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The S-class submarines of the Royal Navy were originally designed and built during the modernisation of the submarine force in the early 1930s to meet the need for smaller boats to patrol the restricted waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, replacing the British H class submarines. As part of the major naval construction for the Royal Navy during the Second World War, the ''S'' class became the largest single group of submarines ever built for the Royal Navy. A total of 62 was constructed over a period of 15 years, with fifty of the "improved" ''S''-class being launched between 1940 and 1945. ==Service== The submarines operated in the waters around the United Kingdom and in the Mediterranean, and later in the Far East after being fitted with extra tankage. After the war S-class boats continued to serve in the Royal Navy until the 1960s. The last operational boat in the Royal Navy was , launched in 1945 and scrapped in February 1966. was in Israeli service as INS ''Tanin'' was decommissioned in 1972. Several S-class submarines were sold on or lent to other navies: *Netherlands 1 *Portugal 3 *France 4 *Israel 2. (HMS ''Springer'' as INS ''Tanin'' (S71), landed commandos and fought with an Egyptian ship in the Six Day War)〔http://submarines.dotan.net/sclasse/〕〔http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/317/269.html?hp=1&cat=875〕 A modified version was ordered by the Turkish navy in 1939 as the . ==Service losses== Of the twelve S-class boats that were in service in 1939, only three survived to see the end of World War II, a loss rate that inspired the song "Twelve Little S-Boats", based on a nursery rhyme originally written by Septimus Winner in 1868.〔Printed in Young (1952), who gives his source as Chief ERA "Skips" Marriott. 〕 :Twelve little ''S''-boats "go to it" like Bevin, ::''Starfish'' goes a bit too far — then there were eleven. :Eleven watchful ''S''-boats doing fine and then ::''Seahorse'' fails to answer — so there are ten. :Ten stocky ''S''-boats in a ragged line, ::''Sterlet'' drops and stops out — leaving us nine. :Nine plucky ''S''-boats, all pursuing Fate, ::''Shark'' is overtaken — now we are eight. :Eight sturdy ''S''-boats, men from Hants and Devon, ::''Salmon'' now is overdue — and so the number's seven. :Seven gallant ''S''-boats, trying all their tricks, ::''Spearfish'' tries a newer one — down we come to six. :Six tireless ''S''-boats fighting to survive, ::No reply from ''Swordfish'' — so we tally five. :Five scrubby ''S''-boats, patrolling close inshore, ::''Snapper'' takes a short cut — now we are four. :Four fearless ''S''-boats, too far out to sea, ::''Sunfish'' bombed and scrap-heaped — we are only three. :Three threadbare ''S''-boats patrolling o'er the blue, ::... :Two ice-bound ''S''-boats... ::... :One lonely ''S''-boat... ::... The survivors, left blank in the fatalistic rhyme, were HMS ''Sealion'' (scuttled), HMS ''Seawolf'' (broken up), and HMS ''Sturgeon'' (sold). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British S-class submarine (1931)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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