Midget
Submarine Depot ship
built for mercantile use by the Clan Line
and purchased by the Admiralty in
1942. The ship was launched on 27th
October 1942 by Greenock Shipyard and when
completed was converted for use as a Depot
Ship by Scotts
of Greenock. Commissioned on 26th January
1943 she was named HMS BONAVENTURE
and was the 11th RN ship to carry the
name, introduced in 1489. The name had
previously been used by a DIDO Class
cruiser launched in 1939 and completed in
May 1940. The cruiser was sunk by Italian
submarine ABRA north of Sollum on
31st March 1941.
B
a t t
l e H o n o u r s
LOWESTOFT
1665 - FOUR
DAYS BATTLE 1666
- ORFORDNESS 1666 -
SOLEBAY 1672 -
SCHOONEVELD
1673 - TEXEL 1673 - BEACHY
HEAD
1690 - BARFLEUR 1692 - CHINA
1900 - MALTA CONVOYS
1941-42.
H
e r
a l d i
c D a
t a
Badge::
On a Field:
Barry
wavy of 6 white and blue:
within a horse shoe
inverted Gold, a Griffin red.
S
u m m a r y
o f W a
r S e r v i
c
e
(for
more ship information,
go
to
Naval History Homepage
and
type name in Site Search
1
9 4 3
January
Under conversion.
26th
Commissioned
for RN service as HMS BONAVENTURE.
February
Under conversion.
to
On completion of
trials took passage to Loch Striven on
west bank of Clyde for
July
service as main
training base and depot ship for midget
submarines
("X" Craft).
August
Deployed
at Loch Striven.
to
(Note:
During this period
passage and trials crews of Midget
submarines X5, X6,
September
X7,
X8, X9 and X10 were
prepared for an operation to attack the
German
battleship
T1RPITZ in Altenfjord,
Norway.
HM
Submarines THRASHER, TRUCULENT.
STUBBORN, SYRTIS,
SCEPTRE
and
SEA NYMPH each towed a midget submarine to
Norwegian waters
.
Training
of crews of the midget submarines and
preparation for this
operation was
carried
out at
Loch Striven.
During
Operation SOURCE on 22nd September X9 and
X8 are were lost when
on
passage. X10 had to
return to parent submarine because of a
failure of equipment
and later was
lost during return tow.
Although
X5, X6 and X7 entered the fjord, only X6
and X7 are able to put
their
Limpet
mines on
TIRPITZ which sustained major damaged and
was not able
to be deployed
operationally for almost six months.
Crews
of X6 and X7 were taken prisoner and their
commanding officers
awarded
the Victoria
Cross.
The
fate of X5 and her crew is not certain but
possibly sank after hitting
a mine
(See
THE MYSTERY OF X5 by F Walker and P
Mellor.) It has been suggested
that X5 placed
mines on TIRPITZ and was sunk on return
passage down the Fjord
For
details of Operation SOURCE see Naval
Staff History, BR1756(22),)
October
Passage to Govan for
refit by Alex. Stephens
Paid-off and
taken in hand
November
Under refit including fit of
radar equipment
to
December
1
9 4 4
January
2nd
Refit
work completed
(Note:
Some
planned work was not completed, presumably
because of operational need.
See
below)
22nd
Re-commissioned
for service with
British Pacific Fleet.
Deployed
at Loch Striven
to prepare for operational use.
February
Loch
Striven
deployment in continuation.
March
Passage
to Govan to complete
outstanding dockyard work.
April
Under
refit.
to
August
September
On
completion of post refit trials took passage
to Loch Striven
October
Deployed
at Loch Striven for training.
to
(Note:
During this period a modified
design of midget submarine (XE Type)
ordered in
November
January 1944
became available for use in SW Pacific and
were embarked for
operations
against targets
in the Far East.)
December
Preparation
in continuation.
Nominated for deployment
as Depot Ship for the 14th Submarine
Flotilla in SW Pacific.
1
9
4 5
January
Departure
delayed.
Embarked six XE
craft.
February
21st
Took
passage to Australia via Panama.
March
Passage
across Pacific from Panama.
7th
At
Pearl Harbour.
(Note:
Attitude of US Navy was most discouraging
and the use of this type of
submarine was
not looked on
with any enthusiasm.)
April
Passage
from Pearl Harbour to Australia.
27th
Arrived
at Brisbane.
(Note:
Approval was given to move nearer the
operational area and to approach
the local US
Navy
authorities.)
May
Took
passage to Townsville, Queensland.
(Note:
Visit by Senior Officer 14th Flotilla to
US Navy Base at Subic Bay did
not improve the
situation
and it was suggested that the ship be used
in Fleet
Train after conversion for a
wider
support role.)
31st
Proposal
made to use
midget submarines for cutting Japanese
telegraph cables.
June
Transferred
to Hervey
Bay, Queensland (250 miles from Brisbane
) and thence
to south of
Townsville)
to
prepare for cable cutting operations.
(For
details of this change of policy see THE
SEA OUR SHIELD by WR Fell)
Carried
out extensive training and
experiments in Hervey
Bay using a disused telegraph
cable
between
Australia and New Guinea.
(Note:
Two
divers lost their lives by oxygen
poisoning.)
(Operational
targets selected and approved.
Passage
from Hervey
Bay to Labuan, Borneo.
July
Prepared
for three operations.
Operation
STRUGGLE - To place Limpet
Mines on two Japanese cruisers MYOKO and
TAKAO based
at Singapore in 10th Fleet.
Operation
FOIL - To cut telegraph cables
in Lamma
Channel, Hong Kong
.
Operation
SABRE - To cut
telegraph cables at Cap St Jaques,
Saigon.
(Note:
These
cables were vital to Japanese signal
security as all radio signals
were being
deciphered
by US authorities.)
26th
HM
Submarine STYGIAN sailed from
Labuan for Singapore with XE3 in tow.
HM
Submarine SPARK sailed from Labuan
for Singapore with XE1 in tow.
(Operation
STRUGGLE - Cruiser TAKAO
was badly damaged and sank to sea bed.
Cruiser
MYOKO attack failed.)
HM
Submarine SPEARHEAD sailed from
Labuan for Saigon with XE4 in tow.
Operation
SABRE - Two cables were cut
and sections brought back to BONAVENTURE).
(Note:
Operation FOIL to cut cables at Hong Kong
was carried out by XE5.
HM
Submarine SELENE was used for tow
and XE5 was deployed from HM Depot
Ship MAIDSTONE
which was based at Subic Bay in the Philippines.
Tow
of XE5 failed but submarine
managed to proceed to target area under own power
and
succeeded
in severing cable although this result was
not confirmed
until after Hong
Kong
was re-occupied.)
August
3rd
XE4
returned in tow of HM Submarine
SPEARHEAD.
4th
XE5
returned in tow of HM Submarine
SELENE
XE3
returned in tow of HM Submarine
STYGIAN.
5th
XE1
returned in tow of HM Submarine
SPARK
20th
Passage
to Sydney from Labuan.
P o s t
W a r N o t e s
HMS BONAVENTURE returned to UK from Australia and
was retained in RN service until placed on
the
Disposal
List
in 1948. She was sold to the Clan Line and after
conversion back to a mercantile role deployed
in
trade until sold during 1963 for
demolition at Hong Kong.