HMS Porpoise (S01)

HMS Porpoise (S01)
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Porpoise
Builder	Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness
Launched	25 April 1956
Commissioned	17 April 1958
Decommissioned	1982
Fate	Sunk as a target in 1985
General characteristics
Class & type	Porpoise class submarine
Displacement	2,080 tons surfaced 2,450 tons submerged
Length	290 ft (88 m)
Beam	26 ft 7 in (8.10 m)
Draught	18 ft (5.5 m)
Propulsion	2 × Admiralty Standard range diesel generators, 1,650 hp (1.230 MW) 2 × English Electric main motors, 12,000 hp (8.95 MW) 2 shafts
Speed	12 kn (22 km/h) surfaced 17 kn (31 km/h)submerged
Range	9,000 nmi (17,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h)
Complement	71
Armament	8 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 6 bow, 2 stern 30 × Mk8 or Mk23 torpedoes, later the Mark 24 Tigerfish

HMS Porpoise (S01) was a Porpoise-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 25 April 1956, commissioned on 17 April 1958,^[1] and was decommissioned in 1982. Finally, she was sunk as a target in 1985^[2] in torpedo trials, for which purpose she was painted bright red.

She had been used as a training target while still serving with the Navy; in 1979 her casing, ballast tanks and vents were reinforced so that unarmed torpedoes could be fired at her without the risk of sinking.

In 2000, a glacier in East Greenland was named after her [1]

Notable accidents involving HMS Porpoise

• 18 October 1963: Suffered superficial damage departing Portsmouth harbour after colliding with the aircraft carrier HMS Centaur.
• 1 January 1969 - Entangled in the nets of the French trawler Belle Poule.
• 18 April 1982 - HMS Porpoise became entangled in the fishing nets of the Irish trawler Sharelga. The Sharelga, after travelling backwards two miles for twenty minutes, capsized and sank.^[3]