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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 31

1905	B 3 (I 23)	Launched
1912	Maidstone 1912 - 1929	Commissioned
1917	K 15	Launched
1924	L 23	Completed
1931	Wilk (N 64) (Dutch)	Commissioned into the Polish Navy
1939	Tigris (N 63)	Launched
1939	Truant (N 68)	Completed
1939	Seahorse (S 98)	HMS Seahorse ended her 3rd war patrol at Rosyth.
1940	Upholder (N 99)	Completed
1941	Truant (N 68)	HMS Truant torpedoes sinks the Italian tanker Meteor 2 nautical miles south-east of Punta Penna, Ortona, Italy.
1941	USS Reuben James	U-552 sinks USS Reuben James (DD-245), escorting Convoy HX 156, with the loss of 115 lives. The first US ship lost to enemy action in WWII.
1942	Taku (N 38)	HMS Taku fires four torpedoes against the Italian tanker Cerere about 10 nautical miles south of Cape Sounio, Greece. All torpedoes fired missed their target.
1943	Unsparing (P 55)	HMS Unsparing damages a sailing vessel with gunfire south of Cape Koraxas, Amorgos Island, Greece.
1943	O 24 (Dutch)	Attacked a Japanese merchant vessel of 4000-5000 tons off the northeast coast of Sumatra. Four torpedoes were fired but the target was able to evade the torpedoes.
1944	Stoic (P 231)	HMS Stoic sinks a Japanese sailing vessel with gunfire off the north-east tip of Java, Netherlands East Indies. She also bombards warehouses and fuel tanks at Jangka Island.
1949	Artful (P 456)	Commenced refit in Portsmouth Dockyard. On completion of the refit in early July 1950 HMS ARTFUL joined the 3rd Submarine Flotilla.

Lastest Comments

25/10/2026 on page Trump (P 333)
john Sheridan wrote:
	I cannot believe that a Former Nayy man could do such a thing. Gift a RN vessel's bell as some token (not the sub) to some other country. The bell is an artefact that represents not only the vessel but what she achieved and all who served in her. long live the memory of the mighty Fourth Subdivision ...

24/10/2026 on page Vandal (P 64)
Vicky Scott wrote:
	Stoker Thomas Jakins was my uncle; his brother Dennis is still alive, aged 94.

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 ...

Featured Badge

Vanguard (S 28)

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

A World War 2 drama that highlights the characters (all aged only between 19 and 23 years) as much as the actual events.

The British submarine Sea Tiger's crew is looking forward to a long shore-leave after months at sea. This is cut short when they are ordered to pursue and sink the German battleship Brandenburg. The crew's sub-Commander (John Mills) struggles to fulfil the mission despite discovering that the battleship is heavily defended.

Along the way Sea Tiger encounters many obstacles and once the crew has attempted to sink the battleship they have to escape knowing that they are about to run out of fuel.

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