HMS H49 was a British H-class submarine of the Royal Navy, built by William Beardmore and Company at Dalmuir, Scotland. She was launched on 15 July 1919 and commissioned on 25 October 1919.
Specifications
- Class: H-class submarine
- Surface displacement: 423 tons
- Submerged displacement: 510 tons
- Length: 171 ft (52.1 m)
- Crew: 22 men
- Armament:
- 4 × 21-inch bow torpedo tubes
- 8 torpedoes carried
Service History
After commissioning, H49 joined the submarine training establishment at Portland. She remained in training and reserve service through much of the inter-war period. In March 1937 she made the unusual journey through the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal with her sister submarine HMS H33.
Following the fall of France in 1940, older H-class submarines were pressed into operational service in the North Sea. On 16 September 1940, H49 successfully attacked a German coastal convoy, sinking a merchant vessel of about 2,189 tons.
Loss
On 17 October 1940, under the command of Lieutenant Richard Evelyn Coltart DSC, H49 sailed from Harwich to patrol off Texel on the Dutch coast. The following day she was detected and attacked by the German auxiliary submarine chasers UJ-116 and UJ-118. Depth charges sank the submarine west of Texel.
Only one survivor, Leading Stoker George William Oliver, was rescued. The remaining 26 crew members were lost.
