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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 - August 20

1906	C 5 (I 35)	Launched
1906	C 6 (I 36)	Launched
1917	E 47	Lost for reasons unknown.
1919	L 54	Launched
1934	Grampus (N 56)	Laid Down
1940	Cachalot (N 84)	Torpedoed and sunk U-51 in the Bay of Biscay west of Nantes, France.
1940	Undaunted (N 55)	Launched
1941	Thrasher (N 37)	HMS Thrasher sinks the Greek sailing vessel San Stefano with gunfire off Cape Malea, Greece.
1941	Unique (N 95)	HMS Unique torpedoes and sinks the Italian troop tansport Esperia 11 nautical miles off the Tripoli lighthouse, Libya. Consequently attacked by aircraft and damaged resulting in her return to Malta.
1941	Upholder (N 99)	HMS Upholder torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant Enotria 5 nautical miles off Cape San Vito, Italy.
1943	O 24 (Dutch)	Torpedoed and sank the Japanese auxiliary gunboat Chosa Maru 8 nautical miles southwest of Penang, Malaya. The Chosa Maru had left Penang a few hours before when the Japanese heard of the attack on the German Quito the day before.
1944	Satyr (P 214)	HMS Satyr fires four torpedoes against the German merchants Bochum and Emma Sauber off Skudesnes, Norway. All torpedoes missed their targets.
1962	Otter (S 15)	Commissioned
2015	Artful (S 121)	Arrived at Faslane for the first time

Lastest Comments

06/08/2026 on page Finwhale (S 05)
Jones wrote:
	Just to confirm, the submarine was sunk off the Western Approaches. I was the Nav Officer on board the Admiralty tug RMAS Rollicker, and we towed the submarine from Loch Ewe out into the NW Approaches for a 'sinkex'; however, we hit Storm Force 11, which forced us to cancel the sinkex. A few months ...

23/07/2026 on page Token (P 328)
Legs D. wrote:
	Token was my very first boat from 1963 to 1965. During that period, for about 6 months, we were refitted with a 4inch gun. For some reason I was chosen to be a sight setter (I was a baby AB RP3). This became a 'Boy's Own' adventure for me. The 'sight setter' happened to be fourth in the queue to get ...

13/05/2026 on page H 49
kevin walker wrote:
	believe was also attacked on 1-10-1940 near Texel by Sperrbrecher 3/H3 (ex M/S Belgrad) with pattern of 4 depth charges

16/04/2026 on page Thorough (P 324)
navy42 wrote:
	Lord Kitchener was lost in the sinking of HMS Hampshire, denoted by the black field. As Secretary of State, he initiated the recruiting scheme which raised the new army. The first complete New Army formation (as opposed to divisions) as a result of this scheme was the 4th Army under the command of G ...

12/04/2026 on page Cecil Broad 1905 - 1978
navy42 wrote:
	I believe that he also designed the Badge for HMS Thorough. It's a great pity that his notes do not appear to have survived

RN Subs

Featured Badge

King George VI (S 129)

Class:	Future: Dreadnought Class
Built By:	Vickers (Barrow)
Build Group:	SSBN3

The story of HM Submarine Upholder, ordered just days before the Second World War started.

Serving with the 10th Submarine Flotilla, she was commanded by David Wanklyn VC. One of the most successful British submarines of World War Two, sinking two destroyers, three submarines, three transports, ten merchant ships, two tankers and one trawler, totalling 128,353 tons of shipping.

Upholder sailed out of Grand Harbour, Valetta, in Malta in April 1942, never to be seen again, and is believed sunk off the Lybian coast, near Tripoli.

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