HMS Turbulent (N98) 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 by Vickers Armstrong

Vickers Armstrong

Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927...

, Barrow

Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...

 and launched in May 1942.

Career

Turbulent spent most of her career serving in the Mediterranean. During her time in service, she sank the following ships:

• Six Greek sailing vessels, including the Prodromos, Aghios Apostolos, Aghios Yonizov, Evangelista, Aghios Dyonysios and Aghia Traio.
• Nine Italian merchants: Rosa M., Delia, Bolsena, Capo Arma, Regulus, Marte, Vittoria Beraldo, Pozzuoli and San Vincenzo
• The Italian sailing vessels Franco and San Giusto
• The Italian destroyer Emanuelle Pessagno
• The wreck of the Italian destroyer Strale. The Strale grounded near Cape Bon on 1 June 1942 and was finally destroyed by Turbulent
• The German ship Kreta
• The German auxiliary submarine tender Bengasi
• The Italian tanker Utilitas

Turbulent also damaged the Italian tanker Pozarica and the Italian transport ship Nino Bixio. This ship is loaded with some 2000 Prisoners of War, of which over 300 perished as a result.

She also launched a number of failed attacks on the following ships:

• An unidentified submarine off Fiume
• The Italian merchants Anna Maria Gualdi and Sestriere
• The , in two attacks
• The German transport Ankara
• The Italian armed merchant cruiser Ramb III
• The small Italian passerger / cargo vessel Principessa Mafalda

Sinking

On 23 February 1943 Turbulent sailed from Algiers for a patrol in the Tyrrhenian Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy.-Geography:The sea is bounded by Corsica and Sardinia , Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria and Sicily ....

. On 1 March she attacked and sank the Italian steam ship Vincenz. On the 11th she is known to have attacked the mail ship Mafalda. The following morning the anti-submarine trawler Teti II sighted the periscope and conning tower of a submarine and attacked, it is believed, without success. Turbulent did not respond to any further messages and did not return when expected on 23 March. It is thought that Turbulent fell victim to a mine off Maddalena, Sardinia .The wreck has never been found and any reference to its discovery is incorrect.

Aftermath

Turbulent had sunk a huge amount of enemy shipping and endured numerous attacks.

Turbulent sank over 90,000 tons of enemy shipping. She was depth charged on over 250 occasions by enemy forces hunting her.

In recognition of this achievement, and the gallentry of Turbulent's crew, her commander, John Wallace Linton

John Wallace Linton

Commander John Wallace Linton VC, DSO, DSC was a Welsh 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....

, DSO, DSC, RN was posthumously awarded 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....

on 25 May 1943.
The citation read:

The King has been Graciously pleased to approve of the grant of the Victoria Cross for great valour in command of HM Submarines to Commander John Wallace Linton, DSO, DSC, Royal Navy.

From the outbreak of war until HMS Turbulent's last patrol, Commander Linton was constantly in command of submarines, and during that time inflicted great damage on the enemy. He sank one cruiser, one destroyer, one U-boat, twenty-eight supply ships, some 100,000 tons in all, and destroyed three trains by gunfire. In his last year he spent two hundred and fifty four days at sea, submerged for nearly half the time, and his ship was hunted thirteen times and had two hundred and fifty depth-charges aimed at her. His many and brilliant successes were due to his constant activity and skill, and the daring which never failed him when there was an enemy to be attacked. On one occasion, for instance, in HMS Turbulent, he sighted a convoy of two merchantmen and two Destroyers in mist and moonlight. He worked round ahead of the convoy and dived to attack it as it passed through the moon's rays. On bringing his sights to bear he found himself right ahead of a destroyer. Yet he held his course 'till the destroyer was almost on top of him, and, when his sights came on the convoy, he fired. His great courage and determination were rewarded. He sank one merchantman and one destroyer outright, and set the other Merchantmen on fire so that she blew up.