HMS P38 was a Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 U-class

British U class submarine

The British U class submarines were a class of 49 small submarines built just before and during the Second World War...

 submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 built by Vickers-Armstrong

Vickers

Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...

 at Barrow-in-Furness

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...

.

Career

P38 had a short-lived career with the Royal Navy. Commissioned in October 1941, after working up she was assigned to operate with the 10th Flotilla based in Malta in the Mediterranean in January 1942, under the command of Lieutenant Rowland Hemingway DSC, RN. On her first patrol she sank the Italian merchant Ariosto of 4,116 tons off Cape Afrika, Tunisia on 15 February 1942. 138 Allied prisoners of war aboard were lost. This was the only successful attack by P.38.

Sinking

P38 left 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...

 on 16 February 1942 to intercept a very important large supply convoy for Axis forces off Tripoli

Tripoli

Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

. By the 23rd she was in position as the convoy hove into view. Amongst the convoy was the Italian torpedo boat Circe, equipped with German sonar and depth charge throwers. At 0814 British time (1014 Italian time) the Circe reported a sonar contact at 1,800m with a submarine and that she turned in to attack, ordering the convoy to turn to port. A periscope was sighted but was quickly replaced by bubbles as the submarine dived realising it had been spotted. Shortly after 1032 (Italian time) after a single attack in which all depth charges were dropped by Circe, P.38 rose only to sink immediately again. At 1040 (Italian time), after further attacks with depth charges and machine guns by escorts Usodimare and Pessagno, as well as airplanes, during which one Italian rating was killed by friendly fire, P 38 rose stern first out of the water, her propellers turning wildly, steering planes set to surfacing, before crashing back beneath the waves at a bow-down angle of 40 degrees. A large patch of oil appeared on the surface as well as debris and human remains, clear evidence of the submarine’s destruction. P 38 was sunk in 350 metres of water in position 32 degrees 48 minutes north and 14 degrees 58 minutes east esome 90 nautical miles (166.7 km) east of Tripoli, Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

, off Cape Misuratha. There were no survivors among her complement of 32.