HMS Shark (54S)

The second batch of S-class submarines were designed as slightly improved and enlarged versions of the earlier boats of the class and were intended to operate in the North and Baltic Seas.Harrison, Chapter 16 The submarines had a length of {{convert|208|ft|8|in|m|1}} overall, a beam of {{convert|24|ft|0|in|m|1}} and a mean draught of {{convert|11|ft|10|in|m|1}}. They displaced {{convert|768|LT|t}} on the surface and {{convert|960|LT|t}} submerged.Chesneau, p. 49 The S-class submarines had a crew of 40 officers and ratings. They had a diving depth of {{convert|300|ft|m|0}}.McCartney, p. 6

For surface running, the boats were powered by two {{convert|775|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|13.75|kn|lk=in}} on the surface and {{convert|10|kn}} underwater.Bagnasco, p. 110 On the surface, the second-batch boats had a range of {{convert|6000|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|10|kn}} and {{convert|64|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|2|kn}} submerged.

The S-class boats were armed with six British 21 inch torpedo torpedo tubes in the bow. They carried six reload torpedoes for a total of a dozen torpedoes. They were also armed with a 3-inch (76 mm) deck gun.

Ordered on 12 June 1933, Shark was laid down on 15 June 1933 at HM Dockyard, Chatham and was launched on 31 May 1934. The boat was completed on 31 December 1934.Akermann, p. 334

File:The Last of Hm Submarine Shark. June 1940, South-east of Stavanger, Norway. HMS Shark, Powerless To Dive Or Steer, Just Before She Was Sunk by Her Own Crew To Prevent Her Capture by the Germans. the Pictures We A30496.jpg to prevent her capture by the Germans]]

The submarine was attacked by German aircraft while surfacing on patrol off the coast of Norway near Skudenes on 5 July 1940. While trying to fight off the aircraft, the submarine succeeded in shooting down a Dornier Do 17.{{cite book |title=The Admiralty Regrets: British Warship Losses of the 20th Century |last=Kemp |first=Paul |year=1999 |publisher=Sutton Publishing Ltd |isbn=0-7509-1567-6 |pages=123}} Due to the damage the submarine had suffered and likely further attack from the enemy aircraft overhead it was decided to surrender the submarine. The next day at about 04:00 the German minesweeping trawlers M-1803, M-1806 and M-1807 arrived at the scene and took the crew on board.{{cite web |title=Submarine losses 1904 to present day |url=http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/general/losses.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041215050107/http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/general/losses.htm#shark |publisher=Royal Navy Submarine Museum |archive-date=15 December 2004}} Shark was taken under tow but the crew had scuttled her prior to leaving. Amidst much cheering from the captured British sailors, the German trawler crews were forced to cut the hawsers before Shark sank and took the towing vessels with her. Shark sank stern first about {{convert|25|nmi|km|0}} west-south-west of Egersund, Norway.

The boat's captain, Lieutenant Commander Peter Buckley, was involved in planning a number of escape attempts from his prisoner of war camp.{{cite book |title=The Royal Navy Submarine Service: A Centennial History |last=Preston |first=Antony |author-link= Antony Preston (naval historian) |year=2001 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |isbn=0-85177-891-7 |pages=115}}

ERA W. E. "Wally" Hammond made a number of escape attempts before being held in Oflag IV-C – Colditz. With ERA Don "Tubby" Lister (from the captured submarine {{HMS|Seal|N37|6}}) he made a successful escape by campaigning for a transfer from Colditz, arguing that he was not an officer. He was transferred to Lamsdorf prison, escaped from a Breslau work party, and reached England via Switzerland in 1943.Reid, Patrick Robert (1953). The Latter Days at Colditz. London: Hodder and Stoughton{{Cite web |website=Sea Your History |url= http://seayourhistory.org.uk/component/option,com_gallery2/Itemid,402/g2_itemId,21056/ |title=Photo of Hammond and Lister in Switzerland |department=Royal Naval Museum |access-date=2 January 2023|quote=Photograph showing W.E. Hammond and D. Lister in Switzerland after escaping from their prisoner of war camp at Lamsdorf. Armed with forged identity papers, money and civilian clothing, Hammond and Lister volunteered to wash up the Sunday soup cauldrons in the wash house and slipped out of the camp through a nearby garden. They travelled by train to join the Colditz escape route at Dresden, showing German cigarettes as they passed through the police checks. Going via Nuremburg [sic] they continued to Ulm, accepting a drink from a German soldier along the way. Finally they ended up in Switzerland where they later held a great Christmas party with other escapers. }}{{cite book| last= Chancellor| first= Henry| authorlink= Henry Chancellor (filmmaker)| title= Colditz: The Definitive History| year= 2001| publisher= Hodder & Stoughton| location= London| quote= In September 1942, Chief Petty Officers Wally Lister and Tubby Hammond arrived in Colditz with the Royal Navy contingent. They had been promoted to the rank of officer so that they might stay with their friends, but technically they were in the wrong camp, and after a month they applied to be transferred to the troop camp at Lamsdorf, where they joined work gangs in the local fields and factories: escaping was easy, and after a series of adventures, they crossed the Swiss frontier on 19 December. |pages= 210| isbn=978-0-340-79494-4}}

File:Submarines in Dry Dock by Eric Ravilious, 1940, (Tate N05722).jpg, 1940]]

{{Reflist}}

• {{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 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 Colledge2006}}
• {{cite web|url=http://rnsubs.co.uk/dits-bits/br-3043.html|title=The Development of HM Submarines From Holland No. 1 (1901) to Porpoise (1930) (BR3043)|last=Harrison|first=A. N.|date=January 1979|publisher=RN Subs|access-date=27 September 2022}}
• {{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=Rohwer |first=Jürgen |date=2005 |title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two |edition=Revised & Expanded |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=1-59114-119-2}}

• [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80004718 IWM Interview with Peter Buckley]

{{British S class submarine}}

{{July 1940 shipwrecks}}

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Category:British S-class submarines (1931)

Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean

Category:1934 ships

Category:World War II submarines of the United Kingdom

Category:Submarines sunk by aircraft

Category:Maritime incidents in July 1940

Category:Naval ships of the United Kingdom captured by Germany during World War II

Category:Ships sunk by German aircraft

Category:Scuttled vessels of the United Kingdom