二次世界大戰資料庫 (WW2DB)

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseTribune, part of the first group of T-class submarines, began her WW2 career with a rather lacking record off Northern and Western Europe with Lieutenant Commander G. P. S. Davies and then Lieutenant E. F. Balson. Her record in the North Sea was rather terrible. On 17 Jan 1940, she fired six torpedoes against an enemy submarine in the Skagerrak Strait northeast of Skagen, Denmark, and all torpedoes missed; an interesting fact with this attack was that no German submarine reported this attack. On 22 Jun, she made an torpedo attack against a German merchant ship off Standlandet, Norway; once again, all torpedoes missed. On 6 Sep, she made an attack with two torpedoes against German submarine U-56 northeast of St. Kilda, Outer Hebride Islands, Scotland, UK; both torpedoes missed, and once again the German submarine reported no such attack. On 16 Dec, she attacked the German tanker Karibisches Meer in the Bay of Biscay east of Ile de Yeu, France, with all torpedoes missing the target. Three days later, in the Bay of Biscay off Belle Ile, France, she attacked German merchant ship Birkenfels with similar ineffectiveness.

ww2dbaseIn early 1943, Tribune was transferred to the Mediterranean, where she achieved some limited successes. On 10 Jan 1943, she attacked and damaged French merchant ship Dalny 15 nautical miles off of San Remo, Italy; Dalny beached off Cape Cervo, Sardinia, Italy to prevent sinking, and Tribune followed up her attack with another torpedo on the following day to further damage the French ship. On 22 Mar, she damaged the German tanker Präsident Herrenschmidt by torpedo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. On 30 Mar, she fired torpedoes at Italian merchant ship Benevento north of Ustica, Italy; all torpedoes missed. After WW2, she was sold for scrap in Jul 1947 and was broken up in Nov that year.

Photographs

Tribune Operational Timeline

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1.  Alan Chanter says:
5 May 2008 02:45:59 PM

U.S. Submarines, of course, ALWAYS achieve 100% success?