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This website is brought to you in association with the Barrow-in-Furness Branch of the Submariners Association and is the premier UK internet resource for Submariners and anyone interested in Royal Navy Submarines.

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.

On This Day - October 19

1916	L 6	Laid Down
1918	M 2	Launched
1918	M 3	Launched
1918	H 30	Completed
1940	P 614	Launched
1942	Thrasher (N 37)	HMS Thrasher sinks the Italian tug Roma with gunfire off Stampalia, Greece.
1942	Unbending (P 37)	HMS Unbending torpedoes and sinks the Italian destroyer Giovanni da Verazzano and the Italian merchant Beppe about 30 nautical miles south-west off Lampione Island.
1942	Unbroken (P 42)	HMS Unbroken torpedoes and damages the Italian merchant Titania north-west of Tripoi, Libya.
1942	United (P 44)	HMS United torpedoes and damages the Italian tanker Petrarca about 20 nautical miles west of Lampedusa Island.
1942	Terrapin (P 323)	Laid Down
1943	Ultor (P 53)	HMS Ultor torpedoes and sinks the German merchant Aversa off Rapallo, Italy.
1944	Stygian (P 249)	HMS Stygian sinks a small Japanese vessel with gunfire off Penang.
1944	Vagabond (P 18)	Launched
1944	P 552	Returned to the USN at Durban where she was stripped of vital parts and machinery.
1948	Artful (P 456)	Reduced to the Reserve.
1955	Tarn (P 336) / Tijjerhai (Dutch)	Ran aground in Weymouth Bay
2002	Unicorn (S 43)	HMCS Windsor arrived Halifax for first time

Lastest Comments

11/10/2026 on page Sahib (P 212)
Barry wrote:
	My father, Kenneth Hutchinson, served on the Sahib as a Stoker 1st Class. He was captured and then imprisoned in an Italian POW camp; he escaped along with a friend who was later wounded. They got back safely; Dad was mentioned in Dispatches and awarded the Oakleaf.

29/09/2026 on page Chariots
Rhys Nolan wrote:
	In relation to the Operation Title, the fishing boat Arthur was not "newly built" in fact built 1898, lengthened at some point and converted for the operation. I have not seen any records of the mentioned breakdowns in the writings by Leif Larsen, doesn't mean that there weren't, just surprising he ...

22/09/2026 on page P 222
Colin Megill wrote:
	The night of December 12th, 1942, my grandfather, conscripted into the Italian infantry, departed by troop ship from Trapani, Sicily, some 200 miles southwest of where the P222 disappeared, and made the crossing to Bizerte, Tunisia. He made it safely home after years as a prisoner of war after their ...

19/09/2026 on page Israeli sub wreck found 31 years on
Janet Burns wrote:
	My Dad was the chief stocker on the Totem 45/47 I have his Talisman, unfortunately he passed away at 39 in 1962. I am so proud of him.

19/09/2026 on page Renown (S 26)
Alan Hewitt wrote:
	Commanding Officer (Port crew) 1972 - 1976 Commander H N M Thompson RN

RN Subs

Featured Badge

Vigilant (S 30)

Class:	1993 - Present: Vanguard Class
Built By:	Vickers (Barrow)
Build Group:	SSBN2

The incredible true story of the search for and discovery of the USS Grunion. Discovered in 2006 after a decades-long, high-risk search by the Abele brothers, whose father commanded the submarine and met his untimely death aboard it.

One question remained: what sank the USS Grunion? Was it a round from a Japanese ship, a catastrophic mechanical failure, or something else? one of the sub's own torpedoes? For almost half the war, submarine skippers' complaints about the MK 14 torpedo's dangerous flaws were ignored by naval brass, who sent the subs out with the defective weapon.

Fatal Dive is the first book that documents the entire saga of the ship and its crew and provides compelling evidence that the Grunion was a victim of the Great Torpedo Scandal of 1941-43. Fatal Dive finally lays to rest one of World War II's greatest mysteries.

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