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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 31

1916	G 14 (I 6C)	Completed
1928	Otus (N 92)	Launched
1929	Maidstone 1912 - 1929	Sold
1939	Undine (N 48)	HMS Undine departed Blyth to take up a patrol position in the Heligoland Bight. When war broke out between Britain and Germany this became her 1st war patrol.
1941	Upholder (N 99)	HMS Upholder fires torpedoes from long range against the Italian troop transports Oceania and Neptunia off the Tunisian coast. All torpedoes missed.
1943	Torbay (N 79)	HMS Torbay sinks the Italian sailing vessel Columbo with gunfire 15 nautical miles west of Kos, Greece.
1944	Tantalus (P 318)	HMS Tantalus sinks a Siamese sailing vessel with gunfire in the Strait of Malacca and damages another.
1944	Vox (P 73)	HMS Vox sinks a sailing vessel with gunfire off Crete.
1944	Amphion (P 439)	Launched
1950	Sidon (P 259)	Towed the midget submarine "XE8" from Portsmouth to Plymouth. She also joined the 2nd Submarine Flotilla on this date.
1957	Selene (P 254)	HMS Selene sinks five fishing boats (by accident) in the river Yare at Great Yarmouth in 1957 at the end of its paying off visit.
2022	Anson (S 123)	Commissioned into the Royal Navy during a ceremony in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Wednesday's traditional naval ceremony was attended by a number of dignitaries, including the submarine's Lady Sponsor, Julie Weale, the Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace. Mr Wallace highlighted the "significant milestone" that this commission is in the UK and for Australia's preparation to "confront growing threats to the liberal democratic order, especially in the Indo Pacific".

Lastest Comments

29/08/2026 on page Stratagem (P 234)
Clare Cunningham wrote:
	My Uncle Frederick Hayes was a stoker on board when she went down. I’m trying to find as much information as possible. I’d love to see some pictures of the crew if there ever were any. His name is on the war memorial in Plymouth, UK, and whenever any of the family are near the memorial, we alway ...

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 ...

RN Subs

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Maidstone 1912 - 1929

Class:	Depot Ships
Built By:	Scotts (Clyde)
Build Group:	Maidstone
Fate:
Sold 1929

This book explores the many engineering and architectural aspects of submarine design and how they relate to each other and the operational performance required of the vessel.

Concepts of hydrodynamics, structure, powering and dynamics are explained, in addition to architectural considerations which bear on the submarine design process.

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