GOSPORT CLOUD

Artemis had an extraordinary life while in service for the Royal Navy. Reading through the archives, I began to wonder if I was reading a James Bond script. An Amphion class submarine, designed for the Pacific theatre, launched on the Clyde in August 1948 with a crew of sixty-one. This is where the journey begins for a submarine that had anything but a monotonous lifetime while in service for the Royal Navy.

In 1950 during a test dive off the coast of Ireland, Artemis reached a depth of 525 feet. Hair raising considering she was actually constructed to withstand a depth of only 350 feet. A couple of grey beards after that ! Never a dull day for the crew of the Artemis, 1956, while on exercises, collided with a motor trawler off the Isle of Wight, sustaining no damage, continued with exercises.

The life of this remarkable submarine became more interesting. Artemis participated in exercises with the Canadian navy on two occasions. During one of these, just off the coast of New York 1963, Artemis disappeared. The Canadian's assuming the worst, dispatched ships and search planes to scour the sea for flotsome, anything that would indicate the location of a lost submarine. A hour and half had gone by when the sea rippled as the Artemis breached the surface.

Queens Spithead Fleet Review. In 1953 Artemis proudly displayed her colours off Spithead for the celebration of Queen Elizabeth II coronation. below is a link to Pathe News film covering the fleet review. Unbelievable the size of the fleet. Not forgetting this was not all of the fleet. Our little Artemis is the only submarine present on this occasion.

Sabotage 1954. Supposedly a charge made out of a hand grenade was found in one of two engines on board the Artemis. The charge, which contained 4ozs of high explosive, was big enough to destroy the engine and kill or wound the six men on duty.
Artemis turned back at once to the mother ship HMS Adamant, anchored in Rothesay in the Firth of Clyde.I have scoured for more info on this, very little is available online. Except there seems to be differences on what the explosive actually was. One account suggests it was a depth charge or the likes. The name of the saboteur or the punishment handed out, is hidden in the vaults of the Admiralty.

Indonesia-Malayasia. During the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation in the mid-1960s, Artemis was dispatched along with HMS Andrew. Another Amphian class and the oldest of her class, to counter blockade running junks.
Designed for the Pacific arena these subs fitted in perfectly, each with a 4 inch main deck gun, three 0.303 machine guns, and a 20 mm AA Oerlikon 20 mm gun. The Amphion class submarines were the last to have deck guns.

The Most Expensive Film Prop 1964. Artemis was the submarine used in a film created by the government with the intent to boost enrolment. The film 'Voyage North’, which was commissioned by the Central Office of Information (COI) in 1964 and was set on the serving Royal Navy submarine, HMS Artemis. You can watch ‘Voyage North’ on the Imperial War Museums’ film website free of charge. https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/1204
Amazing to watch this, typical docu-film. Playing cricket on an iceflow. Sailors wandering around alone on the ice pack. But it does display scenes that give a true image what it was like to be a submariner. Well worth a watch.

1971 HMS Artemis tied up in Hms Dolphin, Gosport, for maintenance, almost ready to depart. She had been brought out of dock but most of the senior officers were not aboard and she was under the command of the sonar operator. When she was alongside and taking in fuel they had run cables through the hatches into the engine-room to power her systems, and as she was ballasted down to take the fuel for her diesel engines, water came in through the hatchways which because of the cables were not closed. Very quickly the vessel began to sink.
Duty Petty Officer David Guest went below to shut down whatever departments of the ship he could. There was a group of Sea Cadets aboard and Guest quickly cleared them out and went on making sure there was no one else there. He found two engine-room mechanics aboard but because of the water coming all three were unable to get out and they shut themselves into the forward compartment in the torpedo stowage area. The ship sank to the bottom of Haslar Creek. The three men were trapped on board the sunken submarine for 13 hours but eventually managed to escape in immersion suits through the forward escape hatch.

The whole episode was a shambles and didn't look to good for the Submarine Service's reputation. There was a court of inquiry and the blame laid where it was deserved, but a report, 'HMS Artemis - The Lessons Learnt', was produced and is still required reading for submarine commanders. Artemis was eventually raised by salvage vessels but the salt water had done its damage and in view of her age she was sold for scrap in 1972.

Some stories disappear in the annals of time, yet thirty years later during a visit by the Antiques Roadshow.
Ex-Stoker Tiger Taylor popped in with the port telegraph from the Artemis.
He had bought the device upon seeing the wrecked sub about to be dismantled at a scrap yard in Portsmouth in 1993.
I met Tiger when the Artemis was docked in Barry, south Wales. He was a friend of my brother, also a stoker on the Artemis. I was just 13, my eyes popped when Tiger opened the torpedo tube, and pulled out a can of beer and offered it to me.
My first beer!.