Dates: 1935 - 1940
HMS Narwhal (N45) was the one of the six ship class of Grampus-class mine-laying submarine of the Royal Navy. She was built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched 29 August 1935. She served in World War II in home waters. She was lost in the North Sea on July 23, 1940, and had probably been sunk by German aircraft
She had a brief but eventful career in wartime service. In February 1940 she helped HMS Imogen and HMS Inglefield to sink U-63 south east of the Shetland Islands and in May Narwhal torpedoed and sank the German troop transport Buenos Aires and torpedoed and damaged the troop transport Bahia Castillo. The Bahia Castillo reached port but was declared a total loss.
The greatest number of kills were caused by her mines. The German auxiliary minesweepers M 1302 / Schwaben, M 1102/H.A.W. Mollerthe, Gnom 7, Kobold 1 and Kobold 3; the German minesweeper M 11; German auxiliary submarine chaser UJ D / Treff VIII; the armed trawler V 1109 / Antares and the Swedish merchant Haga were all sunk on mines laid by Narwhal.
Ships damaged by mines laid by Narwhal included: the armed trawler V 403 / Deutschland, the German merchants Togo and Clara M. Russ. The auxiliary minesweeper M 1101 / Fock und Hubert and the German merchant Palime also struck some of Narwhal’s mines. They were successfully beached but declared total losses.
Credit is often given to Narwhal for sinking the Norwegian fishing vessel Arild, but in reality Arild hit a German defensive mine.
Narwhal may also have claimed the U-1 which disappeared on patrol on April 6, 1940, having been scheduled to sail unknowingly through a minefield Narwhal had laid earlier that day. Alternatively, Narwhal’s sister, Porpoise, reported firing upon an unknown submarine, which may account for U-1’s loss.
Forces Reunited Forum Posts involving HMS Narwhal
"ATTENTION HMS NARWHAL SERVICEMAN.
I have 2 pewter tankards and one of them has "hms narwhal 1961" engraved onto it and the other has Ken engraved onto it. Any advice on the history of hms narwhal appreciated.
oweda @ hotmail. co. uk
Thanks,
Graham"
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