Author Topic: HM Submarine Odin (1928 - 1940)  (Read 1615 times)

Offline stuartwaters

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HM Submarine Odin (1928 - 1940)
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2020, 08:22:21 PM »
Another one recovered from the old Forum


HMS Odin was the lead boat of the six-strong Odin or O class and was built at Chatham. HMS Odin and her sisters were a development of HMS Oberon. She was the only boat of the class to be built at Chatham.


Laid down on No 7 slip on 23rd June 1927 and launched into the Medway by a Mrs Sterling on 5th May 1928, she fitted out at Chatham and was commissioned on 21st December 1929. She displaced 1781 tons on the surface and 2038 tons dived so was quite a large boat for her time. She was armed with 6 21" torpedo tubes in the bow plus 2 in the stern, in addition to a 4" gun on the conning tower and machine guns on the bridge.


The Odin Class submarine:





A short video clip of the launch of HMS Odin (thanks to CliveH)


http://www.britishpathe.com/video/our-latest-submarine-2/query/CHATHAM


After trials and workup, she served with the 5th Submarine Flotilla working out of Portsmouth until the end of 1930, when she transferred to 4th Submarine Flotilla at Hong Kong.



HMS Odin alongside her depot ship





HMS Odin underway on the surface







She was there until August 1939 when she transferred to 8th Flotilla at Singapore. In October, the Flotilla moved to Colombo in Ceylon. Between 8th and 20th September 1939, she conducted her first war patrol in the Malacca Straits. This patrol ended on 21st September at Singapore. On 28th September she started her 2nd war patrol from Singapore, patrolling the Malacca Strait, ending again at Singapore on 19th October. On 26th October, she again departed Singapore for Colombo arriving on 1st November. Between 7th and 21st November 1939, she conducted her 3rd war patrol in the Chagos and Maldives Islands. She refitted in Colombo between 22nd November 1939 and 4th February 1940.


HMS Odin then made 2 short war patrols off the Seychelles between 29th February and 4th March 1940 and between 16th March and 22nd March 1940. By 1940, intelligence reports had convinced the Admiralty that the Italians were preparing for war and with few submarines in the Mediterranean, the 8th Flotilla was ordered to move to Alexandria. HMS Odin arrived at Alexandria on 22nd May 1940. Italy declared war on 10th June 1940 and the following day, HMS Odin commenced her 6th war patrol from Alexandria to patrol off the Italian naval base at Taranto.


On the night of 13th/14th June 1940, HMS Odin started the first skirmish against the Italians when she attempted to torpedo the Italian cruisers Fiume and Gorizia. The Italian destroyer Strale sighted HMS Odin at 23:21 on 13th June. The Destroyer turned to attack, first with torpedoes, and then with gunfire. Strale then attempted to ram the submarine, which fired a torpedo from a stern tube before diving. Having failed to ram the submarine, the Strale launched a pattern of depth charges before returning to her designated patrol. At 01:57 the Torpedo Boat Baleno sighted Odin surfacing about 9 miles from the position of the original attack. The Baleno also attempted to ram the submarine, which once again dived to avoid her pursuer. Passing over the area Baleno dropped two depth charges, turned and dropped three more. Later that morning aerial reconnaissance by the Italian Air Force revealed oil slicks in both attack areas. The Italians believed the attacks to be on two separate submarines, but it is believed that both attacks were on HMS Odin. The first seems to have badly damaged the submarine, the second finished her off.


HMS Odin - on Eternal Patrol. Her Roll of Honour can be found here:

http://rnsubs.co.uk/boats/subs/odin-class/odin1.html
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.