HMS Torbay (N79)

HMS ''Torbay'' (N79) was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 9 April 1940.

''Torbay'' had an active career, serving mainly in the Mediterranean, although she also served in the Pacific Far East at the end of the war.

Altogether she sank 17 merchant ships, totalling 38,000 tons, plus 5 warships and 24 sailing vessels, and was involved in an attack on Corfu harbour that won her captain, Lieutenant Commander (Lt. Cdr.) Anthony Miers, the Victoria Cross.

''Torbay'' was also allegedly involved in two incidents of war crimes.

Service history

''Torbay'' was commissioned on 14 January 1941, under the command of Lt. Cdr. Anthony Miers.

In March 1941 she sailed from Portsmouth on her first offensive patrol, to intercept the battleships and , which were heading for Brest after their raiding sortie in the North Atlantic. Unable to find them, ''Torbay'' was ordered to continue to Gibraltar, and, after another patrol in the Mediterranean, to join the 1st Flotilla at Alexandria.

Mediterranean

From there, ''Torbay'' operated for the next 12 months, sinking a number of ships (including the Italian submarine '' Jantina'') and taking part in several special operations.

Some of those special operations revolved around Crete. The ''Torbay'', among others, continued to evacuate Allied stragglers who were not captured and interned as POWs when Crete was surrendered to the Germans on 1 June. On 22 August 1941, after a night run on the surface, 130 men (including 62 New Zealanders and 63 British and Australian troops) crammed aboard the ''Torbay'' were safely delivered to Alexandria, Egypt, “establishing a record for the number of people ever jammed into one submarine.”p. 242, Beevor, Antony. ''Crete: The Battle and the Resistance''. London: John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, 2005. Pp. xvi, 383. The ''Torbay''’s commander, Lieutenant Commander Anthony ‘Crap’ Miers, VC, was eccentric, and he made it a ritual – ‘Usual Drill, Number One’ – to salute the Vichy French sailors aboard French ships at anchor in Alexandria, Egypt, every time he entered the port. He had his crew assemble on deck and, on order, they dropped their trousers and ‘mooned’ the Vichy French sailors as they entered the harbor.

In July 1941, on her first patrol from Alexandria, ''Torbay'' was involved in two incidents of alleged war crimes. On two occasions after sinking enemy ships, Miers had ''Torbay''s crew fire on troops as they swam in the water. Miers made no attempt to hide his actions and reported it in his official logs. He received a strongly worded reprimand from the Royal Navy after the first incident.

''Torbay'' was involved in attacks on Axis convoys on two occasions. The attack on the first, on 10 June 1941 involved ''Torbay'' making three attack runs on an Italian convoy off the Dardanelles. The first attack failed to produce any results; the second attack resulted in a torpedo hit on the Italian tanker ''Utilitas'' but the torpedo failed to explode. In the third attack the Italian tanker ''Giuseppina Ghirardi'' was torpedoed and sunk. The attack on the second convoy took place on 12 August 1941, west of Benghazi, Libya. ''Torbay'' fired on the Italian merchant ships ''Bosforo'' and ''Iseo'' but missed both. ''Torbay'' was heavily depth charged after these attacks.

In November 1941 ''Torbay'' was tasked with landing a party of commandos, under Geoffrey Keyes, for the ill-fated Operation Flipper. On 15 December 1941 ''Torbay'' torpedoed an Italian merchant ship in German service, , at Methoni in the Peloponnese. ''Sebastiano Veniero'' was already beached after having been damaged a week earlier by a torpedo fired by the .

On 4 March 1942 in Corfu Harbour, north-western Greece, ''Torbay'', having followed an enemy convoy into the harbour the previous day, fired torpedoes at a destroyer and two 5,000 ton transports, scoring hits on the two supply ships, which almost certainly sank. ''Torbay'' then had a very hazardous withdrawal to the open sea, enduring 40 depth charges. The submarine had been in closely patrolled enemy waters for 17 hours. For this exploit, her commander, Lieutenant Commander Anthony Miers was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Home waters

In mid-1942 ''Torbay'' returned to Britain. She returned to the Mediterranean in February 1943 under the command of Lieutenant (Lt.) Robert Clutterbuck.

Return to the Mediterranean

Back in the Mediterranean, ''Torbay'' carried out a further series of successful patrols. She also had a close encounter with the German Q-ship ''GA 45''. In October 1943 ''Torbay's'' periscope was sighted first by ''GA 45'' which dropped depth charges very close to ''Torbay''. The submarine later surfaced, intending to attack ''GA 45'' with her deck gun, but the German vessel opened fire and forced her to break off the action. ''GA 45'' did not drop any further depth charges (perhaps having run out). ''Torbay'' managed to escape damage during this encounter.

As the war in the Mediterranean quietened, ''Torbay'' was again reassigned, this time to the Pacific Far East.

Far East

Arriving in May 1945, and under the command of Lt. C.P. Norman, ''Torbay'' continued to cause losses amongst enemy shipping. She sank two Japanese sailing vessels and a coaster, and damaged a second coaster, before the end of the war.

Post war

Having survived the war, ''Torbay'' was sold on 19 December 1945 and scrapped at Briton Ferry, Wales in March 1947.

Raiding career

''Torbay'' attacked and sank the following ships:-
* Twelve Greek sailing vessels, including ''Sofia'' and ''P III''
* The Italian sailing vessels ''Gesu E Maria'', ''Pozzalo'', ''Columbo'', ''Gesu Giuseppe E Maria'' and ''Gesu Crocifisso''
* The Italian merchants ''Citta di Tripoli'', ''Ischia'', ''Maddalena G.'' and ''Lido''
* Seven German sailing vessels, including ''L XIV'', ''L I'', ''L XII'', ''L V'' and ''L VI''
* The
* The sailing vessel ''Evangelista''
* The German army cargo ship ''Bellona''
* The Italian auxiliary patrol vessels R 113 / ''Avanguardista'', V 90/''San Girolamo'' and V 276 / ''Baicin''
* The German auxiliary submarine chaser 13 V 2 / ''Delpa II''
* The Danish merchant ''Grete''
* The French merchant ''Lillios''
* The Italian fishing vessel ''Madonna di Porto Salvo''
* Two unknown sailing vessels
* The small Italian merchants ''Versilia'' and ''Tarquinia''
* A Greek fishing vessel
* The German troopship ''Kari'' (the former French ''Ste. Colette'', in turn the former Norwegian ''Kari'')
* A German floating dock
* The German troop transport ''Palma'' (the former Italian ''Polcevera'')
* The Spanish merchant ''Juan de Astigarraga'' and the French merchant ''Oasis'' (Both ships were under German control)
* The Italian ship ''Aderno'' (the former British ''Ardeola'')

''Torbay'' also damaged the following ships:-
* The Vichy French tanker ''Alberta''
* The Italian oiler ''Strombo''
* The German merchant ''Norburg''. The damaged ship settled on the bottom of Iraklion harbour but was later salvaged.
* The Italian destroyer . ''Aviere'' was already grounded after being damaged on 19 November 1941 by the Polish submarine .
* The Italian auxiliary minesweeper ''Monte Argentario''
* The Italian merchant (in German service) ''Sebastiano Veniero''.
* The Italian merchant (in German service) ''Trapani''. ''Trapani'' was further damaged that night by the British escort destroyer and the Greek escort destroyer . The wreck of ''Trapani'' was finally destroyed off Kalymnos, Greece the following night by the British destroyers and .
* An unknown sailing vessel

See also

and for other submarines alleged to be involved in war crimes.

Citations

References

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External links

HMS Torbay
Uboat.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torbay (N79)
1940 ships
British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy
Ships built in Chatham
World War II submarines of the United Kingdom