HMS Urge

HMS Urge was a British U class submarine, of the second group of that class, built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 30 October 1939 and was commissioned on 12 December 1940. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Urge.

Career
Urge spent most of her career operating in the Mediterranean, where she sank the Italian tanker Franco Martelli and the Italian light cruiser Giovanni delle Bande Nere, on 1 April 1942; she also damaged the Italian passenger ship Aquitania, and the Italian merchant ship  Marigola. The Marigolda was already grounded after being torpedoed by aircraft on 24 September 1941. She also torpedoed and damaged the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto on 13 December 1941, during the operations around the First Battle of Sirte. She was unlucky on numerous occasions however, making failed attacks on the Italian merchant Capo Orso, the Italian tankers Superga and Pozarica, the Italian destroyer Alpino, the German merchant Ingo, the Italian heavy cruiser Bolzano and the Italian troop transport Victoria. She also unsuccessfully attacked an unidentified armed merchant cruiser south of the Strait of Messina.

Sinking
Urge left Malta on 27 April 1942. She failed to arrive at Alexandria on 6 May 1942 and was reported overdue on that day. On 29 April she attacked the Italian sailing vessel San Giusto off Ras Hilal: in the immediate area was a small convoy of three German MFPs, escorted by an Italian Cr.42 biplane. As the submarine was engaged in the attack against the sailing ship, she was dive-bombed and sunk with all hands by the plane. For sometime, the theory was that she had been sunk by the Torpedo Boat Pegaso. But that Urge was sunk by the escorting biplane has been confirmed by witnesses on board the MFPs.