HMS Sidon (P259)
Encyclopedia : H : HM : HMS : HMS Sidon (P259)
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| Career |
|
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | |
| Launched: | September 1944 |
| Commissioned: | |
| Fate: | wrecked by own torpedo explosion, refloated, sunk as a target 14 June 1957 |
| Stricken: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 814-872 tons surfaced, 990 submerged |
| Length: | 217 feet (66 m) |
| Beam: | 23.5 feet (7.1 m) |
| Draught: | 11 feet (3.3 m) |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | 14.75 knots (27 km/h) surfaced, 8 knots (15 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 48 officers and men |
| Armament: | one three-inch (76 mm) gun, one 20 mm antiaircraft gun; three .303 machine (~7.7 mm) guns, seven 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, six forward, one aft, 13 torpedoes |
| Motto: | |
On the morning of June 16, 1955, Sidon was moored alongside the depot ship HMS Maidstone in Portland Harbour. Two experimental torpedoes, code-named "Fancy", had been loaded aboard for testing. Fifty-six officers and crewmen were aboard.
At 08:25, an explosion in one of the Fancy torpedoes (but not the warhead) burst the number-three torpedo tube it was loaded into and ruptured the forward-most two watertight bulkheads. Fire, toxic gases, and smoke accompanied the blast. Twelve men in the forward compartments died quickly and seven others were seriously injured.
The submarine started to settle by the bows with a list to starboard, and her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Verry, ordered the ship evacuated from the engine room and after escape hatches. Thanks to a rescue party from Maidstone, everyone not immediately killed escaped, except Maidstone's medical officer, Lieutenant Commander E. J. K. Needham. He had gone aboard with the rescue party, assisted several survivors, and collapsed, unnoticed, in the control room after everyone else had left. At about 08:50 Sidon sank to the bottom of the harbour.
One week later the wreck was raised and towed into a causeway on Chesil Beach. The bodies of the 13 casualties were removed and buried with full honours in the Portland Naval Cemetery on top of the cliffs overlooking the harbour. A Court of Inquiry cleared anyone aboard Sidon for the loss of the boat. The direct cause of the accident was determined to have been malfunctioning of the "Fancy" torpedo, and that torpedo program was terminated.
A torpedo being readied for the morning test shot had begun a "hot-run" — its engine had started while it was still inside the submarine and was over-speeding, creating very high pressures in its fuel system. The "Fancy" torpedo used high test peroxide (HTP) as an oxidizer. When an oxidizer line burst, HTP sprayed onto the copper fittings inside the torpedo, decomposing into oxygen and steam. The torpedo's warhead did not detonate, but its hull burst violently, rupturing the torpedo tube and causing the flooding that destroyed the boat.
Sidon was refloated, and sunk as an ASDIC target on June 14, 1957.
See also
- See HMS Sidon for other ships of this name.
- Submarines destroyed by hotrunning torpedoes: HMS Sidon (P259) – USS Scorpion (SSN-589) – Russian submarine Kursk
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