HMS P48 (1942)

HMS P48 on the surface, passing the bridge at Buccleuch Dock, Barrow in Furness
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS P48
Ordered	23 August 1940
Builder	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down	2 August 1941
Launched	15 April 1942
Commissioned	18 June 1942
Fate	Missing from 23 December 1942
General characteristics
Class and type	U-class
Displacement	Surfaced – 545 tons standard, 630 tons full load Submerged – 740 tons
Length	196.75 ft (59.97 m)
Beam	16 ft 1 in (4.90 m)
Draught	15 ft 2 in (4.62 m)
Propulsion	Two shafts, diesel-electric two diesel generators + electric motors 615 / 825 hp
Speed	14.25 knots max surfaced 9 knots max submerged
Complement	31
Armament	Four bow internal 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 8 torpedoes One 3-inch (76 mm) gun

HMS P48 was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. Commissioned on 18 June 1942, Vickers arranged for the wife of serving submarine Captain, Alister Mars of HMS Unbroken, Ting Mars and Commander of the cruiser Jamaica to officially launch P.48 at Barrow dockyard.

After an initial patrol in the Norwegian Sea, P48 spent most of her career in the Mediterranean Sea. She sailed to Gibraltar, then was assigned to the 10th Submarine Flotilla which was based in Malta. After an uneventful patrol, she departed port on her last patrol, on 23 December 1942. She is thought to have been sunk two days later whilst attacking an Italian convoy in the Gulf of Tunis heading towards Tunis, from depth charges launched by the Italian torpedo boat Ardente, northwest of the island of Zembra.

The vessel and her crew were honoured and immortalized by the nephew of one of the lost sailors (Lt. Stephen E. Spring Rice, RNVR), English musician Thomas Dolby, in the song "One of Our Submarines".