Date of Loss
HMS P33 was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 18 June 1940, launched on 28 January 1941, and commissioned on 30 May 1941.
Service
The submarine served with the 10th Submarine Flotilla based at Malta and was commanded throughout her career by Lieutenant Reginald Denis Whiteway-Wilkinson.
One of her notable successes came on 15 July 1941, when she sank the Italian motor vessel Barbarigo south of Pantelleria.
Loss
HMS P33 sailed from Malta on 6 August 1941 for a patrol intended to intercept Axis convoys bound for Libya. She never returned.
The exact cause of her loss remains uncertain:
- Contemporary accounts suggested she may have been destroyed during a heavy Italian depth-charge attack on 18 August 1941.
She was declared overdue in August 1941 and was lost with all 33 crew members aboard.
Specifications
- Class: U-class submarine
- Length: 58.2 m (191 ft)
- Surface displacement: 540 tons
- Complement: 33
- Armament:
- 4 × 21-inch torpedo tubes
- 3-inch deck gun
