HMS P311

HMS P311 [A 1] was a submarine of the Royal Navy in World War II. The warship is missing in the Mediterranean since January 1943.

Service history

The HMS P311 was laid on 25 April 1941, Vickers-Armstrong at Kiel. The launch took place on March 5, 1941. The commissioning was followed on August 7, 1942. The submarine was one of the units in its class, the pressure hull was riveted.

In November 1942, the newly entered service in P311 the 10th submarine flotilla was assigned and stationed on the besieged Mediterranean island of Malta.

In January 1943, HMS P311 was part of Operation Principle bring Chariot manned torpedoes to La Maddalena, where two Italian cruisers were to be attacked. The two older submarines HMS Trooper and HMS Thunderbolt had to bring the task Chariot torpedoes to Palermo, there to mine the newly built Italian light cruiser Ulpio Traiano.

The HMS P311 was already lost during the Anmarsches under mysterious circumstances. Presumably she was the victim of a mine hit. It was declared on 8 January 1943, missing. There were no survivors.

The other two submarines were successful. The Ulpio Traiano was sunk on January 3, 1943. Another vessel has been seriously damaged.

Commander of the P311 was during the entire period of service, June 8, 1942 to January 8, 1943, Cdr. Richard Douglas Cayley.

Name of ship

HMS P311 was the only boat in the T -Class, which bore no name. Winston Churchill called for in November and December 1942, the Admiralty on several occasions to give all submarines individual names. As a ship name for the P311 HMS Tutankhamen was provided by the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Just like the S-Class boat HMS P222 P311 which got lost before it could be officially renamed.