HMS Clyde (N12) was an ocean-going submarine of the River Class

River class submarine

The River class, or Thames class were a class of submarines built for the Royal Navy.They were the last attempt by the Admiralty to produce "Fleet Submarines" that is submarines fast enough to operate as part of a fleet which at the time meant being able to manage somewhere around while surfaced...

. She was built by Vickers Armstrong

Vickers Armstrong

Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927...

, Barrow

Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...

 and launched on 15 March 1934. Building was completed on 12 April 1935.

Service history

Clyde commissioned in 1935 and the outbreak of the Second World War found her in the Mediterranean with the 1st Submarine Flotilla stationed at Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

.

In September 1939 she was transferred to West Africa, stationed at Freetown

Freetown

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...

, to act as convoy escort guarding against surface raiders.
In January 1940 Clyde returned to home waters and was employed on interception patrols in the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

. This involved searching for U-boats, surface raiders and blockade runners, and she was active in this capacity during the Norwegian campaign.

On 13 May 1940, while on patrol in Scandinavian waters, HMS Clyde met the German auxiliary cruiser Widder

German auxiliary cruiser Widder

Widder was an auxiliary cruiser of the German Navy that was used as a merchant raider in the Second World War.Her Kriegsmarine designation was Schiff 21, to the Royal Navy she was Raider D....

 on surface, enjoining an exchange of gunfire which lasted for over an hour, with no hits for either side. After the engagement, the cruiser sought shelter in Sandsfjord

Sandsfjord

Sandsfjorden is the outermost part of the northernmost arm of Boknafjorden in Rogaland. The fjord empties into Marvik and opens into Sand where it meets with Sauda and changes its name to Saudafjorden. It is famous for a man once riding down it on a snadufjordenborden or fjord surf-board....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. In June of that year, she spotted and torpedoed the German battleship Gneisenau

German battleship Gneisenau

Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935...

, hitting her in the bow and forcing her to return to Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

 for repairs.
In July she sank the Norwegian fishing vessel SF 52 and later mistakenly attacked HMS Truant

HMS Truant (N68)

HMS Truant was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched on the 5 May 1939.-Career:...

, but fortunately without hitting her.

Following this Clyde took on the same role in the Bay of Biscay

Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...

, continuing until May 1941 when she was re-assigned to Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 with the 8th Submarine Flotilla. During this period she made several patrols in the western Mediterranean, and she also sailed with HG 70 as ocean escort.
June 1941 found Clyde operating in the Mediterranean, where she sank the Italian merchants San Marco and Sturla, and later the Italian auxiliary patrol vessel V 125, Giovanni Bottigliere. One of the submarine's battery compartments was converted into a cargo compartment and she made nine trips to Malta, carrying supplies, during the war.

In September 1941, she unsuccessfully attacked three German submarines U-67, U-68 and U-111

German submarine U-111 (1940)

German submarine U-111 was a Type IXB U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. U-111 was ordered by the Kriegsmarine on 8 August 1939 in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and as part of the German naval rearmament program known as Plan Z. Her keel was laid down by AG Weser in...

 during an action in Tarafal Bay

Action in Tarafal Bay

The Action in Tarafal Bay was a naval engagement which took place during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. It was notable in that the four vessels involved were all submarines.-Background:...

, Cape Verde Islands.

During 1942 Clyde continued operations in the Mediterranean, making a series of re-supply mission to Malta.
In January 1943 she returned to the UK for an extensive refit, which saw her out of action for most of the year.
After trials and working up, Clyde was assigned in January 1944 to the Eastern Fleet, joining 2nd Submarine Flotilla at Trincomalee

Trincomalee

Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...

 in May. There she took part in patrol and fleet operations, making several covert missions landing SOE agents, notably "Operation Hatch" to the Andaman Islands

Andaman Islands

The Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...

.
In March 1945 she recorded another string of kills against the Japanese, sinking two sailing vessels and the auxiliary submarine chaser Kiku Maru.
In May 1945, having completed 36 operational patrols, Clyde was moved to Mombasa

Kilindini Harbour

Kilindini Harbour is a large, natural deep-water inlet extending inland from Mombasa, Kenya. It is 25-30 fathoms at its deepest center. It serves as the harbour for Mombasa, with a hinterland extending to Uganda and Sudan. Kilindini Harbour is the main part of the Port of Mombasa, the only...

 for repairs. These continued until August 1945 and the end of hostilities with Japan, when she moved to the Reserve, paying off her crew in Durban.

Disposal

Having survived the Second World War, Clyde was paid off and re-assigned to the Reserve at Durban

Durban

Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

in August 1945. She was sold for breaking up on 30 July 1946 to Joubert, of Durban.