HMS Union (N56)

HMS Union 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 9 December 1939 and was commissioned on 22 February 1941.

Career and sinking
Union spent much of her short career operating in the Mediterranean, where she sank the Italian merchant Pietro Querini. Her success was short-lived however. Union sailed from Malta at 1 o’clock on the morning of 14 July 1941 with orders to intercept a convoy north of Tripoli the following day. On 20 July 1941 she was sunk with all hands during an attack on the convoy by the Italian torpedo boat Circe. When she failed to return to Malta she was reported overdue on 22 July 1941.