HMS Thetis (N25)

Common card · No. 348298

HMS Thetis (N25) was a Group 1 T-class submarine of the Royal Navy which sank during sea trials in Liverpool Bay, England on 1 June 1939. After being salvaged and repaired, the boat was recommissioned as HMS Thunderbolt in 1940. It served during the Second World War until being lost with all hands in the Mediterranean on 14 March 1943. The Thetis accident happened after the inner hatch on a torpedo tube was opened while the outer hatch to the sea was also open. Four men successfully used the aft escape chamber to reach the surface and be rescued but 99 men died in the incident. The sinking led to the redesign of all torpedo tubes on British and Australian submarines. A latch, known as the "Thetis clip", was added to the inner torpedo tube door limiting its initial opening; if water then flooded in the clip could be wound closed against the water pressure.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Beadell, S J (Lt), Royal Navy official photographer., Public domain