HMS P39

HMS P39, 1941/42
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS P39
Builder:	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down:	14 October 1940
Launched:	23 August 1941
Commissioned:	16 November 1941
Fate:	destroyed in an air raid 26 March 1942
General characteristics
Class and type:	U-class submarine
Displacement:	Surfaced - 540 tons standard, 630 tons full load Submerged - 730 tons
Length:	58.22 m (191 feet)
Beam:	4.90 m (16 ft 1 in)
Draught:	4.62 m (15 ft 2 in)
Propulsion:	Two shaft diesel-electric 2 Paxman Ricardo diesel generators + electric motors 615 / 825 hp
Speed:	11.25 knots surfaced 10 knots submerged
Complement:	27-31
Armament:	Four bow internal 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 8 - 10 torpedoes One 3-inch (76 mm) gun

HMS P39 was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness.

Sinking

P39 had a short-lived career with the Royal Navy. She was assigned to operate in the Mediterranean, based in Malta as part of the 10th Flotilla. She was in harbour following a patrol in the area east of Tunisia whilst previous bomb damage was being repaired. She was then further damaged by German bombers. She was considered too badly damaged for repair, and was salvaged, towed to Kalkara and beached in 1943, but again badly damaged by another air attack. Many of the crew were subsequently lost on HMS Olympus on their way home to the UK. P39 was finally broken up in 1954.

References

• "HMS P 39". uboat.net.
• "P32 to P222". British submarines of World War II.
• "Submarine losses 1904 to present day". RN Submarine Museum, Gosport.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
• Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-710558-8. OCLC 53783010.