The Submarine Heritage Centre - HMS Seraph

Sponsorship Comments

The artist for the Barrow Submarine Heritage Collection ,Tom Murphy, donated this painting free. Tom stated "when I was a lad at school at Walney Juniors and then the seniors Seraph was my School house name. It was also the submarine that the Barrow Branch of the Submariners Association asked me to paint for the front cover of the SA brochure that was used for the Centenary Celebrations in Barrow in May 2001. This submarine has therefore always been a part of my life in one way or another. I decided to do this as a pen and ink drawing to capture as much detail as possible and to introduce a painting that was not a water colour. I hope this effect has succeeded."

Seraph Technical Facts:

- Builder: Vickers Armstrong Limited - Barrow-in-Furness
- Yard No: 790
- Pennant number: 219
- Laid down: August 16th 1940
- Launched: October 25th 1941
- Completed: June 10th 1942
- Commissioned: June 27th 1942
- Displacement: Surface 715 tons, Dived 990 tons.
- Dimensions (in feet and inches): Length 202'6'' Dia. 23'9'' Draught 10'6''
- Machinery: Surface Twin 8 Cylinder Diesels 1,550 shp = 14.75 knots Dived Twin Electric Motors 1,330shp = 9knots.
- Weapons: 7x21'' Torpedo Tubes - 6 forward and 1 aft, 1x 3'' inch deck gun. 3x machine guns.
- Complement: 44.
- Other boats of the class built at Barrow: P72 (222) & Shakespear (221).

Historical Facts:

Commanding Officer: Lt. N.L A. Jewell Distinguished Service Order, Member of the British Empire, Distinguished Service Cross, Legion of Merit, Legion d'Honour, Criox de Guere.

After working up Seraph joined the 8th Submarine Flotilla in Gibraltar on the 25th August 1942, and found herself selected to carry out "Special Operations", which was to remain the pattern for the next seventeen months.Of the several "Special Operations " carried out. three stand out from the rest.

Operation Flagpole (October 20th to 25th 1942)
An operation to carry American General Mark Clarke and his staff to Vichy controlled Algiers to meet with Vichy General Charles Maret to negotiate an unopposed Allied landing when the time came.

Operation Kingpin (October 27th to November 10th 1942)
An operation to smuggle the anti-Vichy General Henri Harove' Giraud from Vichy occupied France to Gibraltar, to rally French North African Forces to the allied cause. He would only co-operate, if the allies pledged him a command in keeping with his rank and reputation. He also refused to co-operate with the British, and would only travel in an American Submarine. In consequence, Seraph became American in all respects, under the command of Captain Jerauld Wright U.S.N., causing Seraph to become known as the "Ship with two Captains".

Operation "Mincemeat" (October 18th to 21st April 1943)
A ruse-de-guere to fool the Germans about the allied plans in the Mediterranean regarding the invasion of Sicily. Seraph took the unidentified body of a man dressed in the Uniform of a Royal Marine Major to the coast of Spain and dropped him close inshore, so that he would eventually wash up on the beach. It was hoped that the false papers in his briefcase would be found by the "neutral" Spaniards, who would transmit their contents to Germany. The outcome was a complete success. The "Man who never was" completely fooled the Germans.

Between "Special Operations", Seraph contributed her share to the savaging of Italian and German shipping in the Mediterranean . In December 1943, she sailed for Chatham to undergo a much needed refit, after which, she carried out her final patrol in the English Channel during the D-Day operation before moving to Rothsay in Scotland as a training boat.In the early 1950's she was armour plated and used as a torpedo target boat.Scrapped in December 1965, her periscopes, fore hatch and other various items were placed in the Citadel Campus at the Military College of South Carolina, where General Clarke had attended, as a memorial to the "Ship with two Captains".

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