HMS Narwhal (N45) was a Grampus-class minelaying submarine of the Royal Navy, built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. She was ordered on 15 March 1934, launched on 29 August 1935, and commissioned in February 1936.
Key Facts
- Class: Grampus-class minelaying submarine.
- Pennant Number: N45.
- Commissioned: 28 February 1936.
- Commanding Officer at loss: Lt Cdr Ronald James Burch, RN.
- Motto: Cave Quum Feriam ("Beware when I strike").
Second World War Service
At the outbreak of war in September 1939, HMS Narwhal was employed on convoy defence duties and later undertook offensive minelaying operations off the Norwegian coast and in the North Sea. Her minefields were highly successful and were credited with sinking or damaging several enemy vessels.
Notable operations included:
- Minelaying off Norway during Operation Wilfred in April 1940.
- Sinking the merchant vessel Buenos Aires by torpedo on 1 May 1940 and damaging Bahia Blanca.
- Laying minefields that later sank the German minesweeper M11 and damaged additional shipping.
Loss
On 22 July 1940, HMS Narwhal sailed from Blyth to lay mines off Kristiansund, Norway. On 23 July 1940, a German Dornier Do 17 aircraft reported attacking a submarine east of Scotland. Narwhal failed to return and was declared overdue on 1 August 1940. The air attack is considered the most likely cause of her loss.
A notable aspect of her loss is that German signals intelligence had intercepted and deciphered communications relating to the submarine's movements, making Narwhal one of the very few British submarines believed to have been lost as a direct result of enemy signal intelligence.
Discovery of the Wreck
In May 2017, a Polish expedition searching for the missing Polish submarine ORP Orzeł discovered a submarine wreck that was subsequently identified as HMS Narwhal. The wreck's location and damage were consistent with German records of the July 1940 air attack.
HMS Narwhal remains one of the Royal Navy's most successful and renowned minelaying submarines of the Second World War.
