HMS Shakespeare: Two Remarkable War Patrols

HMS Shakespeare was a medium-range, 800-ton S-class submarine. Her complement consisted of five officers and 39 crewmembers. She was armed with seven torpedo tubes together with a 3-inch gun and 20-mm Oerlikon. The following article describes two remarkable and very different patrols during consecutive commissions in the Mediterranean and Far East. HMS Shakespeare’s Tenth War Patrol; Mediterranean August 1943 After the fall of Sicily to the Allies in August 1943 (Operation HUSKY), the decision was made to conduct the next major Allied landings onto beaches in the Gulf of Salerno, situated to t…