Submarine Heritage Centre - Art Gallery

Submarines built at Barrow-in-Furness during World war II for Allied Governments in Exile

As the armies of the Third Reich successfully overran firstly Poland then Denmark and Norway and finally in May 1940, Western Europe, many ships and submarines from occupied countries managed to escape to Great Britain where they continued the struggle against the Nazis and their Allies.

The most famous escape without a doubt was that of the Polish submarine Orzel , whose escape from the Baltic without the aid of charts, was a Boys Own adventure all of its own.

With the Italian-German invasion of the Balkans in 1941, Greek and Yugoslavian submarines joined the British Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria .

As a result of the Japanese advances in the Dutch East Indies in 1942, Dutch submarines continued the fight by joining their British and American Allies operating from bases in Australia .

Gradually, these submarines, some of which were quite elderly, needed replacing or supplementing with new boats. Consequently, submarines on order in several British shipyards for the Royal Navy were transferred to the "Free navies". The Barrow Shipyard built twelve boats for five "Free" navies between 1941 and 1944.

These foreign boats operated under the control of the Flag Officer Submarines, Royal Navy, and were primarily based at the 9th Submarine Flotilla at Dundee in Scotland.

Foreign Submarines that escaped to the U.K. in the early part of WWII

France

Eight submarines plus the Depot Ship Jules Verne arrived at Harwich on the 23rd March 1940.

A further six French submarines arrived at the Scottish city of Dundee . The submarines Rubis and Sourcof arrived at Portsmouth . Other French submarines from southern ports eventually arrived at Malta and Alexandria . After the French capitulation, and the creation of the Vichey government, all French submarines came under the control of the British Admiralty, but continued to fly the Free French Flag (i.e. The Tricolour, defaced with the Cross of Lorainne).

Greece

Greece had a useful Submarine Branch in 1939, but none seemed to escape during the Italian and subsequent invasions.

When under British Admiralty control they flew the Greek national flag.

Netherlands

Submarines 09 and 010 escaped to the U.K. in May 1940. Both these submarines were scrapped in 1944.

013 Escaped to the U.K. but was lost to a mine in the North Sea .
014 Escaped to the U.K and was scrapped in 1943.
015 Escaped to the U.K and was scrapped in 1945.

Submarines 021 - 024 escaped to the U.K. and were scrapped at the end of the war.

The Dutch also had several boats in their overseas bases in the Far East . As the Japanese advanced, these submarines were either lost, or moved down to Australia for the remainder of the war. The Dutch had a very advanced Submarine Service, probably on a par with other major navies. At the end of the hostilities the Dutch rebuilt their Submarine Service with British "T" class submarines, some captured German, and new construction submarines.

When under British Admiralty control they flew the Dutch national flag.

Norway

Only one submarine escaped to the U.K in 1940, the Norwegian submarine B1 and she was scrapped on arrival. The new Norwegian Submarine Branch operated using new build U.K. submarines.

When under British Admiralty control they flew the Norwegian national flag.

Poland (free Polish Navy)

Two Polish submarines Wilk and Orzel were on patrol in the Baltic when war broke out on the 2nd September 1939. They arrived in the U.K. after many adventures, including a brief internment in Latvia , from where they broke out. Orzel was lost in the North Sea , December 1939.

When under British Admiralty control they flew the Polish national flag.

Distribution of Foreign Submarines

January 1942

2nd Flotilla - Malta . 5 Greek. 1 Polish. I Yugoslav.

5th Flotilla - Portsmouth . 1 Norwegian. 4 French.

7th Flotilla - Western Approaches. 1 Dutch. 1 Norwegian. 1 Polish.

8th Flotilla - Gibraltar . 1 Dutch.

9th Flotilla - Dundee . 1 Dutch. 2 French.

May 1944

1st Flotilla - Malta . 1 Dutch. 1 Yugoslav.

3rd Flotilla - Holy Loch ( Scotland ) - 1 Dutch. 1 Norwegian.

5th Flotilla - Portsmouth . 1 French. 1 Polish.

7th Flotilla - Rothsey ( Scotland ). 1 Dutch. 1 Norwegian.

9th Flotilla - Dundee ( Scotland ). 1 Dutch.

Artists Notes

Main Picture

This montage of foreign navies in exile during WWII has been a particularly challenging painting to complete. The amount of detail to be included in one painting is huge.

As stated by the author during the course of WWII there were five foreign navies operating from the U.K. and other various submarine squadrons around the world all under the command of Flag Officer Submarines. The Barrow Shipyard alone provided twelve submarines to these navies in exile. These twelve submarines comprised three different classes, "U", "V" and "T". Most of these submarines had been named, as in the case of H.M. Submarines VOX and VARNE as an example, but a few had only pennant numbers.

The task was therefore to show the three classes of submarine under construction, the national flags of the five foreign countries involved, the original names of these submarines, had they been commissioned into the Royal Navy, the names of the submarines when they were commissioned into "Free French", Greek, Norwegian, Yugoslav and Dutch navies.

I hope that I have come close and represented fairly the contribution that these submarine crews made to the Allies war effort during the course of WWII.

Upper Mount

Vickers Armstrong House Flag.

Lower Mount - (left to right).

All submarines named served at one time as part of the 9th Submarine Flotilla based on H.M.S. Ambrose, the crest of which is shown. This is followed by the Flags and submarine badges of France , Greece , Netherlands , Norway and Poland.

The last illustration is the logo of the Electrical Installation Department Social Club, which was made up of members of 520 Electrical Department from within Vickers shipyard. This department carried out all the electrical installation. It was a generous donation from members of this social club that enabled this painting to be commissioned.