HMS Thunderbolt
The submarine was successfully salvaged and repaired, being commissioned in 1940 as HMS Thunderbolt under the command of Lt. Cdr. Richard Crouch.
During the next 18 months, she saw service in the Atlantic: In December 1940 she was on patrol in the Bay of Biscay and on 15 December she encountered and sank the Italian submarine Capitano Raffaele Tarantini.
In the autumn of 1942, Thunderbolt was converted with her sister ships Trooper and P311 to carry two "Chariots" (a type of manned torpedo) and their crews for operations against Axis shipping in harbour, and was transferred with them to the Mediterranean in December 1942.
Their first mission, Operation Principal, was undertaken in December 1942, the three boats taking their charges to targets around the Mediterranean. Thunderbolt's objective was shipping in Cagliari, but the operation was not a success, and P311 was lost at La Maddalena, her intended target.
A second operation against Palermo harbour in January 1943 was more successful. On 2-3 January, the manned torpedoes entered the harbour and mined the ships there, sinking the cruiser Ulpio Traiano and the freighter SS Viminale.
A further mission to Tripoli harbour took place on 18 January. This was to prevent the Axis using blockships to neutralize Tripoli harbour, which was about to be occupied by the British Eighth Army.
Thunderbolt was sunk on 14 March 1943 off Sicily by the Italian corvette Cicogna, which had detected her and attacked with depth charges. All hands were lost and Thunderbolt settled to the bottom in 1,350 m of water.
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