HMS Turbulent

The life of a wartime submarine is perhaps quite a fairly well trod troupe but to be fair to the author of this book there is a great deal still to be discovered about the secretive underwater activities of the submarines of all the warring sides in the war. Many of these secrets rest on the bottom of the ocean together with the crews of the unfortunate submarines that perished at the hands of depth charges, torpedoes or mysterious accidents. Perhaps it is this that keeps drawing naval enthusiasts to read the histories of submarines such as HMS Turbulent. HMS Turbulent was a Vickers-built boat at their Barrow in Furness shipyard and was at the time of her construction considered to be amongst the best in the world. She was ordered just days after Germany invaded Poland and started the Second World War. This book has a somewhat odd structure to it, with the first few chapters detailing previous ships of the name and the development of submarines from the earliest times – this reviewer would have liked these sections to be in appendices at the back of the book as they detract from telling the story of the titular submarine herself. Once the narrative turns to the tragically short history of HMS Turbulent however, this is where the author’s research shows. He tells the story of the submarine through the testimony of ships’ logs and personal letters. Most of her career was spent in the Mediterranean where she would have successes including the sinking of the Greek sailing vessels, Prodromos, Aghios Apostolos, Aghios Yonizov, Evangelista, Aghios Dyonysios and Aghia Traio, the Italian merchantmen Rosa M, Delia, Bolsena, Capo Arma, Regulus, Marte, Vittoria Beraldo, Pozzuoli and San Vincenzo, Franco, San Giusto, Gesù Giuseppe e Maria and Pier Delle Vigne and the Italian destroyer Emanuele Pessagno. HMS Turbulent’s scorecard also included the destruction of the German auxiliary Kreta and the auxiliary submarine tender Bengasi and the Italian military tanker Utilitas. This incredible amount of enemy tonnage did not come without counter attacks as it is estimated the submarine was depth charged on more than 250 separate occasions. The end for HMS Turbulent came on 12 March 1943 when she was attacked by the Italian trawler Teti II. Her loss, however, did not end the story of the submarine as speculation about the motivation of her commanding officer John Wallace Linton continued, although he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. Then there were the secret missions to blind German communications, which gradually started to emerge post-war leading to further speculation about how she was employed at the time of her loss. Perhaps the greatest mystery of all was where the wreck of the British submarine lies? For years the wreck lay undiscovered but eventually she was discovered laying on the seabed off Maddalena, Sardinia seemingly having been destroyed by a mine. I found this book to be mostly well-researched and written, keeping my attention and interest throughout.