HMS Safari, launched in November 1941, was one of the third group of British S-class submarine

British S class submarine (1931)

The S-class submarines of the Royal Navy were originally designed and built during the modernisation of the submarine force in the early 1930s to meet the need for smaller boats to patrol the restricted waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea replacing the British H class submarines...

s built by Cammell Laird

Cammell Laird

Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...

 & Co Limited, Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

. So far she has been the only ship to bear the name Safari.

Career

She spent most of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 where she was highly successful. She sank:

• The Italian sailing vessels Adda, Ausonia, Eufrasia, Eleonora Rosa, Stefano M., and Nasello
• The Italian merchants Perseo, Torquato Gennari, Valsavoia, Loredan, Entella, Isonzo, Peppino Palomba and Salemi
• The German transport Hans Arp
• The Italian ships Bice, Aniello, Sogliola and Gemma
• The German barge F 346
• The Italian auxiliary minesweepers Rosina S., No. 295/Bella Italia, No. 47/Amalia, FR 70/La Coubre and R 106 /Onda
• The Italian fishing vessel S. Francisco di Paola A.
• The Italian tanker Isonzo
• The German transport ship KT-12
• The German barges Maria and Paula
• The Italian armed yacht Margherita
• The Italian pilot vessel F 50/Silvio Onorato
• The Italian minelayer Durazzo

Safari also damaged the following:

• The Italian merchants Tigrai, Eneo, and Liv (the former Norwegian Liv)
• An unknown sailing vessel
• The Italian merchant Veglia (the former Yugoslavian Kosovo). The damaged ship was later salvaged but declared a total loss
• The Italian auxiliary patrol vessel F 139 / Constantina. The damaged Italian ship was declared a total loss.
• Attacked two and sunk one unidentified German transports which were unloading equipment on a North African beach, one torpedo that missed its mark continued up the beach and destroyed a Tank.

Safari also launched unsuccessful attacks on the Italian merchant Cap Figalo and the German controlled French tanker Champagne. Safari also attacked the Italian submarine Bronzo.

On 19 October 1942 HMS Unbroken

HMS Unbroken (P42)

HMS Unbroken was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, and part of the third group of that class. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Unbroken.-Career:...

 had torpedoed and damaged the Italian merchant Titania. The Titania was taken in tow by the Italian destroyer Ascari, but was sunk early the next day by Safari.

On 8 January 1946 she was being towed to the breaker's yard to be scrapped when she sank in heavy seas with no crew on board. Today she is a popular site for divers in the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

, she lies on a rock seabed at a depth of 44 m. Her brass conning tower

Conning tower

A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....

 has been removed, as has the nose cone, so the bow caps (outer doors of the torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

tubes) are visible.

HMS Safari was commanded for much of her wartime career by Ben Bryant, who also commanded during the war. Bryant later recounted his exploits aboard the two vessels in his book, One Man Band (later republished as Submarine Commander). Safari is also the subject of the book Crash Dive by Arthur Dickison, who served under Bryant.