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 the south of Naples. As a key element of the assault planning, Shakespeare, commanded by Lt Michael Ainslie, departed from Algiers on August 24^th with orders to conduct a survey of the gulf. This included searching out a minefield assessed to be five miles out from the beaches. Onboard were a Combined Operations Pilotage Party (COPP) which consisted of three navigation specialists and three Special Boat Service (SBS) personnel, including Capt Godfrey Courtney, brother of the SBS founder, Roger Courtney. On completion of the surveys Shakespeare would then retire to seaward and report the results. Then, prior to the landings, when on the surface she would act as a navigational beacon for the assault force and the COPP team would be disembarked to guide the leading assault craft to the landing area.

HMS Shakespeare, S-class submarine

On 30^th August Shakespeare gingerly entered the gulf, submerged, hugging the rocky shoreline on its southern wing. Employing her Mine Detection Unit (MDU), the submarine successfully charted the position of the minefield which, of great significance, was different from that assessed by intelligence. Using active sonar transmissions to avoid the shoreline, Ainslie then succeeded in charting a course between the shore and the minefield and entered the gulf without incident. This highly challenging navigation clearly took nerves of steel.

Following a periscope survey during daylight hours, a folbot survey party was landed each evening over the next two nights, the submarine sitting on the sandy bottom of the gulf during the daytime. When the COPP surveys were complete, Shakespeare slipped out of the gulf, passing round the northern flank of the minefield. Once in the open sea, the details of the surveys were radioed to shore headquarters. The precise marking of the minefield enabled the Salerno landing plans to be modified and arrangements were made to sweep channels through the minefield. Accordingly, many lives were saved amongst the eight American and British divisions committed to the assault force. Needless to say, this extremely hazardous type of survey demonstrated a great degree of confidence in the efficacy of the MDU.

A few days later, Shakespeare returned to the Salerno area. On 7^th September, early in the evening, she sighted two Italian U-boats on a southeast course. These were two of eight submarines heading towards the Allied landing force, which had been sighted passing to the west of Sicily. With a six-torpedo salvo, Shakespeare sank one of the submarines, the 700-ton Vellela. There were no survivors. The loss of this submarine was somewhat tragic, as 24 hours later the Supreme Commander of the Allied Europe Expeditionary Force, General Eisenhower, announced that Italy had declared an armistice with the Allies and that he had ordered all of its submarines and warships to surrender.

On the 8^th September – D-Day minus one – Shakespeare sighted a third submarine but as she was near her beacon marking location, she was not allowed to attack it for fear of compromise of the landing operation. When in her designated beacon position, Shakespeare remained on the seabed until 21:35 hrs, when she surfaced. Then she successfully contacted her designated escort, the US destroyer Cole, and commenced her beacon role. At 23:40, she transferred her COPP team to a small assault craft and shortly afterwards set course for Algiers escorted by Cole until well away from the landing area. However, despite these remarkable and courageous achievements on the part of this one individual submarine, the element of surprise was missing, and the landing forces encountered severe opposition from German troops and artillery.

HMS Shakespeare’s Fifteenth War Patrol; Indian Ocean, January 1945

On 31^st December 1944, Shakespeare, commanded by 25-years old Lt David Swanston, torpedoed and sank the 2,500-ton Japanese merchant cargo ship Unryu Maru east of Port Blair, in the Indian Ocean Andaman Islands. This ship was in convoy with one other ship, escorted by three submarine chasers.

Three days later, on the morning of 3^rd January 1945, Shakespeare attacked a small Japanese merchant ship with a four-torpedo salvo in the Nankauri Strait, in the Nicobar Islands, but no hits were achieved. The submarine then surfaced for a gun action. What happened next can best be described by the text of the patrol report as written by David Swanston, covering the period 3^rd to 8^th January 1945, as follows:

05:15 hrs – Dived 10 nautical miles East of Nankauri Strait.

07:15 hrs – Sighted the mast and funnel of a southbound merchant ship of about 700 tons. Closed to attack but could not get nearer then 3,500 yards. Nothing else was in sight.

07:50 hrs – Fired four torpedoes from 3,500 yards. No hits were obtained. The vessel remained on a steady course. Enemy speed was 7 kts.

07:58 hrs – Surfaced for gun action. Closed at high speed on main engines and opened fire at a range of 5,000 yards. After the 4^th round, the ship turned directly towards and opened a very inaccurate fire with a gun thought to be a 12 pdr. Altered course 20 degrees to port and also opened fire with the Oerlikon. Unfortunately, it jammed after the first burst.

08:05 hrs – 15 rounds had now been fired for one hit and possibly two waterline hits. Sighted what was thought to be a submarine chaser coming through the Nankauri Strait. Range was 9,000 yards. Turned away and cleared the bridge and gun platforms preparatory to diving. By this time the range of the merchant ship was down to 1,500 yards and it obtained a direct hit on our pressure hull just forward of the engine room bulkhead door outside the W/T office. This hole, although just above the waterline with the submarine stopped, was awash when underway. A considerable quantity of water poured in, eventually filling up the auxiliary machinery space and partially flooding the control room and engine room.

The ballast pump was immediately started and efforts made to stop the inflow of water through the hole. These effects were, however, ineffective and very soon the ballast pump was flooded and ceased to work. Brown’s system in the steering was holed and after a short period out of control, steering was resumed from local control aft. By this time the auxiliary machine space had been abandoned and shut down. The battery ventilation and engine outboard induction trunking, exterior to the pressure hull, had both been riddled with splinter holes. This meant that the engine room door had to be kept open and that water flooded into the engine room. By this time the W/T transmitting panel and the gyro compass had been flooded. The submarine was unable to dive in this condition.

The 3-inch gun, the Oerlikon and the Vickers guns were therefore manned again. During the action that followed the Petty Officer Telegraphist (PO Tel) and the Leading Telegraphist (Ldg Tel), on their own initiative, went onto the bridge and down onto the saddle tanks and began to plug the hole from the outside with a blanket. While they were doing this the merchant ship obtained four more hits. The blast from one of these blew off the PO Tel’s boots and burned both feet. He continued plugging the hole.

Fire was re-opened with the 3-inch and Vickers guns. A clearing charge failed to clear the jammed round in the Oerlikon. The range was now about 1,000 yards, which was maintained as Shakespeare steered away from the merchant ship. The gunlayer and trainer of the 3-inch gun had both been wounded. Their places were taken by the First Lieutenant and Telegraphist Britton. The stern torpedo was then fired at the merchant vessel to discourage him. It missed.

08:20 hrs – Obtained a hit on the enemy’s gun which was now out of action. He then turned away with a noticeable list to port. The submarine chaser meanwhile had closed to 6,000 yards and opened fire. Course and speed were maintained and Shakespeare got away from him as he, fortunately, went to the aid of the merchant ship. The Vickers guns were then reloaded and the spare Oerlikon barrel was fitted in lieu of the jammed one. A chain of buckets was also organised from the control room to the bridge and gun tower. This was the only means to get rid of the water. Course was now set to the Ten Degree Channel. Now we had to wait for the air attacks to start. The merchant and submarine chaser meanwhile set course towards Port Blair.

09:00 hrs – The port engine seized. Shortly afterwards the PO Tel, who was still working on the saddle tanks plugging the hole, fell over the side. Stopped and manoeuvred on the main motors to pick him up. Course was then resumed on one engine only at a speed of 7 kts. The PO Tel and Ldg Tel then joined the bucket chain. After about one hour the PO Tel came to the bridge and performed duties as air-lookout until dark, and, although wounded on both feet and the left arm, also took occasional bursts with a tommy-gun on very close aircraft.

09:30 hrs – A seaplane was sighted over Nankauri Strait coming towards and started a low-level dive-bombing attack from astern. When the range had closed sufficiently, he was given a short burst from a Vickers gun manned by the Second Coxswain. This caused him to release his bomb 20 yards away on the port side, and set him on fire. He was seen to crash into the sea 1,000 yards on the starboard bow. This had a most heartening effect on the whole Ship’s Company. The bomb was a small one and caused no damage.

10:00 hrs – two Jake aircraft appeared. They each carried out a dummy low level attack and then came in and bombed us. Each machine carried two small bombs and one was dropped extremely close. The splash flooded the bridge and the blast burst a High Pressure (HP) air-line inside the submarine in the bilges. The escaping air caused the bilge water to ‘fountain’ and the ratings in the compartment thought we had been holed again. The spare Oerlikon now also jammed, again due to defective ammunition but it could be cleared with a clearing charge.

In the second attack the bombs fell some distance away. Up to 14:20 hrs, five more bombing attacks by Jake aircraft, each consisting of two 50 lb bombs, were made. These aircraft were all kept at a respectful distance by Vickers and Oerlikon fire. Their bombs all fell wide and caused no damage. One aircraft was hit with the Oerlikon. When the Jake aircraft flew overhead upon completion of their bombing runs, they sprayed Shakespeare with their machine guns.

14:20 hrs – Sighted an unidentified escort vessel closing from the starboard quarter. On sighting this all de-cyphered signals and patrol orders were burnt. All code books were sacked up, ready for ditching. The remaining two torpedoes were also brought to the ready. But the escort vessel did not close any further and possibly went to pick up the pilot from the downed plane leaving us to the mercy of the Japanese air force. A bomber and two fighter-bombers now appeared. One of the fighter-bombers attacked first. He dropped two bombs and made an ineffective machine gun attack. The bomber then came in at a height of 300 feet. It dropped two 1,000 lb bombs which near missed us. The splinters wounded two ratings on the gun platform. The second fighter-bomber then came in, released his bombs, turned round and made a low-level diving cannon firing attack from aft, which raked the bridge. One Vickers gunner was mortally wounded and superficial damage was caused. This aircraft was hit by at least two of the Vickers guns. He then retired.

From 16:00 hrs until just before sunset, single attacks by groups of four aircraft, fighter bombers with machine guns, occurred at half-hourly intervals. All, however, kept at a respectful distance. The Oerlikon finally jammed during these attacks, again due to defective ammunition, and could not be cleared. The 3-inch gun was used throughout the day, about 200 rounds had been fired. Several shells burst close to aircraft and made them turn away.

Half-an-hour before sunset a bomber, two fighter-bombers and a seaplane appeared. The fighter-bombers carried out dive bombings attacks from the sun, dropping two bombs each. When not attacking they were circling in and out of the clouds and it was difficult to tell which aircraft would attack next. The bomber pressed home his attack from a height of 300 feet. Two heavy bombs landed close to the port quarter and he fired his rear gun as he passed overhead. He was most likely hit by fire from the Vickers guns. Just after sunset, at 18:30 hrs, this performance was repeated by the fighter-bombers only but they kept a respectful distance and their bombs fell wide. With the darkness the air attacks ceased and it was possible to take stock of the situation inside the submarine, which was as follows:

• Port engine out of action, starboard engine in fair shape.
• Main motors out of action due to flooding.
• Ballast pump out of action.
• Upper conning tower hatch could not be shut.
• W/T and gyro compass out of action due to flooding.
• Hole 9” by 4” in the pressure hull.
• Hole in the gun tower.
• Hole in No. 2 port main ballast tank.
• 4” depth of water in the control room. Battery boards tight.
• Starboard side HP ring main severed outside W/T office.
• Submarine being steered in local control aft.

Casualties to the crew, were two mortally wounded and two officers and eleven ratings suffered varying wound degrees. The Ship’s Company was then organised for the night, a chain of buckets still being necessary to deal with water coming in through the damaged pressure hull. Course was set to pass through the Ten Degree Channel to get as far away from land as possible by dawn. During the night, AB T G Motteram died of wounds. He was buried at sea the following day.

4^th January 1945

The port engine circulator had been rigged as a bilge pump. A hammock was rigged as a chute so that the water from the hole in the pressure hull ran into the engine room bilges. Attempts were made to repair the port engine but this could not be done.

At dawn the Vickers guns were stripped and cleaned and an attempt was made to clear the Oerlikon in preparation for another day of air attacks. Nothing, however, happened to everyone’s surprise and relief. The Second Coxswain went over the side and improved the blanket plugging which considerably reduced the inflow of water. I then remembered that Stygian was outward bound from Trincomalee to her patrol area. Course was then set to place Shakespeare on the route of Stygian.

5^th January 1945

09:00 hrs – It was decided to put an external patch over the hole in the pressure hull in case the weather should deteriorate. This was finished at 14:00 hrs. During the fitting of this patch speed had to be reduced to 5 kts and the submarine had to be heeled 7 degrees to port. While this work was going on the starboard muffler tank was found to be damaged. The supply to the muffler tank spray was cut out with a chisel, thus increasing the flow of circulating water. This enabled speed to be increased to 8.5 kts once the fitting of the patch over the hole was completed. A spare pump was also rigged to remove water from the bilges in case the other pump should fail.

The first hot meal since 2^nd January was served which revived all hands considerably. Also, the bucket chain was no longer needed. The small bullet hole in No. 2 ballast tank was plugged by the Second Coxswain.

21:00 hrs – As we expected to come across Stygian around midnight, it was decided to fire recognition grenades every hour and Very lights of the same colour every half hour (to conserve grenades) and star-shell every two hours throughout the night or until Stygian challenged.

6^th January 1945

01:00 hrs – Sighted a light to the westward. Shortly afterwards, in position to exchange pleasantries with Stygian (Lt G S C Clarabut). Initially Clarabut suspected a trap and asked for the Christian names of my wife. The necessary reply was given, together with the Christian names of Clarabut’s wife, passed for good measure. Details of damage, casualties, etc., were then passed for transmission.

02:00 hrs – Set course for Trincomalee together with Stygian.

07:30 hrs – Reduced speed to 5 knts and half-masted colours (as did Stygian) during the burial of AB G Taylor who had died of his wounds during the previous evening.

09:00 hrs – Both submarines stopped and Stygian sent over a working party of six men as well as torches, medical supplies and bread, by folbot. They also informed us the destroyer Raider would be meeting us at about 15:00 hrs.

15:00 hrs – Raider arrived. All wounded and injured were transferred to her. Oldham lights, torches, bread and chocolate as well as a working party of 10 men were sent back to Shakespeare by the destroyer. The working party of Stygian was sent back to her and she then continued to her patrol area. Shakespeare and Raider then continued the passage to Trincomalee. Now the crew could get some hours of well-earned sleep.

7^th January 1945.

10:00 hrs – Water was now so low in the engine room and motor room bilges that the starboard shaft, which had been cooled by it, seized up at the bulkhead gland and the starboard engine had to be stopped. A tow was passed with some difficulty.

10:30 hrs – Commenced towing. Raider working up to 15 kts in an endeavour to get to Trincomalee before nightfall.

12:00 hrs – The tow parted. The wire was then passed again. During this operation the stern of Raider landed on Shakespeare’s bow causing a neat cut in the destroyer’s side. There was no damage to Shakespeare.

13:00 hrs – Towing commenced again but now at a speed of 10 kts.

16:30 hrs – The destroyer Whelp arrived to take over the duties from Raider who then slipped her tow. Whelp passed a towline. During this operation she was also holed. The working party of Raider was returned to her and a working party of Whelp was taken on board.

17:30 hrs – In tow again, speed 10 kts.

18:00 hrs – The tow parted. Wire had to be passed again.

19:30 hrs – Towing commenced again.

8^th January 1945.

05:00 hrs – Passed Foul Point and slipped tow and secured alongside a tug.

08:00 hrs – Passed the boom and secured alongside our depot ship Wolfe ending Shakespeare’s 15^th war patrol.

HMS Shakespeare makes it into Trincomalee harbour flying the ‘Jolly Roger’

On account of Shakespeare’s Ship’s Company’s outstanding courage, tenacity and innovation to get their submarine back to harbour, there were 17 awards in total – David Swanston DSO, two DSCs, Petty Officer Telegraphist V G Harmer – the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (CGM), seven DSMs and six Mention-in-Dispatches.

Acknowledgement

Much of the above has been sourced from the web-based ‘U-boat Net’ database developed by Brian Corijn, a Dutch citizen. Over many years, at the National Archives he has meticulously researched the content of WWII British submarine patrol reports. From these he has extracted key events and produced charts of individual submarine tracks/engagements during each patrol. As such the ‘U-boat Net’ database is an extremely valuable primary source of the history of the Submarine Service during WWII.