HMS Torbay (N79) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

was a T-class

British T class submarine

The Royal Navy's T class of diesel-electric submarines was designed in the 1930s to replace the O, P and R classes. Fifty-three members of the class were built just before and during the Second World War, where they played a major role in the Royal Navy's submarine operations...

submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. She was laid down at Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

and launched on 9 April 1940.

Torbay had an active and successful career, serving mainly in the Mediterranean, although she also served in the Pacific Far East

Far East

The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

at the end of the war

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...

.

Altogether she sank 17 merchant ships, totalling 38,000 tons, plus 5 warships and 24 sailing vessels, and was involved in an attack on Corfu

Corfu

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

harbour that won her captain, Lieutenant Commander (Lt. Cdr.) Anthony Miers

Anthony Miers

Rear Admiral Sir Anthony Cecil Capel Miers VC, KBE, CB, DSO & Bar was a Royal Navy officer, who served in the submarine service during the Second World War...

, the Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

.

Torbay was also involved in two incidents alleged to be war crimes.

Service history

Torbay was commissioned on 14 January 1941, under the command of Lt. Cdr. Anthony Miers.

In March 1941 she sailed from Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

on her first offensive patrol, to intercept the small battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

s Scharnhorst

German battleship Scharnhorst

Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. The ship was built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15...

and Gneisenau

German battleship Gneisenau

Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935...

, which were heading for Brest

Brest, France

Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

after their raiding sortie in the North Atlantic. Unable to find them, Torbay was ordered to continue to Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

, and, after another patrol in the Mediterranean, to join the 1st Flotilla at Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

Mediterranean

From there, Torbay operated for the next 12 months, sinking a number of ships, and taking part in several special operations.

In July 1941, on her first patrol from Alexandria, Torbay was involved in two incidents which gave rise to allegations of war crimes. It is alleged that on two occasions after sinking enemy ships, Miers had Torbays crew fire on troops as they swam in the water. Miers made no attempt to hide his actions and reported it in his official logs. He received a strongly worded reprimand from the Royal Navy following the first incident.

Torbay was involved in attacks on Axis convoys on two occasions. The attack on the first, on 10 June 1941 involved Torbay making three attack runs on an Italian convoy off the Dardanelles

Dardanelles

The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...

. The first attack failed to produce any results; the second attack resulted in a torpedo hit on the Italian tanker Utilitas but the torpedo failed to explode. In the third attack the Italian tanker Giuseppina Ghirardi was torpedoed and sunk. The attack on the second convoy took place on 12 August 1941, west of Benghazi

Benghazi

Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya, the main city of the Cyrenaica region , and the former provisional capital of the National Transitional Council. The wider metropolitan area is also a district of Libya...

, Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

. Torbay fired on the Italian merchant ships Bosforo and Iseo but missed both. Torbay was heavily depth charge

Depth charge

A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

d following these attacks.

In November 1941 Torbay was tasked with landing a party of commandos, under Geoffrey Keyes

Geoffrey Charles Tasker Keyes

Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Charles Tasker Keyes, VC, MC was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces...

, for the ill-fated Operation Flipper.

On 4 March 1942 in Corfu Harbour, north-western Greece, Torbay, having followed an enemy convoy into the harbour the previous day, fired torpedoes at a destroyer and two 5,000 ton transports, scoring hits on the two supply ships, which almost certainly sank. Torbay then had a very hazardous withdrawal to the open sea, enduring 40 depth-charges. The submarine had been in closely patrolled enemy waters for 17 hours. For this exploit, her commander, Lieutenant Commander Anthony Miers

Anthony Miers

Rear Admiral Sir Anthony Cecil Capel Miers VC, KBE, CB, DSO & Bar was a Royal Navy officer, who served in the submarine service during the Second World War...

was awarded the Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

Home Waters

In the summer of 1942 Torbay returned to Britain. She returned to the Mediterranean in February 1943 under the command of Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

(Lt.) Robert Clutterbuck.

Return to the Mediterranean

Back in the Mediterranean, Torbay carried out a further series of successful patrols. She also had a close encounter with the German Q-ship

Q-ship

Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships, or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them...

GA 45. In October 1943 Torbay's periscope was sighted first by GA 45 which dropped depth-charges very close to Torbay. The submarine later surfaced, intending to attack GA 45 with her deck gun but the German vessel opened fire and forced her to break off the action. GA 45 did not drop any further depth-charges (perhaps having run out). Torbay managed to escape damage during this encounter.

As the war in the Mediterranean quieted, Torbay was again reassigned, this time to the Pacific Far East

Far East

Arriving in May 1945, and under the command of Lt. C.P. Norman, Torbay continued to cause losses amongst enemy shipping. She sank two Japanese sailing vessels and a coaster, and damaged a second coaster, before the end of the war.

Post war

After a distinguished wartime career and having survived the war, Torbay was sold on 19 December 1945 and scrapped at Briton Ferry

Briton Ferry

Briton Ferry is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The town encompasses the electoral wards of Briton Ferry East and Briton Ferry West....

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

in March 1947.

Raiding career

Torbay attacked and sank the following ships:-

Twelve Greek sailing vessels, including the Sofia and the P III
The Italian sailing vessels Gesu E Maria, Pozzalo, Columbo, Gesu Giuseppe E Maria and Gesu Crocifisso
The Italian merchants Citta di Tripoli, Ischia, Maddalena G. and Lido
Seven German sailing vessels, including the L XIV, L I, L XII, L V and the L VI
The Italian submarine Jantina
The sailing vessel Evangelista
The German army cargo ship Bellona
The Italian auxiliary patrol vessels R 113 / Avanguardista, V 90/San Girolamo and V 276 / Baicin
The German auxiliary submarine chaser 13 V 2 / Delpa II
The Danish merchant Grete
The French merchant Lillios
The Italian fishing vessel Madonna di Porto Salvo
Two unknown sailing vessels
The small Italian merchants Versilia and Tarquinia
A Greek fishing vessel
The German troopship Kari (the former French Ste. Colette, in turn the former Norwegian Kari)
A German floating dock
The German troop transport Palma (the former Italian Polcevera)
The Spanish merchant Juan de Astigarraga and the French merchant Oasis (Both ships were under German control)
The Italian ship Aderno (the former British Ardeola)

Torbay also damaged the following ships:-

The Vichy French
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...

tanker Alberta
The Italian oiler Strombo
The German merchant Norburg. The damaged ship settled on the bottom of Iraklion harbour but was later salvaged.
The Italian destroyer Aviere. The Aviere was already grounded after being damaged on 19 November 1941 by the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

submarine ORP Sokół
ORP Sokół
One ship and three submarines of the Polish Navy have been named ORP Sokół :* Sokół, a tugboat launched in 1920 and disposed of in 1957....

.
The Italian auxiliary
Auxiliaries
An auxiliary force is a group affiliated with, but not part of, a military or police organization. In some cases, auxiliaries are armed forces operating in the same manner as regular soldiers...

minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...

Monte Argentario
The Italian merchant (in German service) Trapani. The Trapani was further damaged that night by the British escort destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

and the Greek escort destroyer RHS Miaoulis. The wreck of the Trapani was finally destroyed off Kalymnos
Kalymnos
Kalymnos, is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese and is located to the west of the peninsula of Bodrum , between the islands of Kos and Leros : the latter is linked to it through a series of islets...

, Greece the following night by the British destroyers and .
An unknown sailing vessel

Service history

Mediterranean

Home Waters

Return to the Mediterranean

Far East

Post war

Raiding career

See also