HMS P611

HMS P611 was a submarine of the Oruç Reis class originally built for the Turkish Navy intended to be named Oruç Reis, but commissioned into the Royal Navy after the outbreak of war.

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS P611
Builder	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down	24 May 1939
Launched	19 July 1940
Commissioned	1 December 1941
Fate	Transferred to the Turkish Navy, 9 May 1942
Turkey
Name	Oruç Reis
Acquired	9 May 1942
Fate	Broken up 1957
General characteristics
Class and type	Oruç Reis-class submarine
Displacement	624 tons standard, 683 tons full load surfaced 856 tons submerged
Length	64 m (210 ft)
Beam	6.81 m (22.3 ft)
Draught	3.61 m (11.8 ft)
Propulsion	Two shaft diesel-electric Vickers diesels – 1200 hp Electric motors – 780 hp
Speed	13.7 knots (25.4 km/h) surfaced 8.4 knots (15.6 km/h) submerged
Range	2,500 nautical miles (4,630 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement	41 men
Armament	5 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes – 4 bow internal, one stern external nine torpedoes 1 × 3 in (76 mm) gun 1 × 20 mm gun

TCG Oruç Reis

For other ships with the same name, see TCG Oruç Reis.

She was a modified British S class design launched on 19 July 1940 by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow. Due to the pressing need for her, she was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 1 December 1941 so she could be sent to Turkey. It was not until 26 March 1942 that she left the Clyde for Gibraltar. On 7 April she left Gibraltar for Alexandria, where she arrived on 25 April. She arrived at the Turkish naval base at İskenderun on 9 May 1942 and was handed over to the Turkish Navy as Oruç Reis. She would continue in service with the Turkish Navy, operating in the Mediterranean, and remained in service after the war ended. She was finally broken up in 1957.

References

• "HMS P611". uboat.net.
• "P311 to P714". British submarines of World War II. Archived from the original on 11 July 2007.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 to the Present Day, by Robert Hutchinson