HMS Fidelity

MIGRATED: Don't want to lose this and it might need to be moved to research or whatever when possible.

I've just recently picked up this book - Fidelity Will Haunt Me Till I Die - Peter Kingswell - on the story of the ship and thought I'd put it out there as a possible option for a unique british auxiliary.

Formerly the French 2,500 ton merchant La Rhin. In 1940 it was converted into a special service vessel and initially started out working with SOE off France using Spanish/Portuguese guises.

By 1942 her services were wanted elsewhere and her mission and armament changed. Intended as a commando carrier she received 2 4inc QF guns, 4 torpedo tubes, depth charges, asdic, radar, 2 'kingfisher' float planes, 2 landing craft, 1 MTB and a company of commando's.

Led by a commander who was a Corsican pirate (and given pretty much a free hand by the admiralty), a crew who could be described as hand picked or oddball's, a female (WRNS) first officer and a company of the toughest bunch of commando's you were likely to meet.

For no reason is it described as the 'circus' that went to sea!

However it never reached it's intended operating area (far east), its intended use not put to the test.

Whilst in transit, the convoy to which it was attached was attacked by u boats off the azores and although escaping the initial attacks (during which she helped rescue and take on board survivors) she developed engine problems and fell away from the convoy. It was at this point when the ship was at a stop, that one of the kingfishers was launched and the MTB was lowered and put on anti submarine patrol!

Multiple u boats soon spotted and began circling but did not immediately attack as they were trying to understand what lay in front of them. An apparent merchant ship with multiple armaments that was launching boats and sending planes airborne.

After deliberation and coming to the conclusion it was a decoy ship being used in that role, one of the three u boats circling (u 435) eventually fired two torpedoes into the ship, both hitting and the second causing huge magazine explosions that ripped the bottom out of the ship.

When the u boat surfaced it's captain saw 'hundreds' of people in the water and on rafts. Fidelity's 'pirate' captain was seen firing the depth charges as the ship went down.

Whilst the ship was in it's death throe's the MTB launched earlier was itself in trouble after it's engine broke down and took two hours to repair. It was during this time that the last contact from Fidelity was heard.

The eight crew of the MTB were eventually picked up a couple of days later. The two man crew of the kingfisher were picked up by St. Laurent after spending two hours treading water after ditching.

These ten were the only survivors. Those who escaped the initial sinking were never seen again. Four hundred perished.

It's sounds like something straight out of a commando book except it's true! It's certainly something I didn't know about and even the wiki page is pretty bare. So if nothing else at least a few more people will know the story and maybe, just maybe it could be that missing british auxiliary...Guns, torpedoes, depth charges, radar, asdic and fascinating possibilities with the SA's. Floatplane's, MTB, Landing craft and commando's.

Check out the google images, would make a great shapeways piece!