Ronald Roy Stapleton

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL Panel 76 Column 3

HM Submarine Vandal formerly HM submarine p.64

HMS Vandal (P64) was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, yard number 838. The submarine had the shortest career of any Royal Navy submarine, being lost with all 37 onboard, including Ordinary Seaman Ronald Stapleton from Forest Fields, Nottingham, just four days after commissioning.

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 before her rediscovery in December 1994. 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 was only one survivor of Vandal'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. It was later proved that the submarine was on the surface and not diving when the accident occurred. (Wikipedia)

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