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HMS Varangian (P61)
Encyclopedia
HMS Varangian was a British built U class submarine
British U class submarine
The British U class submarines were a class of 49 small submarines built just before and during the Second World War...
, a member of the third group of that class to be built. Her commander was Lt. Geoffrey J Gellie RAN
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
. The submarine carried out patrols in the Norwegian Sea, covering Arctic Convoys and seems also to have been used in a training role. She was broken up at Gateshead in 1949. Her ship's bell (inscribed HMS Varangian 1943) is in the possession of the Royal Navy Submarine Museum
Royal Navy Submarine Museum
The Royal Navy Submarine Museum at Gosport is a museum tracing the international history of submarine development from the age of Alexander the Great to the present day, and particularly the history of the Submarine Service from the tiny Holland 1 to the nuclear powered Vanguard class submarine...
in Gosport
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
, UK. It was believed that Varangian was the submarine featured in the 1943 film We Dive at Dawn
We Dive at Dawn
We Dive at Dawn is a 1943 war film directed by Anthony Asquith, starring John Mills and Eric Portman as Royal Navy submariners in the Second World War. It was written by Val Valentine and J. B. Williams with uncredited assistance from Frank Launder...
, due to the boat carrying the P61 pennant number. However the submarine in the film was in fact portrayed by two boats: P614 and P615, with their final digit painted out to disguise the fact that there were two boats being filmed.