HMS Porpoise (S01) was a Porpoise-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 25 April 1956, commissioned on 17 April 1958,[1] and was decommissioned in 1982. Finally, she was sunk as a target in 1985[2] in torpedo trials, for which purpose she was painted bright red.
She had been used as a training target while still serving with the Navy; in 1979 her casing, ballast tanks and vents were reinforced so that unarmed torpedoes could be fired at her without the risk of sinking.
In 2000, a glacier in East Greenland was named after her [1]
Accidents and incidents
- Notable accidents involving HMS Porpoise
- 18 October 1963: Suffered superficial damage departing Portsmouth harbour after colliding with the aircraft carrier HMS Centaur.
- 1 January 1969 - Entangled in the nets of the French trawler Belle Poule.
- 18 April 1982 - HMS Porpoise became entangled in the fishing nets of the Irish trawler Sharelga. The Sharelga, after travelling backwards two miles for twenty minutes, capsized and sank.[3]
References
- ^ Submarines of The Royal Navy. Maritime Books. 1983. ISBN 0-907771-00-9.
- ^ "Porpoise Class Submarines". Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- ^ "The day 'Sharelga' was sunk by a sub" The Irish Independent.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1985 | |
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