HMS Tuna (N94) was a T-class

British T class submarine

The Royal Navy's T class of diesel-electric submarines was designed in the 1930s to replace the O, P and R classes. Fifty-three members of the class were built just before and during the Second World War, where they played a major role in the Royal Navy's submarine operations...

 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...

 of the 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...

. She was laid down by Scotts

Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, often referred to simply as Scotts, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Greenock on the River Clyde.- History :...

, Greenock

Greenock

Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...

 and launched on the 10 May 1940. She was equipped with German built engines, and spent her service career in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in western European waters, in both the North Sea and off the western coast of France. She took part in many war patrols, and her crew received service medals for the boat's destruction of several U-boats.

Design and description

Tuna was ordered from Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, often referred to simply as Scotts, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Greenock on the River Clyde.- History :...

 on 9 December, 1937, as part of an extension of the 1937 construction programme, with an initial round of four submarines ordered earlier that year in July. Tuna was part of a further three submarines to be ordered, along with Triad

HMS Triad (N53)

HMS Triad was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched in May 1939. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Triad.-Career:...

 and 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:...

, which were both ordered from another shipbuilder.

She was equipped with diesel engines produced by MAN SE, a German company. The engines had been delivered before the outbreak of war, and spare parts were rare, with members of the crew creating replacement parts from other equipment whilst at sea on at least one occasion.

Service

Tuna had a relatively active career, serving 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...

 and off the French and Scandinavian coasts.

She sunk the 7,230 ton merchant Tirranna on 22 September 1940. The Tirranna was a Norwegian merchant ship that had previously been captured by the German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis

German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis

The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis , known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 16 and to the Royal Navy as Raider-C, was a converted German Hilfskreuzer of the Kriegsmarine, which, during World War II, travelled more than in 602 days, and sank or captured 22 ships totaling...

, in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

. Tirranna had 292 people on board when sunk, including at least 264 captured Allied sailors and a 16-strong German prize crew

Prize crew

Prize crew is a term used to indicate a number of crew members of a ship chosen to take over the operations of a captured ship.In the early days of sailing and up into the American Civil War, capturing enemy ships was quite common...

. Eighty-seven people died in the sinking, including one German. She also torpedoed and sank the German catapult ship Ostmark and the French tug Chassiron. She fired upon and sank the German submarine U-644 and attacked the German submarine U-302 and the Italian submarine Brin as well as two unidentified submarine contacts, all unsuccessfully. Another attack on the German tanker Benno, formerly the Norwegian Ole Jacob, which had also been captured earlier by the Atlantis, also failed.

In January 1941 she and the submarine Snapper

HMS Snapper (39S)

HMS Snapper was a Royal Navy S-class submarine which was launched October 25, 1934 and fought in World War II. Snapper is one of 12 boats named in the song Twelve Little S-Boats.-Career:...

 were escorted by the captured French minesweeper La Capricieuse

French sloop La Capricieuse

La Capricieuse was a ship of the French Elan class minesweeping sloops . She was built by Chantiers Dubigeon at Nantes and launched on 19 April 1939....

 as far as Bishop Rock, Isles of Scilly. Snapper departed to go to a different patrol area, and was presumed lost after she failed to return. Later that month she engaged and pursued an unidentified U-boat at night on the surface for over an hour. Firing the forward mounted four-inch gun, damage was noted to the U-boat's conning tower

Conning tower

A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....

. The German vessel returned fire with an aft mounted gun, but no damage was reported to Tuna. The pursuit was called off after the appearance of further enemy vessels, with Tuna diving to avoid them.

In February 1942 she was was ordered towards the 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...

 area along with HMS Trident

HMS Trident (N52)

HMS Trident was a British T class submarine built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. She was laid down on 12 January 1937 and was commissioned on 1 October 1939...

 to provide protection to a convoy from enemy sorties out of the Swedish port. Although Tuna did not engage the enemy, Trident managed to damage the German cruiser Prinz Eugen

German cruiser Prinz Eugen

Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...

.

On 30 November, 1942, she sailed from the Holy Loch

Holy Loch

The Holy Loch is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.Robertson's Yard at Sandbank, a village on the loch, was a major wooden boat building company in the late 19th and early 20th centuries....

, Scotland, transporting Royal Marines to the Gironde estuary

Gironde estuary

The Gironde is a navigable estuary , in southwest France and is formed from the meeting of the rivers Dordogne and Garonne just below the centre of Bordeaux...

 as part of Operation Frankton

Operation Frankton

Operation Frankton was a commando raid on shipping in the German occupied French port of Bordeaux in the Bay of Biscay during the Second World War. The raid was carried out by a small unit of Royal Marines known as the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment , part of Combined Operations.The plan was...

. She was scheduled to arrive on 6 December, but was delayed due to both bad weather and the need to navigate a minefield. She arrived at the estuary a day late, surfacing 10 miles (16.1 km) out from the mouth. The aim of the operation was for several canoes of marines to paddle 60 miles up the Gironde

Gironde

For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...

 to attack German ships at Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

; in the process of disembarking the canoes, one of the six canoes was damaged, leaving the submarine to return those marines whilst the remainder continued on the operation. The operation resulted in a success although only Corporal Bill Sparks

Bill Sparks

William Edward "Bill" Sparks DSM was a British Royal Marine in World War II. He was the last survivor of the "Cockleshell Heroes", commandos who paddled 85 miles into German-occupied France to blow up merchant shipping in the Bay of Biscay port of Bordeaux.He was born in East Ham in the East End...

 and Major Herbert Hasler

Herbert Hasler

Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert George "Blondie" Hasler, DSO, OBE was a distinguished Royal Marines officer in World War II, responsible for many of the concepts which ultimately led to the post-war formation of the Special Boat Service...

 survived. The mission was one of the forerunners to the formation of the Special Boat Service

Special Boat Service

The Special Boat Service is the special forces unit of the British Royal Navy. Together with the Special Air Service, Special Reconnaissance Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group they form the United Kingdom Special Forces and come under joint control of the same Director Special...

.

She returned to home waters for the first time in four war patrols on 18 November, 1943. For the destruction of three U-boats during those patrols, her commanding officer, Lieutenant D. S. R. Martin, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order

Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

 with two bars. Additionally, the Distinguished Service Cross

Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Service Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers, and other ranks, of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and British Merchant Navy and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.The DSC, which may be awarded posthumously, is...

 was awarded to Lt (E) N. Travers, and the Distinguished Service Medal

Distinguished Service Medal (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Service Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Navy and members of the other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, up to and including the rank of Chief Petty Officer, for bravery and resourcefulness on active service...

 to four other members of the crew.

In August 1945, she attended the first British Navy week held in a foreign port, in Rotterdam. Also in attendance were the cruiser HMS Bellona

HMS Bellona (63)

HMS Bellona was the name ship of her subgroup of light cruisers for the Royal Navy. She was a modified Dido-class design with only four turrets but improved anti-aircraft armament...

, and the destroyers Garth and Onslow

HMS Onslow (G17)

HMS Onslow was an O-class destroyer flotilla leader of the Royal Navy She was ordered from John Brown & Company at Clydebank, Glasgow on 3 September 1939. The ship was laid down on 1 July 1940 and launched on 31 March 1941. She was completed on 8 October 1941 at a cost of £416,942.Attached to the...

. Non-British vessels in attendance included two of the Dutch Navy submarines of the T-class, Dolfjin

HMS Taurus (P399)

HMS Taurus was a Second World War British T class submarine, built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow.-As HMS Taurus:The submarine was laid down on the 30th of September 1941, and launched on 27 June 1942. She served in the Mediterranean and the Pacific Far East during the Second World War...

 and Zeehond

HMS Tapir (P335)

HMS Tapir was a Second World War British T class submarine, built by Vickers-Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Tapir, after the animal.-As HMS Tapir:...

.

Post war

Tuna survived the war and was sold to be broken up for scrap on 19 December 1945, a job carried out at Briton Ferry

Briton Ferry

Briton Ferry is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The town encompasses the electoral wards of Briton Ferry East and Briton Ferry West....

from June 1946.