{{short description|Submarine of the Royal Navy}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} {{Use British English|date=April 2017}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=HMS Vandal.jpg |image_caption=HMS ''Vandal'' }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United Kingdom |flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |badge=left|100px |name= |ordered= 15 July 1941 |awarded= |builder=Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness |laid_down= 17 March 1942 |launched= 23 November 1942 |christened= |acquired= |commissioned= 20 February 1943 |recommissioned= |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |renamed= |reclassified= |refit= |captured= |struck= |reinstated= |fate=Sunk in an accident on 24 February 1943, Firth of Clyde |homeport= }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |class=U-class submarine |displacement=*Surfaced - 540 tons standard, 630 tons full load *Submerged - 730 tons |length={{convert|58.22|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |beam={{convert|4.90|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |draught={{convert|4.62|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |draft= |propulsion=*2 shaft diesel-electric *2 Paxman Ricardo diesel generators + electric motors *615 / 825 hp |speed=*{{convert|11.25|kn|abbr=on}} max surfaced *{{convert|10|kn|abbr=on}} max submerged |range= |endurance= |test_depth= |boats= |capacity= |complement=27-31 |time_to_activate= |sensors= |EW= |armament=*4 x bow internal 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes - 8 - 10 torpedoes *1 x {{convert|3|in|mm|adj=on}} gun |armour= |armor= |aircraft= |notes= }} }}

'''HMS ''Vandal'' (P64)''' was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow-in-Furness, yard number 838. The submarine had the shortest career of any Royal Navy submarine, being lost with all 37 onboard just four days after commissioning.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.submarineheritage.com/gallery_vandal.html | title= HMS/M ''Vandal'' | work= Submarine Heritage Centre | access-date= 2007-01-26 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070104192626/http://submarineheritage.com/gallery_vandal.html | archive-date= 4 January 2007 | url-status= dead }}</ref>

==Loss== The submarine, under the command of Lieutenant James S. Bridger, was lost whilst carrying out a three-day-long working up exercise following commissioning. The submarine was last seen leaving her anchorage on 24 February 1943 at Lochranza, in the North of the Isle of Arran, Firth of Clyde, before her rediscovery in December 1994.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3568.html | title= HMS ''Vandal'' (P64) | work = Uboat.net | access-date=2007-01-26}}</ref> She had only just joined the Third Submarine Flotilla in Holy Loch, a major submarine base during the Second World War used extensively for trials and exercises.

There were initially conflicting reports over the possible position of the lost submarine, one submarine reported seeing a smoke candle two and a half miles <!-- nautical or statute? --> (5&nbsp;km) north of Inchmarnock, and another reported hearing hull tapping in a similar area. However a spotter plane reported a large oil slick about 2 miles <!-- nautical or statute? --> (4&nbsp;km) north of Arran (15 kilometres from Inchmarnock). An inquiry at the time of her loss ignored the report from the spotter plane and concluded that the submarine had sunk during the deep dive she was scheduled to perform on that day, somewhere north of Inchmarnock.

At the time Prime Minister Winston Churchill demanded a full report on the loss of the ''Vandal'' and asked if the submarine had been recovered. The reply from Flag Officer Submarines repeated the mistaken assumption that the ''Vandal'' lay in deep waters off Inchmarnock, where salvage would be impossible.

In 1994 the Scottish Branch of the Submariners Association finally persuaded the Navy to search the area north of Arran where a number of trawlers had reported their nets being snagged by an underwater object. A Royal Navy expedition aboard HMS ''Hurworth'' finally located the wreck in June 1994,<ref name="mca">{{cite web | url = http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-environmental/mcga-dops_row_receiver_of_wreck/mcga-dops-row-protected-wrecks/mcga-dops-sar-row.htm | title = Protected wrecks in the UK | work = UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency | access-date = 2007-03-11 | archive-date = 16 May 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100516031259/http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-environmental/mcga-dops_row_receiver_of_wreck/mcga-dops-row-protected-wrecks/mcga-dops-sar-row.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> 300 feet (100 m) below the surface 1.5 miles <!-- nautical or statute? --> (3&nbsp;km) northwest of Lochranza, roughly where the spotter plane had first reported the presence of an oil slick. The wreck lies in pitch darkness on a muddy slope 100 metres down with a 35 degree list to port. Her 12-pounder forward gun remains covered with a trawler's net, and the brass letters VANDAL are clearly visible.<ref>[http://www.arranbanner.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/274/War_dead_on_HMS_Vandal_remembered.html Arran Banner] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070730012806/http://www.arranbanner.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/274/War_dead_on_HMS_Vandal_remembered.html |date=30 July 2007 }}</ref>

There was only one survivor of ''Vandal''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s crew, Larry Gaines. At the time Gaines was too ill with earache to sail with the ship, and was replaced by a younger, less experienced crew member. For 60 years Gaines had blamed himself for the loss, as he believed his replacement had not secured the aft engine room hatch, one of Gaines' final checks before diving. Subsequent dives on the wreck revealed that the aft engine room hatch was closed, and this could not have been the cause of the sinking.<ref>[http://www.deepimage.co.uk/wrecks/vandal/vandal_pages/vandal-mainpage.htm DeepImage.co.uk] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070826062350/http://www.deepimage.co.uk/wrecks/vandal/vandal_pages/vandal-mainpage.htm |date=26 August 2007 }}</ref> Prior to this investigation, it was generally considered that human error in leaving a hatch open as the submarine dived had caused the loss. It was later proved that the submarine was on the surface and not diving when the accident occurred.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://fogbugz.tkwebservice.com/default.asp?ahoy.2.579.7 |title=HMS Vandal loss |access-date=16 July 2007 |archive-date=13 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613040442/http://www.fogbugz.tkwebservice.com/default.asp?ahoy.2.579.7 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The ship was originally named HMS ''Unbridled''. Before taking command of what was to be his first and last boat, skipper James Bridger assembled his crew on the jetty at Barrow, to inform them that she would henceforth be officially known as ''Vandal''. This went against a long-held maritime tradition that to change the name of a ship risks bringing bad luck upon it and the crew.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dunoon-observer.co.uk/archive/arcapr21.html |title=News archive of the Dunoon Observer |access-date=16 July 2007 |archive-date=5 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070805055015/http://www.dunoon-observer.co.uk/archive/arcapr21.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Tributes==

A memorial to those lost aboard HMS ''Vandal'' was erected beside the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry terminal at Lochranza Pier, Isle of Arran, by HM Submarines Old Comrades Association in 1997.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.irishseashipping.co.uk/irishseamemorials/Memorials/Scotland/hmsvandal/hmsvandal.htm |title=Maritime Memorials of the Irish and Celtic seas |access-date=16 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022010451/http://www.irishseashipping.co.uk/irishseamemorials/Memorials/Scotland/hmsvandal/hmsvandal.htm |archive-date=22 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The wreck was one of those designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, which prohibits interference with the site by divers.<ref>[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20062616.htm The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (The Designation of Vessels and Other Controlled Sites) Order 2006]</ref>

==Citations== {{reflist|30em}}

==References== * {{Colledge: Ships RN|year=2006}} * {{cite book | last = Hutchinson | first = Robert | title = Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day | url = https://archive.org/details/janessubmarinesw0000hutc | url-access = registration | year = 2001 | location = London | publisher = HarperCollins | isbn = 978-0-00-710558-8 | oclc = 53783010 }}

{{British U class submarine}} {{February 1943 shipwrecks}} {{coord|55|43|N|5|20|W|display=title|type:landmark_source:dewiki}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vandal (P64)}} Category:British U-class submarines Category:Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness Category:1942 ships Category:World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Category:British submarine accidents Category:Shipwrecks in the Firth of Clyde Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Category:Protected wrecks of Scotland Category:Maritime incidents in February 1943 Category:1943 disasters in the United Kingdom Category:1943 in Scotland Category:1942 in England Category:Isle of Arran Category:February 1943 in the United Kingdom Category:Ships built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow in Furness