page_title: HMS Sealion (72S)
section_title: Construction and career
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Sealion (72S) / Construction and career
caption_attribution_description: English: Ship heraldry at the NMM
context_page_description: HMS Sealion was a second-batch S-class submarine built during the 1930s for the Royal Navy. Completed in 1934, the boat fought in the Second World War.
context_section_description: Ordered on 23 December 1932, Sealion was laid down on 16 May 1933 in Cammell Laird's shipyard in Birkenhead and was launched on 16 March 1934. The boat was completed on 21 December.
  She had an eventful career after the outbreak of war.  Under the command of Lieutenant Commander (later Rear Admiral) Benjamin Bryant, she attacked the German submarine U-21 off the Dogger Bank in November 1939, but failed to sink her. Her first success was the German merchant August Leonhardt, sunk in April 1940 off the Danish island of Anholt.  She later attacked the German merchant Moltkefels, but failed to hit her.  She fired upon the beached Palime, and unsuccessfully attacked U-62 in July 1940.  She finished her patrol by sinking the Norwegian merchant Toran and attacking but failing to sink the German merchant Cläre Hugo Stinnes in August.
  On 5 February 1941 she shelled and sank the Norwegian Hurtigruten cargo-passenger ship Ryfylke. In May of that year Sealion unsuccessfully attacked U-74. In July she attacked French shipping, sinking the French fishing vessels Gustav Eugene and Gustav Jeanne, and on succeeding days, Christus Regnat and St Pierre d'Alcantara.
  She was one of a number of submarines ordered to track the German battleship Bismarck before her eventual sinking.
  Towards the end of 1941 she sank the Norwegian tanker Vesco and the Norwegian merchant Island.
  She was scuttled as an ASDIC target off the Isle of Arran on 13 March 1945.
caption: Ship's badge in the National Maritime Museum
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 1000D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Viewer 6.1.7600.16385", "Image DateTime": "2012:06:04 18:04:49", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2310", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "13820", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4948", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:06:04 01:06:07", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:06:04 01:06:07", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "43/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "37/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Partial", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF SubSecTime": "03", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "03", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "03", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3888", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "13676", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "324000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2592000/583", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4198"}