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Thunderbolt

Country United Kingdom Ship Class T-class Submarine Builder Name Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England, United Kingdom Laid Down 21 Dec 1936 Launched 29 Jun 1938 Commissioned 26 Oct 1940 Sunk 14 Mar 1943 Displacement 1,090 tons standard; 1,560 tons submerged Length 275 feet Beam 26 feet Draft 14 feet Machinery Two 2,500hp diesel engines, two 1,450hp electric motors, two shafts Speed 15 knots Range 4,500nm at 11 knots Crew 59 Armament 6 internal forward torpedo tubes, 4 external forward torpedo tubes, 16 torpedoes, 1x100mm deck gun Submerged Speed 9 knots

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseHMS Thetis, a member of Group 1 of T-class submarines, was launched in mid-1938. On 1 Jun 1939, while on a her first trial dive in Liverpool Bay, England, United Kingdom under the command of Lieutenant Commander Guy Bolus, she sank at 1400, taking the lives of 99 of 103 men onboard, which consisted of 53 crewmen, 9 officers, 26 Cammell Laird employees, 4 Vickers-Armstrong employees, and 2 caterers. The reason for the sinking was a combination of malfunction with torpedo tube number 5 and human error, the said torpedo tube was flooded while the inner door was open, which led to the flooding of the submarine. Her wreck was recovered and grounded at Moelfre Bay, Anglesey, Wales, United Kingdom on 3 Sep.

ww2dbaseAfter being repaired, the former wreck of HMS Thetis was commissioned as HMS Thunderbolt to Lieutenant Commander Richard Crouch in 1940. She sank the Italian submarine Tarantini on 15 Dec 1940 in the Bay of Biscay of France. In Dec 1942, she was transferred to the Mediterranean Sea. Her first mission in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sardinia, Italy resulted in the loss of another ship in the group, but her second mission against Palermo harbor, Italy in Jan 1943 was successful, sinking Italian cruiser Ulpio Traiano and freighter Viminale. On 18 Jan, she patrolled off Tripoli, Libya. On 14 Mar 1943, while off Cap St. Vito, Italy, she was attacked and destroyed by Italian corvette Cicogna. All men aboard were lost.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.

Last Major Revision: May 2008

Thunderbolt Operational Timeline

26 Oct 1940 Thunderbolt was commissioned into service. 15 Dec 1940 British submarine HMS Thunderbolt sank Italian submarine Tarantini 2 miles off of the Gironde Estuary, France in the Bay of Biscay, killing the entire crew of 58. 30 Jan 1942 British submarine HMS Thunderbolt attacked an Axis convoy with three torpedoes 6 miles west of Lefkada, Greece at 0939 hours; all torpedoes missed; escorting Italian torpedo boat Solferino counterattacked with 29 depth charges without success.

Photographs

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