THE WELCOME spate of recent submarine finds has continued with the fate of a lost British Second World War submarine possibly solved, reports Alex Bowers. The wreck the lost vessel has been discovered just 6 miles north-west of Tenedos, less than 20 miles from the infamous Dardanelles Straits.
The recently uncovered vessel is thought to be HMS Simoom, which disappeared without trace between 4 and 19 November 1943. Researchers who identified the vessel, including Dr Innes McCartney and Turkish film-maker Savas Karakas, are confident of the validity of their conclusion. The Simoon was one of only two British submarines lost in the area, the other being HMS Trooper, but Simoon featured fewer torpedo tubes and a separate 4in deck gun, rather than the armament housed as part of the conning tower as was the case with Trooper.
Commissioned on 30 December 1942, Simoon served in the Mediterranean where she attacked the Italian cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi. However, her torpedoes missed, and instead sank the destroyer Vincenzo Gioberti. Patrolling the Aegean on her sixth sortie, Simoon was of the third group of S-class s…
