HMS ''Unbroken'' (P42) 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 ...

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 ...

; it was part of the third group of that class and has been the only vessel of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She entered service as P42 and was renamed ''Unbroken'' on 1 February 1943.

Career

''Unbroken'' was commissioned on 29 January 1942 as P42. After work up trials 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 ...

, ''Unbroken'' went out to join 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 ...

, with a work-up patrol from

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 ...

. She spent most of her wartime career in 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 ...

. She landed saboteurs under the command of Captain

Peter Churchill Peter Morland Churchill, Croix de Guerre (1909 – 1972) was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) officer in France during the Second World War. His wartime operations, which resulted in his capture and imprisonment in German concentrat ...

Antibes Antibes (, , ; ) is a seaside city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in Southeastern France. It is located on the French Riviera between Cannes and Nice; its cape, the Cap d'Antibes, along with Cap Ferrat in Saint-Jean-Ca ...

in the south of France. She then proceeded to Malta to reform the 10th Flotilla in June 1942. She was the only submarine operating from Malta until , and joined. She took part in Operations

Harpoon A harpoon is a long, spear-like projectile used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other hunting to shoot, kill, and capture large fish or marine mammals such as seals, sea cows, and whales. It impales the target and secures it with barb or ...

and Vigorous, in June 1942. In July 1942, ''Unbroken'' attacked the main west coast railway line on the Italian mainland, and succeeded in blocking the line for 24 hours. However, she received return fire from coastal artillery and sustained a hit on the battery, forcing her to return to Malta. She was badly damaged in October 1942, by a counter-attack by Italian escorts after hitting a tanker, and was again repaired at Malta. HMS Unbroken commander

During her time in the Mediterranean, she sank the Italian merchants ''Edda'' and ''Bologna'' (the former French ''Monaco''), the Italian pilot vessel F 20 / ''Enrica'', and the Italian auxiliary minesweeper No. 17/''Milano''. She also damaged the Italian sailing vessel ''Vale Formoso II'', the German (former Norwegian) tanker ''Regina'', and most significantly, the Italian heavy cruiser ''Bolzano'' and the Italian light cruiser ''Muzio Attendolo'' during

Operation Pedestal Operation Pedestal (, Battle of mid-August), known in Malta as (), was a British operation to carry supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War. British ships, submarines and aircraft from Malta attacked Axis p ...

. ''Bolzano'' was hit in her oil tanks and set ablaze; she had to be beached at

Panarea Panarea (; ) is the smallest of the seven inhabited Aeolian Islands, a volcanic island chain in north of Sicily, southern Italy. It is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Lipari. There are currently about 280 residents living on the island year ...

island; the ''Attendolo'' lost sixty feet of bow. ''Bolzano'' was out of action for the rest of the war. ''Unbroken'' also attacked the Italian merchant ''Algerino'', but missed her with her torpedoes. She later damaged the Italian merchant ''Titania'', north-west of

Tripoli, Libya Tripoli, historically known as Tripoli-of-the-West, is the capital city, capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.317 million people in 2021. It is located in the northwest of Libya on the edge of the desert, on a point ...

. ''Titania'' was taken in tow by the . ''Titania'' was sunk early the next day by . ''Unbroken'' returned to the UK in December 1943.

In Soviet service

''Unbroken'' was transferred on loan to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

on 26 June 1944, where she was renamed ''V-2'' (

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

: ''В-2''). Sailing under Soviet flag she sank the German

submarine chaser A submarine chaser or subchaser is a type of small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. They encompass designs that are now largely obsolete, but which played an important role in the wars of the first half of th ...

''UJ-1220'' on 12 October 1944. She spent four years in Soviet service before being returned to the Royal Navy in 1949. She was scrapped at Gateshead from 9 May 1950.

References

Bibliography

* * * * Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 To The Present Day, by Robert Hutchinson

External links

Captain Sir Edward Archdale, Bt
- Daily Telegraph obituary
Unbroken: The Story of a Submarine
by

Alastair Mars Lieutenant Commander Alastair Campbell Gillespie Mars, DSO, DSC and Bar (1 January 1915 – 12 March 1985) was a Royal Navy World War II submarine commander. In 1952, he was court martialled and dismissed from the service under controversia ...

, an autobiographical account by her commanding officer. {{DEFAULTSORT:Unbroken (P42) British U-class submarines Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1941 ships World War II submarines of the United Kingdom British U-class submarines of the Soviet Navy World War II submarines of the Soviet Union Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations