HMS Snapper (39S)
HMS Snapper ( N39 ) was a submarine of the Royal Navy in World War II.
History
See: History of the Shark - class and detailed history of the S-Class
The Snapper (English: Lutjanidae) belonged to the second assembly of the successful S-Class. This building lot is known as Shark class. She was laid on the Chatham Naval Shipyard on 18 September 1933, Kiel, was launched on October 25, 1934 from the pile and was put into service by the Royal Navy on 14 June 1935.
After the outbreak of World War II operated the snapper in the North Sea.
On 3 December 1939 the submarine was attacked in error by a British airplane. Despite direct hit, the boat was not damaged and was able to finish his patrol on 6 December.
After the German invasion in northern Europe on 9 April 1940, the Snapper sank several German of transport and military vessels in the Skagerrak. On 12 April, against Larvik in position 58 ° 53 'N, 10 ° 43' O58.88333333333310.716666666667 the small German tanker Moonsund (322 GRT) sunk with the deck gun. On April 14, torpedoed and sank the British submarine in position 58 ° 10 ' N, 10 ° 59' O58.16666666666710.983333333333 the German Transportation Florida ( 6150 BRT). On 15 April, the German auxiliary minesweeper M 1701/HM were Behrens ( 525 GRT) and M 1702/Carsten Janssen ( 472 GRT) north-east of Skagen on position 57 ° 55 ' N, 10 ° 53' O57.91666666666710.883333333333 sunk with torpedoes.
On 6 May, the Snapper attacked east of Denmark at the position 55 ° 35 'N, 7 ° 16' O55.5833333333337.2666666666667 the German auxiliary cruiser Widder, but the two torpedoes missed their target.
The Snapper torpedoed and sunk on 25 June south of Stavanger ( Norway) in position 58 ° 54 ' N, 5 ° 5' O58.95.0833333333333 the German patrol boat V 1107 / Portland (286 GRT). On 3 July, the Norwegian freighter Cygnus ( 1334 GRT ) west of Hadryet was sunk in position 58 ° 13 ' N, 5 ° 6' O58.2166666666675.1 with torpedoes.
The HMS Snapper left their base on 29 January 1941 to patrol in the Bay of Biscay off the French island of Ouessant. Since then there was no more contact with the submarine. The Snapper and its crew in force since February 12, 1941 officially listed as missing. Presumably they ran on a German naval mine. Another possible explanation is that the British submarine on the night of 10th February 11 by the German minesweepers M-2, M -13 and M-25 to the position 47 ° 52 ' N, 5 ° 47' W47.866666666667 - 5.7833333333333 was sunk with depth charges.