page_title: HMS Sickle
section_title: Beirut
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Sickle / Construction and career / Beirut
caption_attribution_description: English: RIN Turbine in navigation (mid 1930s)
context_page_description: HMS Sickle was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in 1942, she made her initial war patrol off the Norwegian coast. Sickle then sailed to Gibraltar, from where she conducted one patrol, then to Algiers, French North Africa. From 10 May to 10 October, the boat patrolled the Gulf of Genoa five times and sank a German submarine as well as three minesweepers and an escort ship. She then moved to Beirut, French Lebanon, and conducted two patrols in the Aegean Sea, sinking three caïques and a merchant ship, in addition to landing resistance operatives in Greece.
  On her second patrol from Beirut, Sickle's electric motors were damaged during an attack by two destroyers, so she sailed to Gibraltar for repairs. Several months later, the boat returned to service and conducted two patrols in the Aegean, sinking another three caïques, a sailing vessel, and a merchant ship. On 31 May 1944, Sickle departed Malta for a patrol in the Aegean and did not return. It is considered probable that she hit mines on her way back to Malta around 16–18 June 1944.
context_section_description: Between 25 October and 1 November, Sickle sailed from Algiers to Beirut, in Allied-occupied Lebanon, then shifted to Haifa. On 11 November, the boat departed Haifa to conduct a war patrol in the Aegean Sea. Sickle first sank with gunfire the Greek caïque Maria (MY 153) west of Amorgos, then torpedoed and sank the Italian merchant ship Giovanni Boccaccio off Monemvasia, two days later. She next sank with gunfire two sailing vessels near Milos; these were the Greek caïques Piraeus no. 795 and Samos no. 45. The boat returned to Beirut on 25 November.
  On 13 December, Sickle departed Beirut for another war patrol in the Aegean and attempted to attack a German convoy on 20 December. The next day, her periscope was sighted while looking into the harbour at Karlovasi, and she was attacked with depth charges by the German torpedo boats TA14 and TA15; Sickle sustained significant damage, especially to her electric motors. On 23 December, the submarine landed four Special Operations Executive Greek resistance men in Kalomos Bay, east of Euboea. Three days later, she sank with gunfire and by ramming two small unidentified Greek sailing vessels east of Mykonos Island; the crews of both ships were picked up by Sickle. The boat ended her patrol on 2 January 1944.
caption: The German torpedo boat TA14, which damaged Sickle with depth charges on 21 December 1943
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