HMS Pandora (N42)

HMS Pandora
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Pandora
Namesake:	Pandora
Ordered:	7 February 1928
Builder:	Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow in Furness
Laid down:	9 July 1928
Launched:	22 August 1929
Commissioned:	30 June 1930
Identification:	Pennant number: N42
Fate:	Sunk by aircraft, 1 April 1942
General characteristics
Class and type:	Parthian-class submarine
Displacement:	1,475 long tons (1,499 t) surfaced 2,040 long tons (2,070 t) submerged
Length:	260 ft (79 m)
Beam:	28 ft (8.5 m)
Draught:	13 ft 8 in (4.17 m)
Propulsion:	Diesel-electric 2 Admiralty diesel engines, 4,400 hp (3,300 kW) 2 Electric motors, 1,530 hp (1,140 kW) 2 shafts
Speed:	17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph) surfaced 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) submerged
Range:	8,500 nmi (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	59
Armament:	8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (6 bow, 2 stern) 1 × 4 in (102 mm) deck gun 2 × machine guns

HMS Pandora was a British Parthian-class submarine commissioned in 1930 and lost in 1942 during the Second World War. This class was the first to be fitted with Mark VIII torpedoes. On 4 July 1940 she torpedoed and sank the French aviso Rigault de Genouilly off the Algerian coast. In an extension of the Lend-Lease program, Pandora, along with three other British and French submarines, was overhauled at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in the United States. She was sunk on 1 April 1942 by Italian aircraft at the Valletta dockyard, Malta.

The Parthian class was designed as an improvement of the earlier Odin class; the new class was larger, built with a raked stem, and given a shield to cover the 4-inch gun. The class had a design flaw in that the riveted external fuel tanks leaked, leaving an oil trail on the surface.

All submarines of the Parthian class were fitted with eight 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, one QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk XII deck gun, and two machine guns. The class was the first to be outfitted with the Mark VIII torpedo. Submarines of the Parthian class were designed for a complement of 53 officers and men.

Pandora was ordered on 7 February 1928. She was laid down on 9 July 1928 and built by Vickers-Armstrongs in the port of Barrow-in-Furness. She was launched on 22 August 1929 before being commissioned on 30 June 1930.Pandora was initially named Python; however, her name was changed in 1928 because of a distaste for serpent-named ships in the Royal Navy. The tenth ship to have this name, Pandora was named after the mythological first woman.

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Wikipedia