Dates: 1943 - 1949
HMS Sceptre (P215) was a 1940-programme S-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was built by Scotts of Greenock and commissioned in April 1943. Complement: 48.
She joined the 3rd Submarine Flotilla in April 1943 and was based at Holy Loch. She then detached to Scapa Flow to be used for the Submarine Commanding Officer’s Qualifying Course, the Perisher. Whilst exercising to the west of the Orkney Islands, she was depth charged in error by the Royal Air Force and her hull was slightly buckled, which required docking for repairs.
Sceptre left Loch Cairnbawn on September 12, 1943, with midget submarine X-10 in tow to attack the German battleship Tirpitz at Kaa Fjord, putting her out of action for nearly a year. In April 1944, Sceptre left for another "special operation" with X-24 in tow. X-24 penetrated Bergen harbour and sank the merchant ship Barenfels as well as damaging large sections of the floating dock in the harbour. Sceptre was the only towing submarine which lost none of the X-craft in her care.
Sceptre sank 6 ships — 4 merchant vessels of 14,393 gross register tons and 2 escorts of 1,444 displacement tons. This total and tonnage was unequalled by any other submarine in home waters during the period.
At the end of the war, Sceptre was adapted to serve as a high speed target submarine. She was allocated to the 7th Submarine Flotilla and used for training, based initially at Lochalsh, then Portland until February 1947. She was damaged by a battery explosion on 8 August 1949 and sold to the British Iron and Steel Corporation for scrap in September 1949.
Association:
Submariners Association
’Pinza’
114 Rowner Lane
Gosport Hants PO13 0ES
E-mail: davebarlow84@tiscali.co.uk
Website: http://www.submarinersassociation.co.uk/
Museum:
Royal Navy Submarine Museum
Haslar Jetty Road
Gosport Hampshire PO12 2AS
Phone: 023 9252 9217
Fax: 023 9251 1349
E-mail: admin@rnsubmus.co.uk
Website: http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/
