HMS Union (N56)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Union.

HMS Union (N56)
Career
Name:	HMS Union
Builder:	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down:	9 December 1939
Launched:	1 October 1940
Commissioned:	22 February 1941
Fate:	sunk 20 July 1941
General characteristics
Displacement:	Surfaced - 540 tons standard, 630 tons full load Submerged - 730 tons
Length:	58.22 m (191 feet)
Beam:	4.90 m (16 ft 1 in)
Draught:	4.62 m (15 ft 2 in)
Propulsion:	2 shaft diesel-electric 2 Paxman Ricardo diesel generators + electric motors 615 / 825 hp
Speed:	11.25 knots max surfaced 10 knots max submerged
Complement:	27-31
Armament:	4 bow internal 21 inch torpedo tubes - 8 - 10 torpedoes 1 - 3 inch gun

HMS Union was a British U class submarine, of the second group of that class, built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 9 December 1939 and was commissioned on 22 February 1941.

Career and sinking

Union spent much of her short career operating in the Mediterranean, where she sank the Italian merchant Pietro Querini. Her success was short-lived however. Union sailed from Malta at 1 o’clock on the morning of 14 July 1941 with orders to intercept a convoy north of Tripoli the following day. On 20 July 1941 she was sunk with all hands during an attack on the convoy by the Italian torpedo boat Circe. When she failed to return to Malta she was reported overdue on 22 July 1941.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475. 
• Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-710558-8. OCLC 53783010. 

External links

• The abandoned Pietro Querini photographed by a Malta-based RAF Blenheim. The vessel later sank