HMS Swordfish (61S)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Swordfish.

300px HMS Swordfish
History
Name:	HMS Swordfish
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	1 December 1930
Launched:	10 November 1931
Commissioned:	28 November 1932
Fate:	Sunk by mine 7 November 1940
General characteristics
Displacement:	640 tons surfaced 935 tons submerged
Length:	202 ft 6 in (61.72 m)
Beam:	24 ft (7.3 m)
Draught:	10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Propulsion:	Twin diesel/electric
Speed:	13.75 knots surfaced 10 knots submerged
Complement:	36 officers and men
Armament:	6 × forward 21-inch torpedo tubes 12 torpedoes one three-inch gun one 20 mm cannon one .303-calibre machine gun

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HMS Swordfish (61S) was a group one British S class submarine that was sunk on a combat patrol in the English Channel in November 1940 during the Second World War.

Nothing was heard from her following her departure from Portsmouth on 7 November 1940 with 40 crew on board to relieve HMS Usk which was on patrol off the Western Approaches near Brest, France. At the time it was thought that she had been sunk by a German destroyer. However she was discovered by a local diver in 1983, split into two just forward of the gun by a mine. The wreck lies in about 46 metres of water roughly 12 miles south of St. Catherine’s Point, Isle of Wight. It is likely that she struck the mine shortly after sailing whilst carrying out a trim dive. The wreck site is designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

See also

• List of shipwrecks in 1940