HMS Utmost
{{short description|Submarine of the Royal Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Utmost.jpg |Ship image size = 300px |Ship caption=HMS Utmost }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship class= |Ship name=HMS Utmost |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness |Ship laid down= 2 November 1939 |Ship launched= 20 April 1940 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= 17 August 1940 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship captured= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship fate=Sunk 25 November 1942 |Ship badge=File:UTMOST badge-1-.jpg }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship displacement=*Surfaced - 540 tons standard, 630 tons full load
|Ship length=58.22 m (191 feet) |Ship beam=4.90 m (16 ft 1 in) |Ship draught=4.62 m (15 ft 2 in) |Ship draft= |Ship propulsion=*2 shaft diesel-electric
|Ship speed=*11.25 knots max surfaced
|Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship complement=27-31 |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*4 bow internal 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 2 external
|Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Utmost was a British U class submarine, of the second group of that class, built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 2 November 1939 and was commissioned on 17 August 1940. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Utmost.
Career
Utmost spent most of her career operating in the Mediterranean, where she sank the Italian merchants Capo Vita, Enrico Costa, and Frederico C., and the German tanker Languste and also damaged the Italian merchant Manfredo Camperio. Utmost also attacked a convoy of five German merchants and three Italian destroyers and torpedoed and sunk the German merchant Heraklea and torpedoed and damaged Ruhr. An attack on another convoy made up of the German merchant Tilly L.M. Russ and the Italian merchant Cadamosto, escorted by the Italian torpedo boats {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Pallade|1937|2}} and {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Polluce||2}}, was less successful. All torpedoes fired missed their targets.
File:HMS Utmost -1-.jpg" success flag]]
Utmost went on to destroy the (already grounded and damaged) Italian merchant Marigola, and together with her sister, since transferred to the Poles, ORP Sokół, sank the Italian merchant Balilla. Utmost later unsuccessfully attacked the Italian merchants Fabio Filzi and Siculo, as well as the Italian auxiliary minelayer Barletta.[http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3540.html HMS Utmost], uboat.net She also torpedoed and damaged the Italian cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Trieste||2}}.
The Commanding Officer received a Distinguished Service Order for a mission, which is believed to have been the landing of agents behind enemy lines.{{cite book|last=O'Connell|first=John F|title=Submarine Operational Effectiveness in the 20th Century: Part One (1900 - 1939)|year=2011|publisher=iUniverse|location=United Kingdom|isbn=9781462042616}}
Sinking
Utmost left Malta for a patrol in the Mediterranean in November 1942. On the 23rd she sank an enemy ship, but on 25 November 1942, during her return journey to Malta, she was located, attacked and sunk south west off Sicily by depth charges from the Italian torpedo boat {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Groppo||2}}.[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
Citations
{{Reflist}}
References
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- {{cite book | last = Hutchinson | first = Robert | title = Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day | url = https://archive.org/details/janessubmarinesw0000hutc | url-access = registration | year = 2001 | location = London | publisher = HarperCollins | isbn = 978-0-00-710558-8 | oclc = 53783010 }}
{{coord|38|31|0|N|12|01|0|E|display=title}}
External links
- [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009647 IWM Interview with John Eaden, who commanded HMS Utmost in 1940]
{{British U class submarine}}
{{November 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utmost (N19)}}
Category:British U-class submarines
Category:Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
Category:World War II submarines of the United Kingdom
Category:Lost submarines of the United Kingdom
Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea