HMS Universal

U-class submarine

Service

Royal Navy as HMS Universal8 March 1943 — June 1946909 days of the war

U-class submarine Particulars

Name: HMS Universal
Builder: Vickers-Armstrongs, Newcastle upon Tyne
Laid down: 5 September 1941
Launched: 10 November 1942
Commissioned: 8 March 1943
Fate: Sold for scrap, June 1946 (1946)
Status: Scrapped

Specifications

Displacement, surfaced: 540 long tons (549 t)
Displacement, submerged: 730 long tons (742 t)
Length: 58.22 m (191 ft)
Beam: 4.9 m (16.1 ft)
Draught: 4.62 m (15.2 ft)
Speed: 11.3 knots (20.8 km/h, 12.9 mph)
Complement: 27
Main gun: 76 mm (3 in)

HMS Universal was a U-class submarine, operated by the Royal Navy. Vickers-Armstrongs, Newcastle upon Tyne laid her keel on 5 September 1941. Launched on 10 November 1942, she entered service on 8 March 1943.

Her class ran to 53 ships.

The boat displaced 540 long tons surfaced and 730 long tons submerged. She measured 58.2 m (191 ft) long with a beam of 4.9 m (16 ft). Her designed speed was 11.2 knots, and she carried a complement of 27. Her main battery was of 76 mm (3.0 in) calibre.

She was in commission for 909 days of the Second World War.

She was broken up for scrap in June 1946.

Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.

Armament and machinery

Propulsion: 2 shaft diesel-electric
2 Paxman Ricardo diesel generators + electric motors
615 / 825 hp
Armament: 4 bow internal 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes – 8 – 10 torpedoes
1 – 3 in gun

Sister ships

28 more in the class

Sources

Facts harvested from HMS Universal on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
Photograph: US Navy — US National Archives, College Park, Maryland USA — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons