HMS Unseen (P51)

History
Class and type:	U-class submarine
Name:	HMS Unseen
Builder:	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down:	30 July 1941
Launched:	16 April 1942
Commissioned:	2 July 1942
Fate:	scrapped September 1949
Badge:
General characteristics
Displacement:	Surfaced - 540 tons standard, 630 tons full load Submerged - 730 tons
Length:	58.22 m (191 ft)
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 (20.8 km/h) max surfaced 10 knots (19 km/h) max submerged
Complement:	27-31
Armament:	4 bow internal 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes - 8 - 10 torpedoes 1 - 3-inch (76 mm) gun

HMS Unseen (P51) was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness.

Career

Unseen spent most of her wartime career in the Mediterranean, where she sank the Italian merchants Zenobia Martini, Le Tre Marie and Rastello (the former Greek Messaryas Nomikos), the Italian naval auxiliary Sportivo, the German auxiliary submarine chaser UJ-2205 (the former French Le Jacques Coeur), the Italian sailing vessel Fabiola, the German minelayer Brandenburg (the former French Kita), the German nightfighter direction vessel Kreta (the former French Ile de Beauté) and the German barge F 541. Unseen also destroyed the wreck of the German merchant Macedonia and a salvage barge.

Unseen also launched unsuccessful attacks against the Italian merchant Saluzzo (the former French Tamara), and what is identified as an Italian Capitani Romani class cruiser.

Unseen survived the war and was scrapped at Hayle in September 1949.

References

• "HMS Unseen (P 51)". uboat.net. 
• "Universal to Untamed". British submarines of World War II. 
• 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

• Interview with Michael Crawford, who commanded HMS Unseen from 1942 to 1944

British U-class submarine
Royal Navy	First group Undine Unity Ursula Second group Umpire Una Unbeaten Undaunted Union Unique Upholder Upright Urchin Urge Usk Utmost Third group Ultimatum Ultor Umbra Unbending Unbroken Unison United Universal Unrivalled Unruffled Unruly Unseen Unshaken Unsparing Unswerving Untamed Untiring Uproar Upstart Usurper Uther Vandal Varangian Varne Vitality Vox P32 P33 P36 P38 P39 P41 P47 P48 P52
Other operators  Royal Danish Navy Springeren  Free French Naval Forces Curie  Royal Hellenic Navy Amphitriti Xifias  Royal Netherlands Navy Dolfijn  Royal Norwegian Navy Uredd Ula  Polish Navy Dzik Sokół  Soviet Navy V-2 V-3 V-4
Preceded by: T class Followed by: P611 class List of submarines of the Royal Navy List of submarine classes of the Royal Navy