HMS Unbeaten was a British U class submarine

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...

, of the second group of that class, 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-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...

. She was laid down on 22 November 1939 and was commissioned on 10 November 1940. So far she has been the only ship 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...

 to bear the name Unbeaten.

Career

Unbeaten spent much of her career operating in the Mediterranean, where she sank the Italian sailing vessel V 51 / Alfa, the Vichy-French merchant PLM 20, the Italian submarine Guglielmotti and the German submarine U-374. She also claimed to have sunk two sailing vessels with gunfire. Until today there is no confirmation from Italian or German sources as to the identity of the vessels attacked. It is also quite possible that the vessels were only damaged.

Unbeaten also damaged the Italian merchant Vettor Pisani. She torpedoed her again several days later, further damaging her. The damaged Vettor Pisani was finally sunk later that day by British aircraft. She also unsuccessfully attacked the Italian merchant Silvio Scaroni, the Italian troop transport Esperia and a large Italian troop transport, thought to be either Oceania or Neptunia.

Sinking

Unbeaten was returning to the Mediterranean via 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...

 after a refit in Britain. On 11 November 1942 she was attacked and sunk in error by an RAF Wellington of No. 172 Squadron, Coastal Command 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...

. She was lost with all hands.