HMS Thorn was a Royal Navy T-class submarine built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead. She was laid down on 20 January 1940, launched on 18 March 1941, and commissioned on 26 August 1941 under Lieutenant Commander Robert Galliano Norfolk.
Service Record
Although her career lasted less than a year, Thorn was one of the more successful British submarines operating in the Mediterranean. She was credited with sinking:
- The German tanker Campina.
- The Italian tanker Ninuccia.
- The Italian submarine Medusa on 30 January 1942, one of her most notable successes.
- The Italian auxiliary patrol vessel AS 91 (Ottavia).
- The Italian transport Monviso.
She also undertook special operations missions, including landing agents and supplies on occupied Mediterranean islands.
Loss
Thorn departed Haifa on 21 July 1942 for her eighth war patrol and was due to return to Beirut on 11 August 1942. She never returned.
The generally accepted account is that Thorn was lost on 6-7 August 1942 while operating about 30 nautical miles southwest of Gavdos Island, south of Crete, in position approximately 34°25'N, 22°36'E.
The sequence appears to have been:
- An escorting Ju 88 aircraft spotted something in the water and machine-gunned the surface.
- The Italian torpedo boat Pegaso, escorting the merchant ship Istria, moved to investigate.
- Pegaso obtained a sonar contact and carried out a series of seven depth-charge attacks.
- Contact was eventually lost, and Thorn was never heard from again.
Most historians therefore conclude that HMS Thorn was sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Pegaso, with the loss of all 61 crew members, although the wreck has not yet been found.
