p. 79. She was assigned to operate in the North Sea near the Scandinavian coast in mid-1941. Off the coast of

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

, she sank the Norwegian passenger/cargo ships and , In the case of ''Richard With'', the ship sank in less than a minute, killing two of the three German soldiers on board and claiming the lives of 101 Norwegian civilians. Post-war, the Norwegian public was told the attacks had been carried out by Soviet submarines. She also attacked and badly damaged the German auxiliary submarine chaser ''Uj-1201'' off the Rolvsøy Fjord. The bow of the ship sank but the stern was towed to port and the ship was rebuilt, entering service again in April 1944. In addition, ''Tigris'' unsuccessfully attacked the German merchant ship ''Bessheim'' and a merchantman of 3,000 tons; she also attacked a convoy, but missed her targets; the Norwegian merchant ships ''Mimona'', ''Tugela'' and ''Havbris''.

Mediterranean

''Tigris'' was reassigned to the Mediterranean, and was active there from late 1942. On 6 December, she torpedoed and sank the Italian submarine ''Porfido'', for which her commander, George Colvin, was later awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

. On 21 January 1943, she sank the Italian merchant ship ''Citta di Genova'' in the

Strait of Otranto The Strait of Otranto (; ) connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. Its width between Punta Palascìa, eastern Salento, and Karaburun Peninsula, western Albania, is less than . The strait is named after ...

. This ship was carrying Greek officers, who were being taken to Italy as hostages; many of them perished.Evangelos J. Macris (1896–1943)
Cangelaris.com

Sinking

''Tigris'' left

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 ...

on 18 February 1943 to patrol off Naples. On 22 February the Italian merchant ship ''Teramo'' was attacked by a British submarine, believed to have been ''Tigris''. She was last sighted at 0730 on 24 February, from

Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...

. On the morning of 27 February, the German submarine chaser , commanded by Otto Pollmann, was escorting a convoy six miles southeast of Capri. She made contact with a submarine and carried out three depth charge attacks, the third attack brought oil to the surface and the contact was noted to be stationary. A fourth attack of fifteen depth charges brought a huge bubble of air up. On 6 March, ''Tigris'' was ordered to Algiers but there was no reply to this signal. She failed to return to Algiers on 10 March 1943 and was declared overdue on that date. It is believed that ''Tigris'' was the submarine sunk with all hands on 27 February by ''UJ-2210''.

Tributes

The submarine had been adopted by the town of Newbury during the

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 ...

as part of ''

Warship Week Warship Weeks were British National savings campaigns during the Second World War, with the aim of a Royal Navy warship being adopted by a civil community. During the early parts of the war, the Royal Navy not only had lost many capital ships but ...

''. The plaque from this adoption is held by the

National Museum of the Royal Navy The National Museum of the Royal Navy was created in early 2009 to act as a single non-departmental public body for the museums of the Royal Navy. With venues across the United Kingdom, the museums detail the history of the Royal Navy operating ...

in Portsmouth.Warship Weeks: Adopting Naval Vessels in World War Two , Royal Naval Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
Each year there is an annual Remembrance Service for the submarine and the crew lost at St Nicolas Church, Newbury,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, on the Sunday nearest 27 February. In 2016, the Remembrance Service was held on 24 July at 11.45 a.m. to allow descendants of her last commander, George Colvin, to attend. In 2017, it will be on 26 February. In 2018, the 75th and final commemoration is scheduled for 8 July From 2019 onwards a small memorial service will be held at the Royal British Legion Newbury branch on the Sunday nearest 27 February.

References

Publications

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tigris (N63) British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built in Chatham 1939 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Lost submarines of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Maritime incidents in February 1943 Submarines lost with all hands Submarines sunk by German warships