HMS Thistle (N24)
{{short description|T-Class Submarine}}
{{other ships|HMS Thistle}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin
}} {{Infobox ship image | Ship image = HMS Thistle.jpg | Ship caption = HMS Thistle }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = United Kingdom | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} | Ship name = HMS Thistle | Ship namesake = | Ship owner = | Ship operator = | Ship registry = | Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship awarded = | Ship builder = Vickers Armstrong, Barrow | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = 7 December 1937 | Ship launched = 25 October 1938 | Ship sponsor = | Ship christened = | Ship completed = | Ship acquired = | Ship commissioned = 4 July 1939 | Ship recommissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship renamed = | Ship reclassified = | Ship refit = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship homeport = | Ship identification = | Ship motto = | Ship nickname = | Ship honours = | Ship honors = | Ship captured = | Ship fate = Sunk by U-4 10 April 1940 | Ship notes = | Ship badge = File:THISTLE badge-1-.jpg }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = T-class submarine | Ship displacement = *1,090 tons surfaced
| Ship length = {{convert|275|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|26|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} | Ship height = | Ship draught = {{convert|16.3|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship draft = | Ship depth = | Ship hold depth = | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = | Ship ramps = | Ship ice class = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = *Two shafts
| Ship sail plan = | Ship speed = *{{convert|15.25|kn|abbr=on}} surfaced
| Ship range = {{convert|4500|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|11|kn|abbr=on}} surfaced | Ship endurance = | Ship test depth = {{convert|300|ft|m|abbr=on}} max | Ship boats = | Ship capacity = | Ship troops = | Ship complement = 59 | Ship crew = | Ship time to activate = | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = *6 internal forward-facing British 21 inch torpedo torpedo tubes
| Ship armour = | Ship armor = | Ship aircraft = | Ship aircraft facilities = | Ship notes = }} |
HMS Thistle (N24) was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched in October 1938. She was sunk by the German submarine {{GS|U-4|1935|2}} on 10 April 1940 near Skudenes, Norway.
Career
At the onset of the Second World War, Thistle was a member of the 2nd Submarine Flotilla. From 26 to 29 August 1939, the flotilla deployed to its war bases at Dundee and Blyth.Rohwer, p. 1
Thistle, under the command of Lt. Wilfrid Frederick Haselfoot, was ordered to patrol off Stavanger, and to sink any enemy vessel that she might spot in the harbour, since British authorities believed that a German invasion of Norway was imminent. On 10 April, Thistle signaled her intention to comply with this order and that she had two torpedoes remaining after an unsuccessful attack on a U-boat. With this in mind the Admiralty changed her orders to patrol off Skudenes. No further contact was made with Thistle.
=Sinking=
It was later discovered that {{GS|U-4|1935|2}}, the U-boat Thistle had previously attacked, had sighted the submarine on the surface and sunk her with torpedoes.[http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/general/losses.htm Submarine losses 1904 to present day] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808171910/http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/general/losses.htm |date=8 August 2007 }}, RN Submarine Museum, Gosport
The action began when HMS Thistle spotted U-4 cruising on the surface with a periscope. At 16:04 hours on 9 April 1940 HMS Thistle fired a spread of six torpedoes, all of which missed. HMS Thistle later reported the unsuccessful engagement via radio, and that the submarine had only two torpedoes left.
U-4 observed one torpedo passing ten meters ahead and evaded further underwater attacks by crash diving. The U-boat crew later heard three explosions of the off-track torpedoes at the end of their run. Afterwards U-4 found HMS Thistle on the surface recharging its batteries.
At 02:13 hours on the morning of 10 April 1940, U-4 fired a spread of two torpedoes at its attacker. The first, a G7a torpedo, missed. The second, a magnetic G7e torpedo, found its mark, sinking Thistle with all hands near Skudenes.
Discovery
The wreck of the Thistle, missing its tower,{{cite web |title=British submarine from WWII found after 83 years |url=https://www.tv2.no/spesialer/nyheter/british-submarine-from-wwii-found-after-83-years-off-the-coast-of-norway |website=www.tv2.no |date=15 October 2023 |publisher=TV 2 Norway}} was discovered by the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research in the spring of 2023, at 160 meters of depth.{{cite web |title=Found unknown submarine wreck from World War 2 |url=https://hi.no/en/hi/news/2023/october/found-unknown-submarine-wreck-from-world-war-2 |website=Norwegian Institute of Marine Research website |publisher=Norwegian Institute of Marine Research |access-date=16 October 2023}} A second cruise in October 2023 identified the wreck as being Thistle. Royal Navy confirmed the boat is HMS Thistle.
Notes
{{Reflist}}
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 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 book|last=Kemp|first=Paul J.|title=The T-class Submarine: The Classic British Design|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1990|isbn=1-55750-826-7}}
- {{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=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}}
{{T class submarine}}
{{April 1940 shipwrecks}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thistle (N24)}}
Category:British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy
Category:Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
Category:World War II submarines of the United Kingdom
Category:Lost submarines of the United Kingdom
Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II
Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Norwegian Sea
Category:Maritime incidents in April 1940