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[pettyofficernick]

Hi, can any one help, I have been asked to restore this static model of a british 1930's (allegedly) submarine, no name or pennant number to go by, it's owner paid a hideous sum of money for it from a museum somewhere, it is supposed to be a builders model from the 1930's, but I think not, the propellers have 'Propshop' engraved/etched on one of the blade roots, I have found 2 modern self tapping screws embedded in the tower, and there are one or two plastic parts, the clamshell mine doors at the stern, and what looks like a RU locker on the bridge. Has anyone got any idea what class it might be? Thanks in advance,
Nick.

[U-33]

Good grief...haven't a clue. The man you need really is Steve Juden, you'll find him on the Dive In page on Facebook.


Rich

[tugmad]

It looks to be one of the British Minelaying Porpoise class,  there were 6 in the  class   Porpoise ,Narwhale ,Rorqual, Grampus , Seal.and Cachalot.

[DavieTait]

I agree seeing that it does look like the Porpoise minelaying class

[U-33]

Good thinking...


Rich

[pettyofficernick]

Many thanks chaps, I thought it was a minelayer when I saw the doors at the stern, but not being 'up' on submarines wasn't sure of the class.....

[Davy1]

She does look like quite a nice model of the Porpoise class (1936).
Quite an interesting class history - Seal was captured by the Germans and re-commissioned (rather like HMS Graph) and Porpoise was the the last RN submarine loss of WW2. (Source: RN Submarines by Cocker.)

David

[pettyofficernick]

After a little more research, I have found that although Porpoise was first of the class to be built, she was actually the first of the Grampus Class of Mine layer, can anyone clarify?
Many thanls, most interesting info so far......

[tugmad]

Hi Nick   one point to remember when re building the boat is that the periscope standards and radio mast were offset to starboard in the conning tower, this was to allow the mine rails in the casing to run in a straight line fore to aft.

[tugmad]

Hi Again Nick.   The Grampus and Seal were built in Chatham Dockyard   and the Porpoise, Narwhale, and Rorqual  were  built by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow. the odd one out Cachalot was built by Scotts of Greenock, I cant find any reference to a Grampus class at all, she appears to be the second one built and perhaps because she had a greater capacity and the casing differed she got a class name of her own  unofficially



The Porpoise was slightly smaller than the rest of the class as her mine rails started about 60ft short of the bow where the rest of the class had rails from stem to stern ,she also had a slight step in top of the forward casing where the others were all flush decked front to back and they had a larger mine capacity.
Rorqual was the only one to survive the war.


Porpoise was  1,782 tons surfaced and 2,053 tons submerged.   the others were 1,810 tons surfaced and 2.157 tons submerged.




Length 288ft beam 29ft 10in draft normal 13ft 9in.