HMS Olympus (N35)

HMS "Olympus" (N35) was an Odin class submarine, a class originally designed for the Royal Australian Navy to cope with long distance patrolling in Pacific waters; "Olympus" was built to the same design for the Royal Navy. She served 1931-1939 with the 4th Flotilla, China Station and 1939-1940 with the 8th Flotilla, Colombo. [ [http://home.cogeco.ca/~gchalcraft/sm/page5.html British submarines of World War II website] ] In 1940 she was redeployed to the Mediterranean. She was sunk by a mine off Malta in May 1942, with 9 survivors.

Notable events in career

*7 July 1940: HMS "Olympus" (Lt.Cdr. Herbert George Dymott, RN) was bombed and damaged by Italian aircraft while in dock in Malta. Repairs and refit were completed on 29 November 1940.

*29 July 1941: HMS "Olympus" torpedoes and sinks the Italian merchant ship "Monteponi" (742 GRT) about convert|10|nmi|km|-1 north of Cape Comino, Sardinia, Italy in position 40°40'N, 09°50'E.

*9 November 1941: HMS "Olympus" attacks the Italian merchant ship "Mauro Croce" (1049 GRT) with torpedoes and gunfire in the Gulf of Genoa. The target escapes without damage.

*8 May 1942: HMS "Olympus" was mined and sunk off Malta in approximate position 35°55'N, 14°35'E. She had just left Malta on passage to Gibraltar with personnel including many of the crews of the sunken submarines HMS" Pandora", HMS "P36" and HMS "P39". There were only 9 survivors out of 98 aboard. They had to swim convert|7|mi|km|0 back to Malta. 89 crew and passengers were lost with the ship.

References

* [http://www.submariners.co.uk/Boats/Barrowbuilt/O_Class/ Submariners Association: O Class]
* [http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/odin_class.htm Battleships-cruisers.co.uk: Odin Class]
* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/class.html?ID=43 Uboat.net]
* D.K. Brown - Nelson to Vanguard , Chatham Maritime Press ISBN 1 86176 136 8