HMS Torbay (N79)

HMS "Torbay" (N79) was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down at Chatham Dockyard and launched on the 9 April 1940."Torbay" had an active and successful career, serving mainly in the Mediterranean, although she also served in the Pacific Far East at the end of the war.Altogether she sank 17 merchant ships, of 38,000 tons, plus 5 warships and 24 sailing vessels, and was involved in an attack on Corfu harbour that won her captain, Lt.Cdr Anthony Miers, the Victoria Cross.However, she was also involved in two incidents alleged to be war crimes.

ervice History

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

In March 1941 she sailed from Portsmouth on her first offensive patrol, to intercept the battlecruisers "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau", which were heading for Brest after their raiding sortie in the North Atlantic. Unable to find them, "Torbay" was ordered to continue to Gibraltar, and, after another patrol in the Mediterranean, to join the 1st Flotilla at Alexandria.

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 the allegation of war crimes. It is alleged that on two occasions after sinking enemy ships, Miers had "Torbay"’s crew fire on troops as they swam in the water. There is no official record of these events but they have been widely reported.

"Torbay" was involved in attacks on Axis convoys on two occasions. The attack on the first, on June 10 1941 involved "Torbay" making three attack runs on an Italian convoy off the Dardenelles. 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 the 12 August 1941, west of Benghazi, Libya. "Torbay" fired on the Italian merchants "Bosforo" and "Iseo" but missed both. "Torbay" was heavily depth charged following these attacks.

In November 1941 she was tasked with landing the party of commandos, under Geoffrey Keyes, 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 was awarded the 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 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 "GA 45". In October 1943 "Torbay's" periscope was sighted first by "GA 45" which dropped depth-charges very close to "Torbay". She later surfaced, intending to attack "GA 45" with her 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 quietened, "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

Having survived the war, "Torbay" was sold to be broken up for scrap on 19 December 1945. After a distinguished wartime career, she was scrapped at Briton Ferry, Wales 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 tanker "Alberta"
* The Italian oiler "Strombo"
* The German merchant "Norburg". The damaged merchant 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 submarine ORP "Sokół".
* The Italian auxiliary minesweeper "Monte Argentario"
* The Italian merchant (in German service) "Trapani". The "Trapani" was further damaged that night by the British escort destroyer HMS "Hursley" and the Greek escort destroyer destroyer RHS "Miaoulis". The wreck of the "Trapani" was finally destroyed off Kalymnos, Greece the following night by the British destroyers HMS "Penn" and HMS "Jervis".
* An unknown sailing vessel

ee also

USS" Wahoo" and U-852 for other boats alleged to be involved in war crimes.

External links

* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3498.html HMS Torbay] , Uboat.net]
* [http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Camp/3166/ Submarine atrocities]

References

*"Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 To The Present Day", by Robert Hutchinson
*Colledge
* Graeme Cooke "Silent Marauders : British Submarines in Two World Wars" (1976) ISBN 0 246 10784 7