HMS Universal (P57)

HMS "Universal" (P57) was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name "Universal".

Career

She spent most of the war in the Mediterranean, where she sank the Italian auxiliary patrol vessels V 130/"Ugo" and V 134/"Tre Sorelle", the Italian merchant "La Foce" the German auxiliary gunboat "SG 15" (the former French "Rageot de la Touche"), the German merchants "President Dal Piaz" and "Canosa" (the former French "Corsa"), the German Guardboat "FMa 06" (the former French "Guarani") and the German auxiliary minesweeper "Petrel". "Universal" also damaged the Spanish sailing vessel "Sevellina" and the Italian tanker (in German control) "Cesteriano", which was later towed to Toulon. "Universal" also fired a torpedo against what is identified as an enemy auxiliary minesweeper. They claimed to have damaged the so far unidentified ship.

"Universal" survived the war and was sold to be broken up for scrap in February 1946, and scrapped at Milford Haven in June 1946.

References

*cite web | url= http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3562.html | title= HMS "Universal" (P 57) | work= uboat.net
*cite web | url= http://home.cogeco.ca/~gchalcraft/sm/page28.html | title= Universal to Untamed | work= British submarines of World War II
*Colledge
*Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 To The Present Day, by Robert Hutchinson