HMS United (P44)

HMS "United" (P44) was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name "United".

Career

She spent most of the war in the Mediterranean, where she sank the small Italian merchant "Rostro", the Italian auxiliary submarine chaser V 39/"Giovanna", the Italian destroyer "Bombardiere", the French merchant "Ste Marguerite" (the former Norwegian "Ringulv"), and the Italian merchant "Olbia". Whilst covering the Allied invasion of Sicily, "United" spotted the Italian transport submarine "Remo" on the surface. She launched four torpedoes, one of which hit the "Remo" amidships, sinking her within a few minutes. Only four survived, the three who were on the conning tower (amongst them the CO, Captain Vassallo), and Sergeant Dario Cortopassi who was able to come up from the control room. "United" also sank the Italian transport ship "Rosolino Pilo", which had already been damaged in a previous attack by motor torpedo boats. She also damaged the Italian tanker "Petrarca", and further damaged the Italian merchant "Ravenna". The "Ravenna" had been grounded after air attack and a fire on 29 September 1942. She also attacked the damaged Italian light cruiser "Attilio Regolo", but missed her. The "Attilio Regolo" had lost her bow due to an attack the previous day by HMS "Unruffled".

"United" survived the war and was scrapped at Troon from 12 February 1946.

References

*cite web | url= http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3545.html | title= HMS "United" (P 44) | work= uboat.net
*cite web | url= http://home.cogeco.ca/~gchalcraft/sm/page27.html | title= Undaunted to Unity | work= British submarines of World War II
*Colledge
*Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 To The Present Day, by Robert Hutchinson