HMS Rorqual (N74)
HMS Rorqual
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Rorqual |
| Builder: | Vickers Armstrong, Barrow |
| Laid down: | 1 May 1935 |
| Launched: | 27 July 1936 |
| Commissioned: | 10 February 1937 |
| Fate: | sold on 19 November 1945, broken up on 17 March 1946 |
| Badge: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Grampus-class mine-laying submarine |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 293 ft (89 m) |
| Beam: | 25 ft 6 in (7.77 m) |
| Draught: | 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft, Diesel (3300 hp) plus electric (1630 hp) |
| Speed: |
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| Complement: | 59 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Rorqual (N74) was a British mine-laying submarine, one of the six ships of the Grampus class of the Royal Navy. She was built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched 27 July 1936. She served in the Second World War in the Mediterranean and in the far east. She was the only Grampus-class submarine to survive the war, and she is considered the most successful minelaying submarine of World War II.
Sent to the Mediterranean in 1940, Rorqual began laying minefields and attacking enemy shipping. Amongst the shipping lost to mines laid by Rorqual were the Italian merchants Loasso, Celio, Leopardi, and Salpi; the Italian Navy water tankers Verde and Ticino; the Italian pilot vessel F 34 / Rina Croce, the Italian torpedo boats Calipso, Fratelli Cairoli, Generale Antonio Chinotto, Altair and Aldebaran; the Italian auxiliary minesweeper AS 99 Zuri, the German troop transport Ankara; the French merchant (in German service), P.L.M. 24; and the French fishing vessel Coligny.
The Italian merchants Caffaro, Ischia and the brand-new Italian merchant Carbonello A. were damaged by mines laid by Rorqual. Rorqual was also active in attacking enemy shipping herself, torpedoing and sinking the Italian tanker Laura Corrado; the Italian submarine Pier Capponi; the Italian merchants Cilicia and Monstella; the German tanker Wilhemsburg and the French merchant (in German service) Nantaise. Rorqual's torpedoes also damaged the Italian auxiliary cruiser Piero Foscari, unsuccessfully attacked an Italian submarine and the Italian merchant Securitas, and sunk two Greek sailing vessels with gunfire.
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