HMS Venturer (P68)
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HMS ''Venturer'' was a
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 ...
British submarine of the V class that sank two 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 and five merchant ships during the war. Following the war, the boat was sold to
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 ...
and was renamed HNoMS ''Utstein''. She was scrapped in 1964. She is the only submarine in history to have sunk another while both were submerged.


Construction

''Venturer'' was the
lead boat The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex ...
of the
British V-class submarine The British V-class submarine (officially "U-Class Long hull 1941–42 programme") was a class of submarines built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. History Forty-two vessels were ordered to this design, all to be built by Vick ...
, a development of the successful U class. She was built at the
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, wi ...
yard 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 ...
. Construction commenced in August 1942 and she was launched eight months later in May 1943. ''Venturer'' was commissioned on 19 August 1943.


Service history

On completing trials and working-up, ''Venturer'' commenced operations patrolling the Norwegian coast for coastal traffic and U-boats leaving or entering base. She was successful on several occasions, sinking three
Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...
vessels during 1944. She also sank the on 11 November 1944 east of
Andenes or is the administrative centre of Andøy Municipality which is located in the Vesterålen district of Nordland county, Norway. The village of Andenes is the northernmost settlement of the island of Andøya (and in Nordland county). To the ...
, Norway, off the
Lofoten Islands Lofoten ( , ; ; ) is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. There are two towns, ...
. Her most famous mission, however, was her eleventh patrol out of the British submarine base at
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 ...
in the Shetland Islands, under the command of 25-year-old
Jimmy Launders Captain James Stuart Launders, (1919–1988), was an officer in the Royal Navy during and after the Second World War. He retired from the service in 1974, but continued to serve in an unofficial capacity on training programs until his death in ...
, which included the first time in the history of naval warfare that one submarine intentionally sank another while both were submerged. Sent to the
Fedje Fedje is an island municipality in the Nordhordland region of Vestland county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Fedje (village), village of Fedje. The traditional economic activity of the inhabitants is fishing. The ...
area, ''Venturer'' was then ordered on the basis of Enigma decrypts to seek, intercept and destroy which was in the area. ''U-864'' was carrying a cargo of 65 tonnes of mercury as well as Junkers Jumo 004B
jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...
parts (used in the
Messerschmitt Me 262 The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed (German for "Swallow") in fighter versions, or ("Storm Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, is a fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber that was designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messers ...
) to Japan, a mission code-named
Operation Caesar Operation Caesar () was a secret mission carried out by Germany in the Second World War to supply Japan with advanced technology. The operation failed due to the sinking of U-864 by a British submarine, the only known example of a submerged su ...
.


Action of 9 February 1945

On 6 February 1945, ''U-864'' passed through the Fedje area without being detected, but on 9 February ''Venturer'' heard ''U-864''s engine noise. Launders had decided not to use
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 ...
since it would betray his position and spotted the U-boat's periscope as her captain looked for his escort. In an unusually long engagement for a submarine, and in a situation for which neither crew had been trained, Launders waited 45 minutes after first contact before going to action stations. Launders was waiting for ''U-864'' to surface and thus present an easier target. Upon realising they were being followed by the British submarine and that their escort had still not arrived, ''U-864'' zig-zagged underwater in attempted evasive manoeuvres, with each submarine occasionally risking raising her periscope. ''Venturer'' had eight torpedoes. ''U-864'' could carry up to 22 torpedoes but due to the nature of the trip (transport to Japan) she did only hold 4 torpedoes at time of action. After three hours Launders decided to make a prediction of ''U-864''s zig-zag and released a spread of his torpedoes into its predicted course. This manual computation of a firing solution against a three-dimensionally manoeuvring target was the first occasion on which techniques were used and became the basis of modern computer-based torpedo targeting systems. Prior to this attack, no target had been sunk by torpedo where the firing ship had to consider the target's position in three-dimensional terms, where the depth of the target was variable and not a fixed value. The computation thus differs fundamentally from those performed by analogue torpedo fire-control computers which regarded the target in strictly 2D terms with a constant depth determined by the target's draught. The torpedoes were released in 17-second intervals beginning at 12:12, and all taking four minutes to reach their target. Launders then dived ''Venturer'' suddenly to evade any retaliation. ''U-864'' heard the torpedoes coming, dived deeper, and turned away to avoid them. The first three torpedoes were avoided, but ''U-864'' unknowingly steered into the path of the fourth. Exploding, ''U-864'' split in two, and sank with all hands coming to rest more than below the surface. Launders was awarded a bar to his DSO for this action.


Merchant ships sunk

During her career, she sank five merchant ships all off the Norwegian coast.


Post-war

With the end of hostilities ''Venturer'' was destined for disposal. In 1946 she was sold to the
Royal Norwegian Navy The Royal Norwegian Navy () is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for navy, naval operations of Norway, including those of the Norwegian Coast Guard. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 i ...
, and was renamed ''Utstein''. She served with the Norwegians until January 1964, when she was struck from the Royal Norwegian Navy register. After her removal from naval service, the submarine was sold to a scrapyard and broken up.


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venturer (P68) British V-class submarines Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1943 ships Submarines of the Royal Norwegian Navy