View source for HMS Torbay (N79)

{{short description|Submarine of the Royal Navy}}
{{other ships|HMS Torbay}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=HMS Torbay.jpg
|Ship caption=HMS ''Torbay''
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Torbay''
|Ship namesake=[[Torbay]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=[[Chatham Dockyard]]
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|Ship laid down=21 November 1938
|Ship launched=9 April 1940
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|Ship commissioned=14 January 1941
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|Ship identification=[[Pennant number]] N79
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|Ship captured=
|Ship fate=*Sold for breaking up 19 November 1945,
*scrapped March 1947
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|Ship badge=[[File:TORBAY(2) badge-1-.jpg|left|100px]]
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=[[British T-class submarine|T-class]] [[submarine]]
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1090|LT|t|0|lk=in}} surfaced
*{{convert|1575|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} submerged
|Ship length={{convert|275|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|26|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship draught={{convert|16.3|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship propulsion=*Two shafts
*Twin diesel engines {{convert|2500|HP|MW|2|abbr=on|lk=in}} each
*Twin electric motors {{convert|1450|HP|MW|2|abbr=on}} each
|Ship speed=*{{convert|15.25|kn|km/h|1|lk=in}} surfaced
*{{convert|9|kn|km/h|abbr=on}} submerged
|Ship range={{convert|4500|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|11|kn|km/h|abbr=on}} surfaced
|Ship endurance=
|Ship test depth={{convert|300|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} max
|Ship complement=59
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*6 internal forward-facing [[British 21 inch torpedo|{{convert|21|inch|mm|adj=on|0}}]] [[torpedo tube]]s
*4 external forward-facing torpedo tubes
*1 external backward-facing torpedo tube
*6 reload torpedoes
*1 x [[QF 4 inch naval gun Mk IV, XII, XXII|{{convert|4|in|mm|adj=on|0}} deck gun]]
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'''HMS ''Torbay'' (N79)''' was a [[British T-class submarine|T-class]] [[submarine]] of the [[Royal Navy]]. She was laid down at [[Chatham Dockyard]] and launched on 9 April 1940.

''Torbay'' had an active career, serving mainly in the Mediterranean, although she also served in the Pacific [[Far East]] at the end of the [[World War II|war]].

Altogether she sank 17 merchant ships, totalling 38,000&nbsp;tons, plus 5 warships and 24 sailing vessels, and was involved in an attack on [[Corfu]] harbour that won her captain, [[Lieutenant Commander#Royal Navy|Lieutenant Commander (Lt. Cdr.)]] [[Anthony Miers]], the [[Victoria Cross]].

''Torbay'' was also allegedly involved in two incidents of [[war crimes]].<ref name=Forsyth>{{cite web |url=https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/146725/War-hero-or-war-criminal |title=War Hero or War Criminal? |date=18 December 2009 |last=Forsyth |first=Frederick |author-link=Frederick Forsyth |work=Express Yourself |publisher=Express.co.uk}}</ref>

==Service history==
''Torbay'' was commissioned on 14 January 1941, under the command of Lt. Cdr. Anthony Miers.

In March 1941 she sailed from [[Portsmouth]] on her first offensive patrol, to intercept the [[battleship]]s {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}}, which were heading for [[Brest, France|Brest]] after their raiding sortie in the North Atlantic. Unable to find them, ''Torbay'' was ordered to continue to [[Gibraltar]], and, after another patrol in the Mediterranean, to join the 1st Flotilla at [[Alexandria]].

===Mediterranean===
From there, ''Torbay'' operated for the next 12 months, sinking a number of ships (including the Italian submarine ''[[Italian submarine Jantina (1932)|Jantina]]'')<ref>{{cite news |title=Greek divers discover Italian World War Two submarine wreck |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/greek-divers-discover-italian-world-war-two-submarine-wreck-2021-12-29/ |access-date=4 January 2022 |work=Reuters |date=29 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref> and taking part in several special operations.

Some of those special operations revolved around Crete. The ''Torbay'', among others, continued to evacuate Allied stragglers who were not captured and interned as POWs when Crete was surrendered to the Germans on 1 June. On 22 August 1941, after a night run on the surface, 130 men (including 62 New Zealanders and 63 British and Australian troops) crammed aboard the ''Torbay'' were safely delivered to Alexandria, Egypt, “establishing a record for the number of people ever jammed into one submarine.”<ref name="Beevor, Antony 2005">p. 242, Beevor, Antony. ''Crete: The Battle and the Resistance''. London: John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, 2005. Pp. xvi, 383.</ref><ref>p. 38, Elliott, Murray. ''Vasili: The Lion of Crete.'' Glenfield, Auckland, N.Z.: Century Hutchinson NZ Ltd., 1987. Pp. 175.</ref> The ''Torbay''’s commander, Lieutenant Commander Anthony ‘Crap’ Miers, VC, was eccentric, and he made it a ritual – ‘Usual Drill, Number One’ – to salute the Vichy French sailors aboard French ships at anchor in Alexandria, Egypt, every time he entered the port. He had his crew assemble on deck and, on order, they dropped their trousers and ‘mooned’ the Vichy French sailors as they entered the harbor.<ref name="Beevor, Antony 2005"/>

In July 1941, on her first patrol from Alexandria, ''Torbay'' was involved in two incidents of alleged [[war crime]]s. On two occasions after sinking enemy ships, Miers had ''Torbay''{{'}}s crew fire on troops as they swam in the water. Miers made no attempt to hide his actions and reported it in his official logs. He received a strongly worded [[reprimand]] from the Royal Navy after the first incident.<ref name=Forsyth/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Camp/3166/ |title=Submarine Atrocities |date=12 November 1999 |first1=Saiva |last1=Ziogaite |first2=Miltiades |last2=Varvounis |first3=Bob |last3=Baird |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027051402/http://geocities.com/Pentagon/Camp/3166/ |archive-date=27 October 2009 |access-date=6 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

''Torbay'' was involved in attacks on Axis convoys on two occasions. The attack on the first, on 10 June 1941 involved ''Torbay'' making three attack runs on an Italian convoy off the [[Dardanelles]]. The first attack failed to produce any results; the second attack resulted in a torpedo hit on the Italian tanker ''Utilitas'' but the torpedo failed to explode. In the third attack the Italian tanker ''Giuseppina Ghirardi'' was torpedoed and sunk. The attack on the second convoy took place on 12 August 1941, west of [[Benghazi]], [[Italian Libya|Libya]]. ''Torbay'' fired on the Italian [[merchant ship]]s ''Bosforo'' and ''Iseo'' but missed both. ''Torbay'' was heavily [[depth charge]]d after these attacks.

In November 1941 ''Torbay'' was tasked with landing a party of commandos, under [[Geoffrey Charles Tasker Keyes|Geoffrey Keyes]], for the ill-fated [[Operation Flipper]]. On 15 December 1941 ''Torbay'' torpedoed an Italian merchant ship in German service, {{MV|Sebastiano Veniero|1940|2}}, at [[Methoni, Messenia|Methoni]] in the [[Peloponnese]]. ''Sebastiano Veniero'' was already beached after having been damaged a week earlier by a torpedo fired by the {{sclass|Grampus|submarine}} {{HMS|Porpoise|N14|6}}.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?98746 |title=MV Sebastiano Veniero [+1941] |last1=Lettens |first1=Jan |last2=de Neumann |first2=Bernard |date=2 June 2013 |work=WreckSite |publisher=wrecksite.eu |access-date=28 September 2014}}</ref>

On 4 March 1942 in [[Corfu]] Harbour, north-western Greece, ''Torbay'', having followed an enemy convoy into the harbour the previous day, fired torpedoes at a destroyer and two 5,000&nbsp;ton transports, scoring hits on the two supply ships, which almost certainly sank. ''Torbay'' then had a very hazardous withdrawal to the open sea, enduring 40 depth charges. The submarine had been in closely patrolled enemy waters for 17 hours. For this exploit, her commander, Lieutenant Commander [[Anthony Miers]] was awarded the [[Victoria Cross]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 35622|date=3 July 1942 |page=2983|supp=y}}</ref>

===Home waters===
In mid-1942 ''Torbay'' returned to Britain. She returned to the Mediterranean in February 1943 under the command of [[Lieutenant]] (Lt.) Robert Clutterbuck.

===Return to the Mediterranean===
Back in the Mediterranean, ''Torbay'' carried out a further series of successful patrols. She also had a close encounter with the German [[Q-ship]] ''GA 45''. In October 1943 ''Torbay's'' periscope was sighted first by ''GA 45'' which dropped depth charges very close to ''Torbay''. The submarine later surfaced, intending to attack ''GA 45'' with her deck gun, but the German vessel opened fire and forced her to break off the action. ''GA 45'' did not drop any further depth charges (perhaps having run out). ''Torbay'' managed to escape damage during this encounter.

As the war in the Mediterranean quietened, ''Torbay'' was again reassigned, this time to the Pacific [[Far East]].

===Far East===
Arriving in May 1945, and under the command of Lt. C.P. Norman, ''Torbay'' continued to cause losses amongst enemy shipping. She sank two Japanese sailing vessels and a coaster, and damaged a second coaster, before the end of the war.

==Post war==
Having survived the war, ''Torbay'' was sold on 19 December 1945 and [[Ship breaking|scrapped]] at [[Briton Ferry]], [[Wales]] in March 1947.

==Raiding career==

''Torbay'' attacked and sank the following ships:-
* Twelve Greek sailing vessels, including ''Sofia'' and ''P III''
* The Italian sailing vessels ''Gesu E Maria'', ''Pozzalo'', ''Columbo'', ''Gesu Giuseppe E Maria'' and ''Gesu Crocifisso''
* The Italian merchants ''Citta di Tripoli'', ''Ischia'', ''Maddalena G.'' and ''Lido''
* Seven German sailing vessels, including ''L XIV'', ''L I'', ''L XII'', ''L V'' and ''L VI''
* The {{ship|Italian submarine|Jantina|1932|6}}
* The sailing vessel ''Evangelista''
* The German army cargo ship ''Bellona''
* The Italian auxiliary patrol vessels R 113 / ''Avanguardista'', V 90/''San Girolamo'' and V 276 / ''Baicin''
* The German auxiliary submarine chaser 13 V 2 / ''Delpa II''
* The Danish merchant ''Grete''
* The French merchant ''Lillios''
* The Italian fishing vessel ''Madonna di Porto Salvo''
* Two unknown sailing vessels
* The small Italian merchants ''Versilia'' and ''Tarquinia''
* A Greek fishing vessel
* The German troopship ''Kari'' (the former French ''Ste. Colette'', in turn the former Norwegian ''Kari'')
* A German floating dock
* The German troop transport ''Palma'' (the former Italian ''Polcevera'')
* The Spanish merchant ''Juan de Astigarraga'' and the French merchant ''Oasis'' (Both ships were under German control)
* The Italian ship ''Aderno'' (the former British ''Ardeola'')

''Torbay'' also damaged the following ships:-
* The [[Vichy France|Vichy French]] tanker ''Alberta''
* The Italian oiler ''Strombo''
* The German merchant ''Norburg''. The damaged ship settled on the bottom of [[Iraklion]] harbour but was later salvaged.
* The Italian destroyer {{ship|Italian destroyer|Aviere|1937|2}}. ''Aviere'' was already grounded after being damaged on 19 November 1941 by the [[Poland|Polish]] submarine {{ship|ORP|Sokół|1940|6}}.
* The Italian [[Auxiliaries|auxiliary]] [[Minesweeper (ship)|minesweeper]] ''Monte Argentario''
* The Italian merchant (in German service) ''Sebastiano Veniero''.
* The Italian merchant (in German service) ''Trapani''. ''Trapani'' was further damaged that night by the British escort [[destroyer]] {{HMS|Hursley|L84|6}} and the Greek escort destroyer {{ship|Greek destroyer|Miaoulis|L91|2}}. The wreck of ''Trapani'' was finally destroyed off [[Kalymnos]], Greece the following night by the British destroyers {{HMS|Penn|G77|6}} and {{HMS|Jervis|F00|6}}.
* An unknown sailing vessel

==See also==
{{USS|Wahoo|SS-238|6}} and {{GS|U-852||2}} for other submarines alleged to be involved in war crimes.

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
* {{cite book |last=Cooke |first=Graeme |year=1976 |title=Silent Marauders: British Submarines in Two World Wars |place=London |publisher=Hart-Davis, MacGibbon |isbn=0-246-10784-7 |oclc=2983253}}
* {{cite book |last=Hutchinson |first=Robert |year=2001 |title=Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day |url=https://archive.org/details/janessubmarinesw0000hutc |url-access=registration |place=London |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0-00-710558-8 |oclc=53783010}}
* {{cite book |last=Izzard |first=Brian |year=2009 |title=Gamp VC: The Wartime Story Of Maverick Submarine Commander Anthony Miers |place=Sparkford (Somerset)|publisher=[[Haynes Publishing Group|Haynes]] |isbn=9781844257256|oclc=432408113}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|HMS Torbay (N79)}}
* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3498.html HMS Torbay], Uboat.net

{{T class submarine}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torbay (N79)}}
[[Category:1940 ships]]
[[Category:British T-class submarines of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Chatham]]
[[Category:World War II submarines of the United Kingdom]]