HMS Sturgeon (73S)

Sturgeon
History
United Kingdom
NameSturgeon
Ordered2 July 1930
BuilderChatham Dockyard
Laid down3 January 1931
Launched8 January 1932
Commissioned27 February 1933
Recommissioned17 November 1945
Renamedto Dutch Navy as Zeehond, 11 October 1943
IdentificationPennant number 73S
FateBroken up January 1946
Badge
Netherlands
NameHNLMS Zeehond
Commissioned11 October 1943
Decommissioned14 September 1945
FateReturned to Royal Navy, 17 November 1945
General characteristics
Class and typeS-class submarine
Displacement
  • 640 tons surfaced
  • 935 tons submerged
Length202 ft 6 in (61.7 m)
Beam24 ft 0 in (7.3 m)
Draught10 ft 6 in (3.2 m)
PropulsionTwin diesel/electric
Speed
  • 13.75 knots (25.47 km/h; 15.82 mph) surfaced
  • 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) submerged
Complement36 officers and ratings
Armament

HMS Sturgeon was an S-class submarine that entered service with the Royal Navy in 1932. Ordered in 1930, she was laid down at Chatham Dockyard in January 1931 and launched on 8 January 1932. Commissioned on 27 February 1933, Sturgeon was assigned to the 2nd Submarine Flotilla.

At the start of World War II, Sturgeon conducted patrols in the North Sea. On 6 September, she was mistakenly bombed by British aircraft. On her second patrol, she fired three torpedoes at an unidentified submarine, which was in fact her sister ship HMS Swordfish, but the torpedoes missed. On her third patrol, she missed the German U-boat U-23 and was damaged after hitting the bottom, requiring repairs. On 20 November, she sank the German armed trawler V-209 with torpedoes. The sinking was the first successful attack by a British submarine of the war, and was a morale boost for British submariners. During her next patrols in the North Sea, Sturgeon sighted and sank several ships, including the German troop transport Pionier and the Danish merchants SS Sigrun and SS Delfinus. Afterwards, Sturgeon patrolled in the Bay of Biscay, acted as a beacon during Operation Torch, then, after being again damaged by Allied aircraft, escorted the Arctic Convoys PQ 15 and PQ 17. Sturgeon was transferred to the 8th Submarine Flotilla, which operated on the Mediterranean Sea, in October 1942 to support the Allied landings in North Africa. In May 1943, she was loaned to the Royal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS Zeehond. Zeehond was returned to the Royal Navy following the war and was sold for scrap in 1946. She was one of the four submarines that formed the First Group of the S class, and the only one of these to survive the war.