SUBMARINES: CHATHAM BUILT
| List of Commanding Officers | |||
| Lt Cmd | J.B Mitford | 1935 | |
| Lt | J. W Linton | 1935-36 | |
| Lt | W.A.K.N Cavaye | 1937-38 | |
| Lt | M.K Cavenagh-Mainwaring | 1938-39 | |
| Lt | W.D.A King | 1939-40 | |
| Lt | G.V Prowse | 1940-41 | |
HM Submarine Snapper
Snapper was built under the 1932 submarine building
programme and laid down on 18 September 1933. She was launched by Lady Tweedie,
wife of the C-in-C at The Nore. Vice Admiral Sir Hugh J.Tweedie. KCB. on 25
October 1934.
She was the eighth vessel of the name, the first being in 1782.
Following the launch, she moved from the river into the basin via the north lock
at 1330 on the same day.
Snapper began her sea trials on Monday 29 April 1935.
A log showing the daily events of these trials can be accessed from this
LINK.
Completed on 14 June 1935 she sailed from Chatham to join the Flotilla at
Portsmouth.
In 1936 she left the UK to join the 1st Submarine Flotilla in the Mediterranean
and remained on station up to the outbreak of WW2.
On 14 October 1939 she departed the Mediterranean and returned to the UK. After
a very brief stop at Portsmouth she moved around the coast to Sheerness. From
here, under the command of Lt. W.D.A King, Snapper
would carry out her first war patrol before moving to the 3rd Flotilla at
Harwich.
In late November 1939, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau left Wilhelmshaven. Various
boats sailed from ports around the UK to intercept.
Snapper sailed with Sunfish
from Harwich. The latter taking patrol to the east of the Declared Area and
Snapper to the west.
During the first week in December weather conditions were not good and while
patrolling off Texel, Snapper
had difficulty depth keeping in the shallow water. While on the surface she ran
aground on a sandbank but managed to work herself off. This was not a good time
for Snapper as she was later bombed by Coastal
Command but without damage. It is possible that this attack was the inspiration
for Nevil Shutes novel Landfall.
During January 1940 in the Terschelling area, she had problems with the main
battery but was able to complete her patrol.
In February her patrol to investigate the German route of the declared minefield
area was cut short when the gyrocompass failed.
April was a good month for Snapper. On 12th she
attacked with two torpedoes the tanker Moonsund of 320 tons but missed, so
chased her on the surface and sunk her with a gun action.
On 14th she attacked two transports and sank the German merchant ship Florida of
6100 tons. She was then counter attacked but received no damage.
The 15th saw her fire four torpedoes at what was believed to be a convoy. She
hit with two and sank the minesweepers M1701 525 tons and M1702 470 tons. There
followed the inevitable counter attacked but she managed to escape without
damage.
In May 1940, Snapper joined the 3rd Flotilla based
at Rosyth and on 9th May the Commanding Officer, Lt King was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order.
On 25 June Snapper torpedoed and sank the German
armed trawler V 1107 of 280 tons off the south coast of Norway.
In July she sank the Cygnus of 1300 tons and was then counter attacked by a
Dornier Bomber but again without damage.
During October off Muckle Flugge a U-Boat could be heard but could not be seen
so no attack was made. At the end of this patrol Snapper
went into Portsmouth for a refit.
With the exception of the last and fatal patrol, Lt King commanded all war
patrols carried out by Snapper.
In December 1940, Lt. King was ill with Flu and Lt G.V Prowse took command of
the boat for the next patrol. Sadly on this, the first war patrol following her
refit,
Snapper was lost with all hands.
Snapper could have run into a German minefield.
However, it is also possible that she was attacked and sunk by German
Minesweepers. Reports after the war show three Minesweepers operating in the
area of Snapper's patrol. On 10/11th February they
attacked a submarine with a total of 56 depth charges.
Lt King DSO DSC was one of only two officers who survived the whole of the war
in command of submarines.
Lt. King (After Snapper)
Lt. King went on to command the submarines Trusty
and Telemachus. During his time on
Trusty, Lt. King went to the fall of Singapore where he sank a 20,000 ton
transport, damaged a Japanese Gunboat in a surface night action and shot down a
number of Japanese fighter bombers during the Easter day raid on Colombo. They
also salvaged a merchant vessel.
Later during his time in the Far East, Lt. King operated with no Admiral,
Captain S/M, Depot, Depot ship, orders, intelligence, pay or food.
When attempting to collect food from a vituling yard, his crew were fired on by
the Japanese. They had to sail and spent the next five days living on a plastic
container of Australian food they managed to get on board.
My thanks to Commander King DSO, DSC for supplying me with information of his
time on Snapper, Trusty
and
Telemachus.
Commander King went on to write several books including 'The Stick and the
Stars' in 1958 which was republished in 1983 as 'Dive and Attack' a submariner's
story, 'Capsize' in 1969 about yachting and 'Adventure in Depth' 1975, yachting
voyage around the world.
|
HMS/m Snapper: Dockyard Movements from Launch to Completion |
|||
| 25/10/1934 | River to Basin | via North Lock | 13:50 |
| 07/01/1935 | Basin to River | via North Lock | 11:20 |
| 29/04/1935 | Basin to River | via North Lock | 09:30 |
| 13/05/1935 | River to Basin | via North Lock | 14:55 |
| 13/06/1935 | Basin to River | via North Lock | 14:55 |