HMS Snapper (N39) was an S-class submarine of the Royal Navy, built at Chatham Dockyard and commissioned in 1935. Snapper belonged to an earlier and larger class designed for operations in the North Sea and Baltic approaches.
Construction
- Ordered: June 1933
- Laid down: 18 September 1933
- Launched: 25 October 1934
- Commissioned: 14 June 1935
- Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Characteristics
Snapper was substantially larger than the early U-class boats:
- Length: 208 ft 8 in (63.6 m)
- Surface displacement: 768 tons
- Submerged displacement: 960 tons
- Crew: About 40 officers and ratings
- Armament:
- Six bow 21-inch torpedo tubes
- Twelve torpedoes carried
- One 3-inch deck gun
Commanding Officers
Two notable commanders were:
- Lieutenant William Donald Aelian King, later Admiral and one of Britain's most distinguished submariners
- Lieutenant Geoffrey Vernon Prowse, who commanded the submarine on her final patrol.
Wartime Service
Snapper spent much of her career in home waters. Early in the war she operated in the North Sea and against German coastal traffic. During her patrols she achieved several successes, sinking:
- The German tanker Moonsund
- The German merchant ship Florida
- German auxiliary minesweepers M 1701 / H. M. Behrens and M 1702 / Carsten Janssen
- The armed trawler V 1107 / Portland
- The Norwegian merchant vessel Cygnus
She also attacked the German auxiliary cruiser Widder, although her torpedoes missed.
An unusual incident occurred when Snapper was mistakenly attacked by a British aircraft while returning from patrol. Despite a direct hit, she survived and continued operating.
Loss
On 29 January 1941, HMS Snapper left the Clyde for a patrol in the Bay of Biscay, operating off Ushant and the French Atlantic coast. She was expected to leave her patrol area on 10 February and rendezvous with an escort for the return journey.
She never arrived.
The exact cause of her loss remains unknown, but historians generally consider two possibilities:
- She struck a German minefield.
- She may have been the submarine attacked by German minesweepers M-2, M-13, and M-25 on the night of 10-11 February 1941, when 56 depth charges were dropped west-south-west of Brest.
She was officially recorded as lost around 11-12 February 1941 with all hands.
A particularly notable connection is that one of Snapper's commanders, William Donald Aelian King, later became Admiral of the Fleet and was the father of the novelist Stephen King making him one of the Royal Navy's most famous submarine officers
