HMS Scotsman (P243)

{{short description|Submarine of the Royal Navy}}

{{other ships|HMS Scotsman}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}

{{Infobox ship begin}}

{{Infobox ship image

|Ship image=HMS Scotsman.jpg

|Ship caption=Scotsman

}}

{{Infobox ship career

|Hide header=

|Ship country=United Kingdom

|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}

|Ship name=Scotsman

|Ship ordered=20 December 1941

|Ship awarded=

|Ship builder=Scotts, Greenock

|Ship laid down=15 April 1943

|Ship launched=18 August 1944

|Ship christened=

|Ship commissioned=9 December 1944

|Ship recommissioned=

|Ship decommissioned=

|Ship in service=

|Ship out of service=

|Ship renamed=

|Ship reclassified=

|Ship refit=

|Ship struck=

|Ship reinstated=

|Ship fate=expended in trials 1964; salved and broken up, November 1964

|Ship badge=80px

}}

{{Infobox ship characteristics

|Hide header=

|Header caption=

|Ship class=S-class submarine

|Ship displacement=*{{convert|814|LT|t|abbr=on}} surfaced

  • {{convert|990|LT|t|abbr=on}} submerged

|Ship length={{convert|217|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}

|Ship beam={{convert|23|ft|9|in|m|1|abbr=on}}

|Ship draught={{convert|14|ft|8|in|1|abbr=on}}

|Ship power=*{{convert|1900|bhp|kW|lk=in|abbr=on}} (diesel)

  • {{convert|1300|hp|kW|abbr=on}} (electric)

|Ship propulsion=*2 × diesel engines

|Ship speed=*{{convert|15|kn|abbr=on|lk=in}} surfaced

  • {{convert|10|kn|abbr=on}} submerged

|Ship range={{convert|7500|nmi|abbr=on|lk=in}} at {{convert|10|kn}} surface; {{convert|120|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|3|kn}} submerged

|Ship test depth={{convert|350|ft|1}}

|Ship complement=48

|Ship armament=*6 × bow British 21-inch torpedo torpedo tubes

}}

HMS Scotsman was a third-batch S-class submarine of the third batch built for the Royal Navy during World War II. After training exercises in Britain during which she ran aground, requiring repairs, she was transferred to the Pacific fleet as the war with Germany had ended. The submarine sank one junk en route to her submarine unit, but arrived after the end of the Pacific War and World War II. She was scrapped in November 1964.

Design and description

The third batch was slightly enlarged and improved over the preceding second batch of the S-class. The submarines had a length of {{convert|217|ft|m|1}} overall, a beam of {{convert|23|ft|9|in|m|1}} and a draft of {{convert|14|ft|8|in|m|1}}. They displaced {{convert|814|LT|t}} on the surface and {{convert|990|LT|t}} submerged.Chesneau, p. 51 The S-class submarines had a crew of 48 officers and ratings. Scotsman had thicker hull plating which increased her diving depth to {{convert|350|ft|1}}.McCartney, p. 7

For surface running, the boats were powered by two {{convert|950|bhp|lk=in|0|adj=on}} diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a {{convert|650|hp|0|adj=on}} electric motor. They could reach {{convert|15|kn|lk=in}} on the surface and {{convert|10|kn}} underwater.Bagnasco, p. 110 Scotsman could carry more fuel than most of the third batch boats and had a range of {{convert|7500|nmi|lk=in}} on the surface at {{convert|10|kn}} and {{convert|120|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|3|kn}} submerged.

Scotsman was armed with six 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes in the bow. She carried six reload torpedoes for a total of a dozen torpedoes. Twelve mines could be carried in lieu of the torpedoes. The boat was also equipped with a 4-inch (102 mm) deck gunChesneau, pp. 51–52 and a Oerlikon 20 mm cannon light AA gun.Akermann, p. 342

Construction and career

HMS Scotsman was a third-batch S-class submarine, ordered by the British Admiralty on 20 December 1941, during World War II. She was laid down in the Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company shipyard in Greenock on 15 April 1943 and was launched on 18 August 1944.Akermann, p. 339 On 9 December 1944, Scotsman, under the command of Lieutenant Alan H. B. Anderson, was commissioned into the Royal Navy.{{cite web|title=HMS Scotsman|url=http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3459.html|work=Uboat.net|access-date=6 July 2013}}

After anti-submarine and gunnery exercises off the River Clyde and Scapa Flow, Scotsman departed for Holy Loch on 24 March 1945, for additional training. During additional training on 7 April, the boat ran aground, forcing her to dock for repairs in Greenock until 28 May.

With the war in Europe ended, on 11 June 1945 Scotsman departed Holy Loch to redeploy to the Pacific theater of operations, where war was still being fought against he Japanese Empire. Along with her sister ship HMS Spur and HMS Turpin, she made the passage from Britain to Gibraltar, then to Malta. She continued on with Spur through Port Said, Aden, and Trincomalee to her unit based at Subic Bay, Philippines. Shortly before arriving, she sank a junk with gunfire west of the Island of Borneo. With the Surrender of Japan and the end of the war in the Pacific, the boat returned to Britain at Rothesay on 7 December 1945, after a stop in Hong Kong.

In April 1947 she was taken in hand at Chatham Dockyard for reconstruction as a high-speed trials submarine.{{cite web |title=HMS Scotsman - 1948 Trials and Experimental Submarine |url=http://rnsubs.co.uk/articles/development/scotsman-trials.html |website=RN Subs: Website of the Barrow Submariners Association |access-date=13 February 2021}} As completed the following year, her ballast tanks had been moved from the sides of the pressure-hull to its underside, all torpedo tubes removed, the conning tower cut down and streamlined, the existing diesels and electric motors taken out and replaced by a single Paxman diesel-generator set as fitted in U-class submarines and electric motors of the kind fitted in A-class submarines; two additional sets of batteries were also installed, doubling electrical storage. The new machinery gave a maximum of 3600shp and up to 17 knots submerged speed. Various further modifications to the conning tower and casing were made from 1950, with a large streamlined sail installed in 1952, and a new rounded bow in 1960.

As rebuilt, Scotsman underwent a long series of trials, as well as taking part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.Shaw, p. 15, 25 Her last duty was to be deeply submerged to test the crush-strength of her hull, in Kames Bay in 1964. Sunk as a result, the hulk was raised by the Admiralty lifting craft LC10 and LC11, arriving at Troon on 19 November 1964 to be broken up by the West of Scotland Shipbreaking Company.

Notes

{{Reflist|15em}}

References

  • {{cite book|last=Akermann|first=Paul|title=Encyclopaedia of British Submarines 1901–1955|edition=reprint of the 1989|year=2002|publisher=Periscope Publishing|location=Penzance, Cornwall|isbn=1-904381-05-7}}
  • {{cite book|last=Bagnasco |first=Erminio |title=Submarines of World War Two |year=1977 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=0-87021-962-6}}
  • {{Cite Colledge2006}}
  • {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich, UK|year=1980|isbn=0-85177-146-7}}
  • {{cite book|last=McCartney|first=Innes|location=Oxford, UK|title=British Submarines 1939–1945|series=New Vanguard|volume=129|year=2006|publisher=Osprey|isbn=1-84603-007-2}}
  • {{cite book|last=Shaw|first=Raymond, E.|title=Official souvenir programme of the coronation review of the fleet by her majesty the queen at Spithead, 15th June, 1953|year=1953|publisher=Gale & Polden}}

{{British S class submarine}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scotsman (P243)}}

Category:British S-class submarines (1931)

Category:1944 ships

Category:World War II submarines of the United Kingdom