British Royal Navy, Submarine Movement Cards
Was your ancestor a British submariner in the first half of the 20th century? These records trace the movements and postings of Royal Navy submariners from the First World War through to the Cold War, documenting where individuals served and when. Created by the Admiralty, submarine movement cards record a sailor’s attachment to specific submarines, shore bases, and depots, often noting dates of joining and leaving each posting. They reflect the highly mobile and closely managed nature of submarine service, with personnel frequently moving between boats, training establishments, and refit periods. For family historians, these cards help reconstruct an ancestor’s submarine career, clarify gaps in service records, and place individual service within the wider operational history of Britain’s underwater fleet. Created in partnership with the Royal Navy Museums.
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Was your ancestor a British submariner in the first half of the 20th century? These records trace the movements and postings of Royal Navy submariners from the First World War through to the Cold War, documenting where individuals served and when. Created by the Admiralty, submarine movement cards record a sailor’s attachment to specific submarines, shore bases, and depots, often noting dates of joining and leaving each posting. They reflect the highly mobile and closely managed nature of submarine service, with personnel frequently moving between boats, training establishments, and refit periods. For family historians, these cards help reconstruct an ancestor’s submarine career, clarify gaps in service records, and place individual service within the wider operational history of Britain’s underwater fleet. Created in partnership with the Royal Navy Museums.
Learn about these records
You will find information including -
First name
Last name
Ship name
Depot
Dates of service
More information on your ancestor's service can be found in the original records.
British submarines in the First World War
At the outbreak of the First World War, the Royal Navy’s submarine service was still relatively young, experimental, and often viewed with suspicion by senior naval officers raised on battleships and big-gun warfare. British submarines were small, uncomfortable, and dangerous to operate, yet they quickly proved their strategic value. They were used for coastal defence, reconnaissance, and offensive patrols in the North Sea, Baltic, and Mediterranean, where they disrupted enemy shipping and naval movements. British boats also played a crucial role in countering German surface forces and gathering intelligence, even as crews faced high risks from mechanical failure, mines, depth charges, and the ever-present danger of being trapped underwater. By 1918, submarines had demonstrated that undersea warfare would be a permanent and increasingly important part of modern naval strategy.
British submarines in the Second World War
During the Second World War, British submarines became a central weapon in Britain’s naval war, operating across vast theatres including the North Sea, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, and Far East. Unlike their German counterparts, which focused heavily on commerce raiding in the Atlantic, British submarines were often tasked with attacking enemy warships, interdicting supply routes, landing agents, and supporting special operations. Advances in technology—such as improved sonar, radar, torpedoes, and communications, made submarines more capable but did not remove the dangers of service. Casualty rates remained high, and patrols were long, isolated, and psychologically demanding. Submariners formed a distinct elite within the Royal Navy, bound by skill, secrecy, and a shared understanding that survival was never guaranteed.
HMS Stonehenge
HMS Stonehenge was an S-class submarine commissioned during the Second World War, part of a class designed for operations in confined and shallow waters such as the Mediterranean. After entering service in 1943, Stonehenge was deployed to the Mediterranean theatre, where British submarines were heavily engaged in attacking Axis shipping and supporting Allied operations. In early 1944, Stonehenge failed to return from patrol off the coast of Italy and was presumed lost with all hands, most likely the victim of enemy anti-submarine warfare. Her disappearance reflects the stark realities of submarine service: losses were often sudden, unexplained, and absolute, leaving families and the Admiralty with little more than a final patrol date and a name added to the list of the missing.
| Establishment | Category | Location | Primary Purpose / Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scapa Flow | Major Operational Base | Orkney Islands, Scotland | Main anchorage for the Grand Fleet (WW1) and Home Fleet (WW2). |
| Portsmouth Naval Base / HMS Nelson | Major Operational Base | Portsmouth, Hampshire | Primary home port, shipbuilding yard, and fleet administrative hub. |
| Devonport Naval Base / HMS Drake | Major Operational Base | Plymouth, Devon | Major repair dockyard and Western Approaches support base. |
| Chatham Dockyard / HMS Pembroke | Major Operational Base | Chatham, Kent | Major home port, dockyard, and manning depot for North Sea and Medway fleets. |
| Rosyth Dockyard | Major Operational Base | Firth of Forth, Scotland | Refitting dockyard supporting North Sea patrols and battlecruisers. |
| Alexandria Fleet Base | Major Operational Base | Alexandria, Egypt | Operational headquarters for the Mediterranean Fleet (WW2). |
| HMS Dolphin | Major Operational Base | Gosport, Hampshire | Operational headquarters, depot, and training base for the Submarine Service. |
| HMS Vivid (Devonport Barracks) | Manning Depot | Devonport, Plymouth | Primary manning depot for the Plymouth Division (renamed HMS Drake in 1934). |
| HMS Vivid I | Manning Depot | Devonport, Plymouth | Seamanship and signals school. |
| HMS Vivid II | Manning Depot | Devonport, Plymouth | Accounting and depot for stoker and engine room ratings. |
| HMS Vivid III | Manning Depot | Devonport, Plymouth | Accounting for local patrol, minesweeper, and escort crews. |
| HMS Vivid IV | Manning Depot | Falmouth, Cornwall | Outstation accounting base for coastal forces. |
| HMS Vivid V | Manning Depot | Milford Haven, Wales | Outstation accounting base for escort and patrol hubs. |
| HMS Ganges | Youth & Seaman Entry | Shotley, Suffolk | Primary land-based training establishment for boy seamen (aged 15-18). |
| HMS St Vincent | Youth & Seaman Entry | Gosport, Hampshire | Primary youth and junior entry seaman training establishment. |
| HMS Impregnable | Youth & Seaman Entry | Devonport, Plymouth | Main parent establishment for boy seaman entrants. |
| HMS Impregnable I | Youth & Seaman Entry | Devonport, Plymouth | Headquarters, basic discipline, and classrooms for boy ratings. |
| HMS Impregnable II | Youth & Seaman Entry | Devonport, Plymouth | Seamanship, rigging, and small-boat handling instruction hulk. |
| HMS Impregnable III | Youth & Seaman Entry | Devonport, Plymouth | Physical training facilities and medical depot. |
| HMS Collingwood | Seaman Entry & Recruit | Fareham, Hampshire | Induction base for new recruits and radar/wireless instruction (WW2). |
| HMS Royal Arthur | Seaman Entry & Recruit | Skegness, Lincolnshire | Requisitioned holiday camp used as a wartime basic training depot (WW2). |
| HMS Defiance | Gunnery, Torpedo & Mining | Devonport, Plymouth | Torpedo, mining, and electrical engineering parent school. |
| HMS Defiance I | Gunnery, Torpedo & Mining | Devonport, Plymouth | Main command offices and lecture halls. |
| HMS Defiance II | Gunnery, Torpedo & Mining | Devonport, Plymouth | Mining, mine-laying, and deep-sea diving school. |
| HMS Defiance III | Gunnery, Torpedo & Mining | Devonport, Plymouth | Submarine workshops, wireless telegraphy, and electrical school. |
| HMS Defiance IV | Gunnery, Torpedo & Mining | Devonport, Plymouth | Overflow accommodation and classroom hulk. |
| HMS Excellent | Gunnery, Torpedo & Mining | Whale Island, Portsmouth | Principal naval gunnery school. |
| HMS Excellent II | Gunnery, Torpedo & Mining | Portsmouth area | Anti-aircraft and light weaponry training facility. |
| HMS Glendower | Gunnery, Torpedo & Mining | Abersoch, Wales | Wartime land-based gunnery training depot. |
| HMS Vernon | Gunnery, Torpedo & Mining | Portsmouth, Hampshire | Main torpedo development, mine warfare, mine disposal, and diving school. |
| HMS Mercury | Signals & Tactical | Leydene, Hampshire | Central Signals and Radar School for communications and radar instruction. |
| HMS Western Isles | Signals & Tactical | Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland | Headquarters ship and anti-submarine warfare "work-up" school for escort ships. |
| HMS Ferret | Signals & Tactical | Londonderry, Northern Ireland | Major convoy escort operational base and anti-submarine school. |
| HMS Daedalus | Fleet Air Arm | Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire | Headquarters and premier airfield for the Fleet Air Arm. |
| HMS Condor | Fleet Air Arm | Arbroath, Scotland | Major naval air station and Fleet Air Arm engineering school. |
| HMS St Angelo | Overseas Base | Grand Harbour, Malta | Fortress base and fleet headquarters for the Mediterranean Fleet. |
| HMS Rooke | Overseas Base | Gibraltar | Strategic command base securing the entrance to the Mediterranean. |
| HMS Sultan | Overseas Base | Singapore | Primary naval base, dry docks, and fleet repair station in the Far East (prior to 1942). |
| HMS Lanka | Overseas Base | Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) | Operational headquarters and base for the Eastern Fleet. |
| HMS Highflyer | Overseas Base | Trincomalee, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) | Strategic deep-water naval base and repair facility for the Eastern Fleet. |
Search tips
Submarine movement cards often use compressed naval shorthand due to space limitations. Entries may refer to shore establishments, depot ships, or theatres of operation, rather than the submarine itself. A sailor might move frequently between submarines, depots, training schools, and bases, a normal feature of submarine service rather than a sign of disciplinary action.
| Abbreviation | Meaning | Explanation / Context |
|---|---|---|
| SM | Submarine | Often used before a boat's name (e.g. SM Torbay), especially in WW1 and early WW2 records |
| HMS | His/Her Majesty's Ship | Standard prefix for Royal Navy vessels |
| S/M | Submarine | Alternate shorthand for submarine, commonly seen in service and movement records |
| Depôt / Depot | Submarine Depot Ship | Shore-based or ship-based administrative and support unit |
| Dolphin | HMS Dolphin | Royal Navy Submarine School at Gosport; often appears in training or posting entries |
| Vernon | HMS Vernon | Torpedo and mining school; submariners frequently passed through |
| Medway | HMS Medway | Submarine depot ship (Mediterranean / Far East); also used as a base reference |
| Forth | HMS Forth | Submarine depot ship and base (Holy Loch, Scotland) |
| Maidstone | HMS Maidstone | Major submarine depot ship (WW1-WW2) |
| Cyclops | HMS Cyclops | Submarine depot ship, Home Fleet |
| Ambrose | HMS Ambrose | Submarine depot ship, Mediterranean |
| Lucia | HMS Lucia | Submarine depot ship, Mediterranean |
| Blyth | Blyth Submarine Base | Northumberland base used extensively in both wars |
| Harwich | Harwich Submarine Base | Key WW1 and interwar submarine base |
| Portsmouth | Portsmouth | Major submarine base and refit port |
| Rosyth | Rosyth Dockyard | Submarine refits and depot functions |
| Scapa | Scapa Flow | Fleet anchorage; submarines frequently attached |
| Med | Mediterranean | Theatre of operations |
| Home | Home Waters | British coastal and North Sea operations |
| F/E | Far East | China Station / Far East Fleet |
| Patrol | Patrol | Operational deployment at sea |
| Refit | Refit | Period of repair or upgrade, often dockyard-based |
| Trials | Trials | Sea trials following refit or commissioning |
| Commissioned | Commissioned | Submarine formally entered active service |
| Paid Off | Paid off | Submarine withdrawn from active service |
| Drafted | Drafted | Sailor posted to a submarine or establishment |
| Struck | Struck off strength | Removed from a vessel or establishment |
| Sunk | Sunk | Loss of the submarine, often followed by date/location |
| Missing | Missing | Submarine failed to return from patrol |
| P.O. | Petty Officer | Rank abbreviation |
| AB | Able Seaman | Common enlisted rank aboard submarines |
| ERA | Engine Room Artificer | Senior engineering rating, common on submarines |
| T/A | Temporary Assignment | Short-term posting |
| Act. | Acting | Temporary rank or role |
| Rel. | Relieved | Replaced or moved from post |
| Joined | Joined | Individual joined a submarine or establishment |