HMS Unruffled (P46) 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...

. 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 Unruffled.

Career

Unruffled spent most of her eventful wartime career in the Mediterranean, where she sank the Vichy-French

Vichy France

Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...

 merchant Liberia (the former Greek Cape Corso), the Italian auxiliary minesweeper N 10 / Aquila, the Italian merchants Leonardo Palomba, Una, Sant'Antioco, Citta di Catania, and Città di Spezia, the Italian tankers Castelverde and Teodolinda, the Italian sailing vessel Amabile Carolina, the Italian naval auxiliary Z 90 / Redentore, the German merchants Lisboa, Pommern and Baalbeck and the French tanker Henri Desprez.
Unruffled also torpedoed and sank the Italian merchant Loreto. She was carrying prisoners of war, 130 of whom were lost.

She also launched failed attacks on the Italian submarine Antonio Sciesa and the small German minesweeper R 212, but her most important target was the Italian light cruiser Attilio Regolo, which was torpedoed by Unruffled on 7 November 1942. 60 feet of bow were blown off, but Unruffled could not sink the cruiser, having by now run out of torpedoes. The damaged cruiser was towed to port by the tug Polifemo, escorted by the torpedo boats Cigno, Lince and Abba. Another attack by HMS United

HMS United (P44)

HMS United was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name United.-Career:...

 failed, but the Attilio Regolo was out of action for the rest of the war.

In addition to these actions, Unruffled took part in operations Harpoon

Operation Harpoon (1942)

Not to be confused with Operation Harpoon Operation Harpoon was one of two simultaneous Allied convoys sent to supply Malta in the Axis-dominated Mediterranean Sea in mid-June 1942, during the Second World War. One convoy, Operation Vigorous, left Alexandria. The other, Operation Harpoon, travelled...

 and Vigorous

Operation Vigorous

Operation Vigorous was a World War II Allied operation to deliver a supply convoy that sailed from Haifa and Port Said on 12 June 1942 to Malta. The convoy encountered heavy Axis air and sea opposition and returned to Alexandria on 16 June....

. Unruffled also acted as recovery vessel for Operation Principal, a chariot

Human torpedo

Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of rideable submarine used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic design is still in use today; they are a type of diver propulsion vehicle....

 attack on Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

harbour on 3rd January 1943.

Unruffled survived the war and was scrapped at Troon in January 1946.