HMS Untamed
Vessel name on Arrival: HMS Vitality
Original Builder: Vickers-Armstrongs, High Walker Yard, Newcastle upon Tyne
Original Yard No: 47
Official Number: 117034
Vessel Type: submarine
GRT: 545
Year Built: 1942
Arrival Date: 24/02/1946
Breakup Started: 05/03/1946
Date First Beached: 19/03/1947
Date Breakup Completed: 07/07/1947
Draught For’d: 12' 6"
Draught Aft: 13' 0"
Name Changes:
1942 : Launched as P 58
1943 : Renamed HMS Untamed
1943 : Renamed HMS Vitality
Other Information:
'U' – Class Submarine for the Royal Navy – Pennant No. P-58
09-10-1941 : Laid Down Length : 58.22 metres (191' 0")
08-12-1942 : Launched Breadth : 4.90 metres ( 16' 1")
14-04-1943 : Completed Draught : 4.62 metres ( 15' 2")
540 tons – Standard Load
630 tons – Full Load
730 tons – Submerged
Complement : 27 – 31 men)
Propulsion : Twin Screw Twin Paxman – Ricardo Diesel Engines + Electric Motors
Speed : Surfaced = 11.5 knots Submerged = 10.0 knots
The loss of HMS Untamed :
HMS Untamed sailed out from the Supply Ship HMS Forth in the Holy Loch in the early morning light of Sunday 30th May 1943. She was to undertake a training exercise with the 8th Escort Group, in the Firth of Clyde, acting as a target in the Kilbrannan Sound. In the second exercise that day, HMS Untamed was to be used as a target for anti-submarine mortar practice by the 878 tons Admiralty Armed Surface Vessel HMS Shemara, which also served as an ASDIC Training Ship. (This was the commandeered luxury yacht of the Dockers, built in 1938 at Thornycroft's Woolston Yard)
When the submarine did not respond to attempts to contact her, nor surface, assistance was summoned. Shemara located HMS Untamed with sonar and heard the sounds of her engines being run and tanks being blown. HMS Thrasher arrived but no more was heard from HMS Untamed after 17:45 hours – nearly three hours from the first indication of a problem. Weather prevented divers inspecting the submarine until the 1st June. On 5th of June, the body of Chief Engine Room Artificer, Thomas Challoner, was found lodged in the Escape Chamber, beneath the Escape Hatch. His body was taken ashore and buried in Kilkerran Cemetery, Campbeltown. The submarine was then taken to Dunoon where all the other crewmen's bodies were recovered and interred in the Dunoon Cemetery.
There was no outward sign of damage and it was not until after HMS Untamed was salvaged on 5 July 1943 that it was determined that the cause of the sinking was due to a valve which had been incorrectly installed giving a false reading to the crew, and when they opened an inner hatch to gain access to the patent log, the sea poured into the boat with such pressure the crew had to abandon that compartment. The situation was worsened by the failure of the watertight door to seal off the flooding section. From the investigation that followed it appears that carbon dioxide built up rapidly preventing clear thinking by the crew. It is speculated that they spent almost four hours attempting to pump the water out of the boat instead of trying to escape. (Even though they were signaled by the surface ships to do so.)
When they realized that they would not be able to raise the boat they moved to the engine room and began an
attempt to escape by flooding the compartment and using the internal pressure to force open the outer hatch.
Sadly, a second valve now malfunctioned, this valve, again having been installed incorrectly, showed to be
open when it was closed. Nobody knows how much time it took the crew to determine why the engine room would not flood but, during this period someone opened another valve which, after the engine room began
taking on water, allowed much of it to enter the bilge adding to the time it would take to flood the engine room.
Because of the added time it took to flood the engine room the men, now overcome by oxygen depravation,
could no longer help themselves and they all lapsed into unconsciousness and died. Not one of the 36 man crew made it out alive.
HMS Untamed was salvaged, refitted and renamed HMS Vitality, returning to service in July 1944.
Interred in the Dunoon Cemetery, Argyll & Bute, Scotland
The following 35 Royal Navy personnel of the total 36-man complement lost their lives in the tragic accident that befell the newly commissioned Submarine HMS UNTAMED in the Firth of Clyde on 30th of May 1943 whilst she was undertaking a training exercise with the 8th Escort Group. They are interred in the Dunoon Cemetery. The 36th member of the crew, Chief E.R.A., T. G. Challoner is interred in Campbeltown’s Kilkerran Cemetery.
Acworth – Peter Carr Glynn 20 years Sub-Lieutenant Hampshire
Arkwright – John Richard Stephen 36 years Able Seaman Radnorshire
Ball – George Herbert 29 years Petty Officer Stoker Chatham
Bates – Jack 21 years Able Seaman Birmingham
Beard – Robert Leonard Archibald 25 years Leading Seaman Brighton
Bothams – Peter 20 years Able Seaman Great Yarmouth
Bowyer – Hugh L. unknown Able Seaman Glasgow
Clayton – Peter Lambert 20 years Sub-Lieutenant Lancashire
Cole – Herbert Ernest Douglas 20 years Stoker 1st Class unknown
Cooper – Joseph Frederick 22 years Able Seaman County Durham
Danks – George Victor unknown E.R.A. 4th Class Birmingham
Dow – James 24 years Telegraphist Stirlingshire
Duncan – John Priestly 23 years Lieutenant Sussex
Flinn – Alfred Charles 23 years Able Seaman Coventry
Floyd – Gordon Douglas 20 years Able Seaman unknown
Gates – Norman Thomas 21 years Leading Seaman Hampshire
Gibson – John Joseph Frederick 24 years Able Seaman Leicester
Green – Henry A. W. 25 years Able Seaman Essex
Hickson – William 26 years Able Seaman Manchester
Higgins – Geoffrey Thomas Charles 21 years Sub-Lieutenant Hertfordshire
Male – Peter 20 years Ordinary Seaman Staffordshire
Miles – Frederick Arthur 26 years Leading Stoker County Durham
Mitchell – Leslie Clarence 20 years Telegraphist Surrey
Nichol – Henry 28 years E.R.A. 4th Class Yorkshire
Noll – Gordon Maurice (Commander) 25 years Lieutenant Devon
Pendleton – Roy George 20 years Stoker 1st Class unknown
Playfair – Peter unknown Leading Telegraphist unknown
Read – Arthur George unknown Leading Signalman unknown
Smith – Leslie George 24 years P. O. Telegraphist Hampshire
Spencer – Albert 32 years Stoker 1st Class unknown
Tippett – Wilfred 22 years Petty Officer Cornwall
Walker – Walker 29 years Stoker 1st Class Berwickshire
Wellfoot – Welfoot 32 years Petty Officer unknown
Wheeler – Ronald 22 years Able Seaman Middlesex
Wishart – Robert William 23 years Leading Stoker Campbeltown
Interred at Kilkerran Cemetery, Campbeltown
Challoner – Thomas G. G. unknown Chief E.R.A. unknown
War Service Log of HMS Vitality :
Following salvage, HMS Untamed, now renamed HMS Vitality, resumed active service, her first patrol in the North Sea, via Lerwick in the Sherland Isles, from 12th through 29th October 1944.
The rest of her war was uneventful and in February 1946 she was sold for scrapping.
(The Sandbank War Memorial at Hunters Quay, Dunoon, is in part dedicated to the crew of HMS Untamed who, with the exception of the Chief E.R.A., were buried at Dunoon cemetery – see botton picture)