HMS Simoom (P225)

File:British S-class submarine schematic drawing.jpg

The S-class submarines were designed to patrol the restricted waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. 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 draught of {{convert|14|ft|8|in|m|1}}. They displaced {{convert|865|LT|t}} on the surface and {{convert|990|LT|t}} submerged.Akermann, p. 341 The S-class submarines had a crew of 48 officers and ratings. They had a diving depth of {{convert|300|ft|0}}.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 On the surface, the third-batch submarines had a range of {{convert|6000|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|10|kn}} and {{convert|120|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|3|kn}} submerged.

The boats were armed with seven 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. A half-dozen of these were in the bow, and one external tube was mounted in the stern. They carried six reload torpedoes for the bow tubes for a total of thirteen torpedoes. Twelve mines could be carried in lieu of the internally stowed torpedoes. They were also armed with a 3-inch (76 mm) deck gun.Chesneau, pp. 51–52 It is uncertain if Simoom was completed with a Oerlikon 20 mm cannon light AA gun or had one added later. The third-batch S-class boats were fitted with either a Type 129AR or 138 ASDIC system and a Type 291 or 291W early-warning radar.Akermann, pp. 341, 345

HMS Simoom was a third-group S-class submarine and was ordered by the British Admiralty on 2 September 1940. She was laid down in the Cammell Laird Shipyard in Birkenhead on 14 July 1941 and launched on 12 October 1942.Akermann, p. 340 On 27 December 1942, Simoom, under the command of Lieutenant Christopher Henry Rankin, sailed from the shipbuilding yards to Holy Loch, where she was commissioned into the Royal Navy three days later.{{cite web |url=https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3443.html |title=HMS Simoom (P 225) |website=uboat.net |access-date=12 March 2019}} The simoom is a hot dry desert wind; Simoom was the fifth Royal Navy ship with this name.Akermann, p. 348

After training, Simoom departed port on 15 February 1943 for a patrol off Norway, providing protection to Arctic Convoys to and from ports in Northern Russia. Her patrol was uneventful, and she returned to Lerwick on 11 March. After having one of her propellers changed, Simoom sailed to Gibraltar, then on to Algiers, where she arrived on 24 May.

On 4 June 1943, Simoom, now under the command of Lieutenant Geoffrey D. N. Milner, departed Algiers to patrol west of Sardinia and Corsica. Her patrol was again uneventful, and she returned to port on 17 June having sighted only a few aircraft and no ships.

Simoom{{'}}s next patrol started on 28 June, when she patrolled in the Tyrrhenian Sea to provide cover for the Allied landings in Sicily. On 13 July, she fired four torpedoes at an enemy convoy, but missed. Two days later, the submarine attacked the Italian tug Robusto with her deck gun on the surface and scored several hits, but an approaching aircraft forced her to break off the action and submerge. Simoom then ended her patrol on 22 July.

File:Esplosione RN Gioberti.jpg

Simoom again departed Algiers on 4 August for a patrol in the Gulf of Genoa; on 8 August, she unsuccessfully attacked a merchant ship with three torpedoes. The next day, the boat sighted the {{ship|Italian cruiser|Giuseppe Garibaldi|1936|6}} along with several light cruisers and destroyers; she fired three torpedoes at Giuseppe Garibaldi, but again missed. The torpedoes, however, instead sank the Italian {{sclass|Oriani|destroyer|1}} {{ship|Italian destroyer|Vincenzo Gioberti||2}} (it) with the loss of 171 men.Akermann, p. 351 Simoom was then counter-attacked with depth charges, but she evaded damage and returned to Algiers on 13 August after having been recalled.

On 3 September, the submarine commenced another patrol in the western Mediterranean, with orders to act as a directional radio beacon during Operation Avalanche, the Allied landings near Salerno. Simoom{{'}}s participation was not necessary, and she did not carry out the operation. On 15 September, the boat launched two torpedoes at the German transport KT 11, but missed. She then ended her patrol in Algiers on 22 September.

From 3 to 17 October 1943, Simoom sailed to Port Said, passing through Malta, Beirut, and Haifa. She underwent repairs to her battery, then departed for a patrol between Naxos and Mikonos, Greece on 2 November.{{Cite book|title=Sunken Ships, World War II: U.S. Naval Chronology Including Submarine Losses of the United States, England, Germany, Japan, Italy|last=Heden|first=Karl Erik|date=2006|publisher=Branden Books|isbn=0828321183|location=Boston|pages=244}} The submarine did not return to Beirut on 19 November as planned, and was declared overdue on the 23rd. Simoom may have been sunk by the {{GS|U-565}} on 15 November. German radio broadcast at this date claimed that a submarine was sunk in the Aegean with some members of the crew rescued. The incident was never confirmed since the Germans were not able to visibly identify the enemy submarine, which it hit with a Zaunkönig torpedo.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CS8xDwAAQBAJ&dq=HMS+Simoom+submarine&pg=PT282|title=U-Boats in the Mediterranean: 1941–1944|last=Paterson|first=Lawrence|date=2019-03-05|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781510731677|language=en}} However, this was considered unlikely; post-war studies concluded that the most probable cause of her sinking is that she had hit a mine on 4 November in a new minefield off Donoussa. Her wreck was discovered in 2016 off Tenedos, Turkey. Simoom{{'}}s starboard (right) hydroplanes showed extensive damage, and it is now considered most likely that she hit a mine while on the surface.Heden, p. 244

Out of 15 torpedoes fired by Simoom during her career, all missed their intended targets, but three torpedoes hit and sank the Italian destroyer Vincenzo Gioberti instead.

During her service with the Royal Navy, Simoom sank one Italian destroyer of 1,685 tons.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{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=978-1-904381-05-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Bagnasco |first=Erminio |title=Submarines of World War Two |year=1977 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=978-0-87021-962-7}}
• {{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=978-0-85177-146-5}}
• {{Cite Colledge2006}}
• {{cite book |title=Sunken Ships, World War II: U.S. Naval Chronology Including Submarine Losses of the United States, England, Germany, Japan, Italy|first=Karl Eric|last=Heden|publisher=Branden Books |location=History Reference Center|year=2006|isbn=0828321183}}
• {{cite book|last=McCartney|first=Innes|author-link=Innes McCartney|location=Oxford, UK|title=British Submarines 1939–1945|series=New Vanguard|volume=129|year=2006|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-84603-007-9}}

{{British S class submarine}}

{{November 1943 shipwrecks}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Simoom (P225)}}

Category:1942 ships

Category:British S-class submarines (1931)

Category:Maritime incidents in November 1943

Category:Ships built on the River Mersey

Category:World War II submarines of the United Kingdom

Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

Category:Lost submarines of the United Kingdom