HMS Urge (N17)
HMS Urge
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| History | |
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| Class and type: | U-class submarine |
| Name: | HMS Urge |
| Builder: | Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Laid down: | 30 October 1939 |
| Launched: | 19 August 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 12 December 1940 |
| Fate: | Sunk 29 April 1942 |
| Badge: |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 58.22 m (191 ft) |
| Beam: | 4.90 m (16 ft 1 in) |
| Draught: | 4.62 m (15 ft 2 in) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Complement: | 27–31 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Urge was a British U-class submarine, of the second group of that class, built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 30 October 1939 and was commissioned on 12 December 1940. She is the only Royal Navy ship to have borne the name. Urge spent most of her career operating in the Mediterranean, where she damaged or sank a number of mostly Italian warships and merchant vessels. She was lost with all hands on 29 April 1942. There are several theories about her final fate. The long-held official view is that it is most likely that she was lost to a mine off Malta, a view re-confirmed in April, 2016. Other theories suggest she was sunk by direct enemy action, the most common that she was lost to an Italian air attack off Libya, but this now appears unlikely.
The boat was adopted and partially funded by the people of the Welsh town Bridgend as a result of the national "warship week" in 1941.
Prior to deployment to the Mediterranean, Urge sank the Italian tanker Franco Martelli in April 1941 whilst in the Bay of Biscay on passage from the UK to Gibraltar. Urge also damaged the Italian passenger ship Aquitania, and the Italian merchant ship Marigola. Marigola was already grounded after being torpedoed by aircraft on 24 September 1941. Then on 13 December, Urge torpedoed and damaged the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto during the operations around the First Battle of Sirte. On 1 April 1942 Urge torpedoed and sank the Italian light cruiser Giovanni delle Bande Nere.
Urge was one of the first British submarines to land commandos by canoe (or folding kayak), and a number of successful commando raids were launched from her. These raids targeted enemy infrastructure such as railways and pioneered techniques used in later SBS work. However, special operations were hazardous, and in October 1941 a member of Urge's crew was lost to enemy fire when attempting to rescue an Allied agent from shore. On other occasions enemy patrol activity or traps were a frequent risk to landing operations.
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Wikipedia