Members' lecture: Discovering HMS Urge

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HMS Urge was one of Britain's most successful submarines of World War II that formed part of the 10th Submarine Flotilla based in Malta, which sadly fell victim to a German mine in 1942. Almost 80 years later, the wreck of HMS Urge was found off the coast of Malta, and a memorial was unveiled at Fort St Elmo commemorating those who perished.

Hear from Professor Timmy Gambin, who led the search team from the University of Malta in locating the wreck, as he charts the story of this heroic boat - from construction to action to discovery and memorialisation.

Join us in the Lecture Theatre of the National Maritime Museum. For more information about the search, visit Underwater Malta - The Virtual Museum

The year 2022 marked the 80th anniversary of the sinking of HMS Urge, a Royal Navy submarine of the Second World War that was stationed in Malta and commanded by Lt Cdr EP Tomkinson DSO RN.

On 27 April 1942, HMS Urge left the Marsamxett Harbour for Alexandria, Egypt and was reported overdue on 6 May 1942, and the submarine and the 32-member crew and 12 passengers were reported missing. For most of its service, HMS Urge operated in the Mediterranean where it formed part of the 10th Submarine Flotilla based in Malta. The submarine had an intense 20 patrol career, damaging or sinking significant Axis shipping, and was also one of the first submarines from which special forces raids and secret intelligence missions on enemy coastlines were carried out. In 1941 HMS Urge torpedoed and damaged the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto, and in 1942 torpedoed and sank the 6 inch gun cruiser Bande Nere (whose wreck was also discovered in 2019). Eventually, the location of the 10th Submarine Flotilla on Manoel Island to the north of the Grand Harbour was no longer feasible due to heavy bombing raids at the height of the Siege of Malta, and the remaining submarines were to be evacuated to Alexandria, Egypt. Enemy minefields waited outside the Grand Harbour for any allied shipping attempting to arrive or depart Malta, and after leaving the harbour on 27 April 1942, HMS Urge was not heard from again.

The location of the lost submarine and her crew would remain a mystery until 2019, when the wreck site was discovered during a remote sensing survey conducted off the coast of Valletta, Malta. In 2021, a Heritage Malta and University of Malta dive team led by Professor Gambin descended to the seabed and conclusively identified the wreck as HMS Urge.

Banner image credit: Scaled 3D photogrammetric model of HMS Urge © Heritage Malta/John Wood