Vickers and Barrow are names synonymous with the development of the submarine. Hundreds of submarines covering virtually every class have been built for the Royal Navy and foreign Navies. This site is dedicated to not only to those who have served on Her Majesty's Submarines but also to those employees past and present whose skills and efforts have given pride to the phrase 'Barrow built' and made the name Vickers known and respected throughout the world.
| 1913 | E 2 (I 82) | Completed |
| 1916 | G 8 (I 0C) | Completed |
| 1918 | L 12 | Commissioned |
| 1928 | Parthian (N 75) | Laid Down |
| 1930 | Pandora (N 42) | Completed |
| 1937 | Forth (F04) 1938 - 1978 | Laid down |
| 1941 | Torbay (N 79) | HMS Torbay sinks a sailing vessel with gunfire off Cape Malea, Greece. |
| 1941 | O 23 (Dutch) | Made a torpedo attack on a small merchant that was in ballast. Two torpedoes were fired that both missed their target. Later on this day O23 torpedoed and sank the Italian tanker Capacitas about 7 nautical miles northwest of Cape Sant Vincent, Italy. |
| 1942 | Medway (F25) 1928 - 1942 | Submarine Depot Ship HMS Medway was torpedoed and sunk off Alexandria by U-372 |
| 1943 | Sleuth (P 261) | Laid Down |
| 1944 | Spiteful (P 227) | HMS Spiteful sinks a Japanese fishing vessel with gunfire in the Strait of Malacca. |
| 1945 | Astute (P 447) | Completed |
| 1945 | Auriga (P 419) | Completed |
| 1967 | Churchill (S 46) | Laid Down |
| Class: | Depot Ships |
| Built By: | Swan Hunter (Tyne) |
| Build Group: | F17 |
| Fate: | |
| Sold to Italian Ship breakers in 1964 and scrapped at La Spezia, | |
The 'X' stood for experimental, but it might equally have meant extraordinary, exotic or extravagant, as this giant submarine attracted superlatives. Built in the early 1920s, it was the world's largest, most heavily armed, and deepest diving submersible of the day. A controversial project conceived behind the backs of politicians, X.1 would remain an unwanted stepchild. As British diplomats attempted to outlaw the use of submarines as commerce raiders, the Admiralty was building the world's most powerful corsair submarine, designed to destroy entire convoys of merchant ships.
This book explores the historical background of submarine cruisers, the personalities involved in X.1's design and service, the spy drama surrounding her launch, the treason trial of a Royal Navy submarine commander, the ship's checkered career, and her political demise. Despite technical successes, the X.1 became the target of a misinformation campaign aimed at persuading foreign naval powers that the cruiser submarine did not work. While the myth of her failure persists even today, it was ignored by other navies, who went on building submarine cruisers of their own. The book analyses the submarine cruisers built by the US, French, and Japanese navies, as well as the projected German copy of X.1, the Type XI U-Boat.
19 pages added or updated in the last 2 month
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| Class: | Depot Ships |
| Built By: | Swan Hunter (Tyne) |
| Build Group: | F17 |
| Fate: | |
| Sold to Italian Ship breakers in 1964 and scrapped at La Spezia, | |
The 'X' stood for experimental, but it might equally have meant extraordinary, exotic or extravagant, as this giant submarine attracted superlatives. Built in the early 1920s, it was the world's largest, most heavily armed, and deepest diving submersible of the day. A controversial project conceived behind the backs of politicians, X.1 would remain an unwanted stepchild. As British diplomats attempted to outlaw the use of submarines as commerce raiders, the Admiralty was building the world's most powerful corsair submarine, designed to destroy entire convoys of merchant ships.
This book explores the historical background of submarine cruisers, the personalities involved in X.1's design and service, the spy drama surrounding her launch, the treason trial of a Royal Navy submarine commander, the ship's checkered career, and her political demise. Despite technical successes, the X.1 became the target of a misinformation campaign aimed at persuading foreign naval powers that the cruiser submarine did not work. While the myth of her failure persists even today, it was ignored by other navies, who went on building submarine cruisers of their own. The book analyses the submarine cruisers built by the US, French, and Japanese navies, as well as the projected German copy of X.1, the Type XI U-Boat.
19 pages added or updated in the last 2 month
Please help to maintain this site by reporting any Errors, Broken Links, Information or Site Issues on this page using this button
If you find this site useful, please consider supporting my work with a small Donation.
Please Note: Donations made using this option go directly to the site owner and not to the Submariners Association.
Thankyou for your support.