HMS Thistle (N24)

HMS Thistle (N24) was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow and launched in October 1939.

Career
Thistle had a short wartime career with the Royal Navy.

Thistle was ordered to patrol off Stavanger, and to sink any enemy vessel that she might spot in the harbour, since the authorities believed that a German invasion of Norway was imminent. On 10 April Thistle signalled her intention to comply with this order and that she had two torpedoes remaining after an unsuccessful attack on a U-boat. With this in mind the Admiralty changed her orders to patrol off Skudenes. No further contact was made with Thistle. It was later discovered that GS U-4 (1935), the U-boat Thistle had previously attacked, had sighted the submarine on the surface and sunk her with torpedoes.