HMS Springer (P264)

HMS Springer
History
Class and type:	S class submarine
Name:	HMS Springer
Builder:	Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead
Laid down:	8 May 1944
Launched:	14 May 1945
Commissioned:	2 August 1945
Out of service:	Sold to Israeli Navy on 9 October 1958
Renamed:	Tanin 1958
Fate:	Listed for disposal, 1972
General characteristics
Displacement:	814-872 tons surfaced 990 tons submerged
Length:	217 ft (66 m)
Beam:	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Draught:	11 ft (3.4 m)
Speed:	14.75 knots surfaced 8 knots submerged
Complement:	48 officers and men
Armament:	6 × forward 21-inch torpedo tubes, one aft 13 torpedoes one three-inch gun (four-inch on later boats) one 20 mm cannon three .303-calibre machine gun

Royal Navy WW-II service

HMS Springer was an S class submarine of the Royal Navy, and part of the Third Group built of that class. She was built by Cammell Laird and launched on 14 May 1945. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Springer.

Built as the Second World War was drawing to a close, she did not see much action.^[1] In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.^[2]

Israeli Navy service as Tanin, Six Day War

Springer was sold to the Israeli Navy in 1958 and renamed Tanin (Hebrew: תנין‎; Crocodile). Tanin participated in the Six Day War,^[3] launching naval commandos to attack the port of Alexandria. She then tried to torpedo an Egyptian sloop but was severely damaged by a depth charge counter attack.^[4] Her commander was awarded the Medal of Courage for his actions at the port of Alexandria.^[5] She received spare parts from her sister ship Rahav, formerly HMS Sanguine, when Rahav was retired in 1968. Tanin was listed for disposal in 1972.

Legacy

A Gal class submarine named Tanin served the Israeli Navy from 1977 to 2002, and a Dolphin-class submarine named Tanin was delivered in May 2012.

References

1. HMS Springer, Uboat.net
2. Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden
3. http://submarines.dotan.net/sclasse/
4. http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=45877
5. http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/317/269.html?hp=1&cat=875

Publications

• 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.