HMS Tigris (N63)

HMS "Tigris" (N63) was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down at Chatham Dockyard and launched in October 1939.

Career

"Tigris" had a relatively active career, serving in the North Sea and the Mediterranean.

Home waters

"Tigris" was active in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay in mid 1940. She sank the French fishing vessels "Sancte Michael", "Cimcour", "Charles Edmond" and "Rene Camaleyre", the French merchants "Jacobsen" and "Guilvinec", and the German tanker "Thorn". She unsuccessfully attacked a number of submarines, including "U-58" and the Italian submarine "Veniero" and may have also attacked the Italian submarine "Otario"."Tigris" also succeeded in sinking the Italian submarine "Michele Bianchi".

She was assigned to operate in the North Sea off the Scandinavian coast in mid 1941. Here she sank the Norwegian passenger / cargo ship "Haakon Jarl" and the German merchant "Richard With". She also attacked and heavily damaged the German auxiliary submarine chaser "UJ 1201" off the Rolvsoy Fjord. The bow of the ship sank but the stern was towed to port and the ship was rebuilt, entering service again in April 1944. "Tigris" also unsuccessfully attacked the German merchant "Bessheim" and a merchant of 3000 tons, and also attacked a convoy, but missed her targets of the Norwegian merchants "Mimona", "Tugela" and "Havbris".

She was also one of the ships assigned to track the German battleship Bismarck.

Mediterranean

"Tigris" was reassigned to the Mediterranean, and was active there from late 1942. She torpedoed and sank the Italian submarine "Porfido" and the Italian merchant "Citta di Genova". [ [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3492.html HMS Tigris] , Uboot.net]

inking

"Tigris" left Malta on 18 February 1943 to patrol off Naples. She was last sighted at 0730 on 24 February, 39 miles from Capri. On the morning of the 27th, the German submarine chaser "UJ2210", escorting a convoy six miles south east of Capri, made contact with a submarine and carried out three depth charge attacks, the third attack brought oil to the surface and the contact was noted to be stationary. A fourth attack of fifteen depth charges brought a huge bubble of air to the surface. On 6 March, "Tigris" was ordered to Algiers but there was no reply to this signal. She failed to return to Algiers on 10 March 1943 and was declared overdue on that date. "Tigris" was most likely the submarine sunk on 27 February by "UJ-2210". [ [http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/general/losses.htm Submarine losses 1904 to present day] , RN Submarine Museum, Gosport]

Tributes

Each year there is an annual Remembrance Service for the submarine and the crew lost at St Nicholas Church, Newbury, Berkshire, on the Sunday nearest the 27th of February. The submarine had been adopted by Newbury during the Second World War. [ [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3492.html HMS Tigris] , Uboot.net]

References

*"Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 To The Present Day", by Robert Hutchinson
*Colledge