HMS Sahib
HMS "Sahib" was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was launched on 19 January 1942 and commissioned on 13 May 1942. She was the only British naval vessel to bear the name "Sahib". After an initial patrol in the Arctic Ocean off Norway, "Sahib" sailed to Gibraltar, then patrolled the Alboran Sea, sinking one ship and damaging another. "Sahib" then transited to Malta, from which she conducted three war patrols. On the second one, "Sahib" sank the Italian transport , which was transporting Allied prisoners of war; "Scillin  sank with the loss of 787 men. On her next patrol, Sahib" sank a large Italian merchant ship, then damaged a coastal trading vessel. The submarine was then assigned to join another submarine flotilla and operated from Algiers in French North Africa. In her next patrols, "Sahib" sank the , two Italian merchant ships, and two small sailing vessels. On 24 April 1943, "Sahib" sank a heavily protected Italian merchant; however, she was then attacked with depth charges and forced to surface. The crew of "Sahib" were evacuated and rescued with only one casualty by the Italian ships while the submarine  was scuttled and sank. Design and description. The S-class submarines were designed to patrol the restricted waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The third batch was slightly enlarged and improved over the preceding second batch of the S class. The submarines had a length of overall, a beam of and a draught of . They displaced on the surface and submerged. The S-class submarines had a crew of 48 officers and ratings. They had a diving depth of . For surface running, the boats were powered by two diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged  each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the third-batch boats had a range of at and at submerged. The third-batch submarines were armed with seven 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. A half-dozen of these were in the bow and there was one external tube in the stern. They carried six reload torpedoes for the bow tubes for a total of thirteen torpedoes. Twelve mines could be carried in lieu of the internally stowed torpedoes. They were also armed with a 3-inch (76 mm ) deck gun. The third-batch S-class boats were fitted with either a Type 129AR or 138 ASDIC system and a Type 291 or 291W early-warning radar. Construction and career. HMS "Sahib" was a third-group S-class submarine and was ordered by the Admiralty on 23 January 1940. She was laid down in the Cammell Laird Shipyard in Birkenhead on 5 July 1940, and launched on 19 January 1942. On 10 May 1942, "Sahib", under the command of Lieutenant J.H. Bromage, sailed from the shipbuilding yards to Holy Loch, where she was commissioned into the Royal Navy three  days later. "Sahib" is a term used in colonial British India to address Europeans with official of social statuses. Between 11 May and 24 June 1942, "Sahib" underwent a period of training, then departed for her first war patrol. She was ordered to operate off Northern Norway and protect the Arctic Convoys PQ 17 and QP 13 to and from northern Russian ports. On 11 July, "Sahib" fired six torpedoes at the German submarine but missed, then ended her patrol in Lerwick the next day. On 3 August, "Sahib", along with set sail for Gibraltar. After six days at sea , she sighted the German submarine and launched five torpedoes at it; they missed, however, and "Sahib" surfaced and engaged the submarine with the 3-inch deck gun from a range of . "U-84"s captain decided not to engage in a gunnery duel with the British submarine and dived before "Sahib" could fire more than three shells. "Sahib" arrived in Gibraltar on 14 August. Gibraltar. After conducting exercises off Gibraltar with , "Sahib" conducted a short patrol in the Alboran Sea from 27 August to 1 September 1942. "Sahib" departed port on 6 September to conduct her third war patrol, off the west  coast of Sardinia. On 12 September, she sighted the Italian vessel "Ida S" and attacked it with her deck gun after surfacing. The vessel's crew then abandoned their ship, leaving its sails set and engines running; "Sahib" boarded the ship and sank it with demolition charges. Two days afterwards, "Sahib" fired a torpedo into the Italian harbour of Buggerru, Sardinia. The torpedo hit the port's mole, killing two and injuring several others. On 16 September, "Sahib" attacked an Italian fishing vessel with its deck gun and claimed to have sunk it; according to Italian sources it was heavily  damaged but returned to port with two dead. "Sahib" returned to Gibraltar on 21 September. Malta. Between 2 and 9 October, "Sahib" transited to Malta, where she joined the 10th Submarine Flotilla. On 16 October, she commenced another war patrol, this time west of Greece. She was attacked by enemy aircraft on her way to her patrol area but sustained no damage. On 22 October, "Sahib" launched four torpedoes at the heavy cargo/passenger ship "Calino" but missed, and was subsequently attacked with depth charges by the Italian but escaped unscathed. "Sahib" ended her patrol in Malta on 26 October . On 3 November 1942, "Sahib" along with her sister ships and , departed Malta for a patrol off North Africa to protect the Allied landings in North Africa. On her way to the patrol area, "Sahib" was fruitlessly attacked by German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter-bomber aircraft. On the evening of 14 November 1942, "Sahib" sighted the Italian transport off Libya, which was transporting Allied prisoners of war (POWs). "Sahib" first fired two shells at the cargo ship and then launched a single torpedo, which hit "Scillin"s hold and rapidly sank her. Prisoners in the hold had little chance of survival . "Sahib" rescued 27 POWs (26 British and one South African), "Scillin"s captain and 34 Italian crew and soldiers. "Sahib" was then forced to depart after she detected Sonar echo pings and sighted an unidentified ship approaching. Out of approximately 944 men aboard "Scillin", 787 were not rescued and drowned. Another source states that 806 POWs were killed, as well as 79 Italians. A memorial plaque at the National Memorial Arboretum has been dedicated to the 2000+ British POWs who died at sea during World War II, of which 787 were killed aboard "Scillin". "Sahib" landed the survivors in Malta  the next day, then patrolled the Gulf of Sirte until 25 November. "Sahib" departed Malta on 7 December to patrol off Naples, Italy; her orders were changed five days later to patrol the Gulf of Tunis instead. On 14 December, northwest of Cape Bon, Tunisia, "Sahib" sighted the Italian merchant ships "Honestas" and "Castelverde" escorted by two Italian torpedo boats and several aircraft. "Honestas" was carrying 1,000 tons of ammunition and 50 vehicles; "Sahib" fired five torpedoes at it. One struck, and "Honestas" sank. After evading the merchants' escorts, "Sahib" returned to periscope depth and spotted the other merchant, but  it was blown up by another Royal Navy submarine, , before "Sahib" could attack it. On 20 December, she attacked and damaged the Italian coastal trading vessel "Ist no.23" with gunfire and torpedoes; the torpedoes however ran under the ship and did not explode. "Ist no.23" was later taken in tow back to harbour. On 25 December, "Sahib" ended her patrol in Algiers, joining the 8th Submarine Flotilla. Algiers. On 10 January 1943, "Sahib" departed Algiers to conduct another patrol, her seventh since her commissioning; she was to patrol the Gulf of Genoa. After patrolling for four days, "Sahib" torpedoed and  sank the German merchant ship "Oued Tiflet" southwest of Savona, Italy. In the early morning of 20 January, "Sahib" bombarded an Italian seaplane hangar with her deck gun at Finale Ligure, Italy, but was forced to dive when coastal batteries opened fire upon "Sahib". The next day, "Sahib" torpedoed and sank the west of Bonifacio, Corsica, in position . According to "Sahib"s log the U-boat was first spotted proceeding on the surface early that morning at a distance of . "Sahib" closed to and into a more favourable position before firing a full salvo of six torpedoes at five second intervals . Three minutes later three explosions were heard, a large cloud of smoke was seen and it was noted that radio transmissions stopped. "Sahib" closed and recovered the only survivor from the 46 crew, 19-year-old "Fähnrich zur See" Wilhelm Rahn. Lieutenant Ian Edward Fraser was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions aboard "Sahib" during the sinking of "U-301". "Sahib" continued patrolling until 25 January, when she returned to Algiers. "Sahib"s next patrol started on 5 February, with orders to operate off the Aeolian Islands, in the Tyrrhenian Sea. She attacked and damaged with gunfire the Italian  vessels "Francesco Padre" and "Santa Teresa no.233" off Capo d'Orlando, Sicily on 18 February, then on the 21st ended her patrol in Malta. She then returned to Algiers with supplies on 13 March. On 18 March 1943, "Sahib" commenced another patrol, north of Sicily. Six days later, she torpedoed and sank the Italian merchant "Tosca" west of Cape Calava, Sicily. On 27 March, "Sahib" closed in on the coastal town of Milazzo, and fired tree torpedoes into its harbour. The old merchant ship "Sidamo" was hit twice and sank with its cargo of salt; another ship was slightly damaged as  well. "Sahib" next attacked five sailing vessels with her deck gun on 30 March; she sank "Santa Maria Del Salvazione" and "San Vincenzo" and damaged two others. "Sahib" then returned to Algiers on 4 April. Last patrol and sinking. "Sahib" departed Algiers on 16 April, again to patrol north of Sicily; this was to be her last patrol. At midday on 23 April, "Sahib" sank the Italian tug "Valente" with gunfire south of Cape Vaticano. On 24 April 1943, "Sahib" sighted the Italian merchant ship "Galiola" off Capo di Milazzo, Sicily. "Galiola" was travelling from Reggio to Bizerta and was  carrying 1,737 tons of cargo, mostly coal. "Galiola" was escorted by the torpedo boats and , and the s "Gabbiano" and "Euterpe", as well as two aircraft. "Sahib" decided to attack, and launched four torpedoes at the merchant ship. One hit was made, and "Galiola" sank in less than five minutes. A patrolling aircraft then noticed "Sahib" nearly breaking the surface, and dropped a bomb at the submarine, but missed. Seconds later, "Climene" found "Sahib" on its sonar. "Gabbiano" narrowly evaded the torpedoes, then attacked "Sahib" underwater with 21 depth charges. "Sahib" attempted to escape by diving deep at more than  but additional depth charges from "Euterpe" breached the submarine's pressure hull and forced "Sahib" to surface after 11 minutes; "Sahib" was engaged by the destroyers' and torpedo boats' surface guns, as well as the aircraft's machine guns. As the Italian ships approached, "Sahib"s crew was evacuated and the submarine was scuttled to prevent her capture by Italian forces. Forty-seven men were picked up by the Italians; only one crew member died. Many of "Sahib"s former crew escaped from prison camps in September 1943 and hid in the countryside hills until the liberation of Italy by the Allies . Summary of raiding history. During her service with the Royal Navy, "Sahib" sank ten Axis ships for a total of as well as a German u-boat.