Stephen Albert Savage

Portsmouth Naval Memorial Panel 77 Column 3

HM Submarine Regent

HMS Regent was a Rainbow-class submarine designed and built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering in Barrow-in-Furness for the Royal Navy, and was launched on 11 June 1930. She was lost with all hands probably after striking a mine on 18 April 1943.

On 11 April 1943, Regent sailed to patrol the southern Adriatic. She was lost with all hands at some point in April. The loss was discovered when the submarine failed to return to its base in Beirut, Lebanon, to re-fuel and take on supplies by 1 May 1943.

One theory, which has gained credence, is that on 18 April Regent struck a mine north of Barletta, after attacking an Italian convoy. It was reported that earlier that day an unidentified submarine had attempted to torpedo the small Italian tanker Bivona, of 1,646 GRT, and the submarine in question may have been Regent.

A second theory was that on 18 April the submarine was north of Monopoli, further along the same coast, where she fired a torpedo at the merchant vessel Balcic, but missed. The Italian corvette Gabbiano was escorting Balcic and immediately launched a depth charges attack, which it was thought could have destroyed Regent.

The most likely theory is that on 16 April 1943, she was attacking a railway line with her gun along the Gulf of Taranto. The Italian corvette Gabbiano engaged her and falsely claimed her loss, and Regent entered the Adriatic. On the afternoon of 18 April 1943, she attacked a convoy off Monopoli, her torpedo missed and struck the shore. Later that evening an explosion was heard off Monopoli. She most likely struck a mine. Over the following month, four bodies were found at various places south of Monopoli, three of which wearing Davis escape gear. The bodies were later buried at the Bari war graves cemetery. Two of the head stones say HMS Regent but have the incorrect date of the 16 April 1943 (Wikipedia)

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