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Submariners
are a special breed of sailor. Their environment, operating
deep beneath the surface of the waves, is both unnatural and
dangerous, and demands men of cool courage and exceptional
quality. Prowling the depths like a mammoth shark, sometimes
hunted, submarine crews live and fight, and sometimes die
together, alone in the remote expanses of the world's great
oceans. Regardless of national flag under which they sail,
this small elite "Silent Service" is both feared
and admired by all who sail the seas.
Plying their deadly trade in World War
Two, the German U-boats posed such threat to the vital Atlantic
convoys; Winston Churchill feared the submarine threat more
than anything Hitler had at his disposal. Hunting in "wolf
packs", roaming the shipping lanes far beyond the reach
of protective aircraft, they decimated the Allied merchant
vessels during the Battle of the Atlantic.
Manned entirely by volunteers, British
and American submarines saw action in every maritime theater
during the great conflict of 1939 - 1945, the crews fighting
their solitary, stealthy, secret war with courage and nerves
of steel.
Robert Taylor's evocative painting "Secret
Operation" captures the menacing beauty of a submarine
on the surface: the S-Class type HMS Sceptre slips her moorings
in Scapa Flow, Scotland, and glides quietly into the North
Sea to begin another top secret underwater operation. On the
conning tower the skipper takes a final look across the water
to the distant highlands while the crew savor the fresh salt
air knowing soon they will submerge into their eerie, silent,
artificial world, beneath the waves.
 Vice-Admiral Sir Michael Lumby KCB,
OBE, DSO, DSC
Mike Lumby completed his submariners
training in December 1938. Joining HM Submarine Sturgeon,
he was aboard that boat at the outbreak of war, serving in
Norwegian waters. On 22 April 1942 he took command of HM Submarine
SARACEN, where he won the DSO for the sinking of U-335. On
5 November 1942 SARACEN took part in Operation Torch - the
Allied landings in North Africa, and on 9 November he sighted
and sank the Italian submarine GRANITO, being awarded the
DSO. In late July 1943 SARACEN was heavily damaged by enemy
depth charges and a few days later was subjected to a further
depth-charge attack by two Italian corvettes. Lumby and all
but four of his crew were forced to abandon the boat, destroy
it and surrender themselves. He remained a POW until repatriated
in May 1945.
 Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McGeoch KCB,
DSO, DSC
Having specialized in submarines
in 1937, becoming third hand aboard HM submarine CLYDE, Ian
McGeoch rose quickly through the ranks to become a commissioned
officer. In 1942 he was appointed to command HM submarine
SPLENDID undertaking many highly successful active war patrols.
On 21 April 1943 however SPLENDID's luck ran out whilst on
patrol in the Bay of Naples. Depth-charged, they were forced
to the surface. Wounded by enemy gunfire Lieutenant McGeoch
and his surviving crewmembers were taken prisoner of war.
During captivity he made many escape attempts, finally he
succeeded and with the help of the local Resistance made it
back home to England to continue his naval service.
 Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McIntosh KBE,
CB, DSO, DSC
Ian McIntosh volunteered for the
submarine service in 1940. After completing his training,
he joined HM Submarine PORPOISE in 1941, at the time undertaking
mine laying operations in home waters. PORPOISE was then dispatched
to the Mediterranean Sea to join the First Submarine Flotilla
based in Alexandria. In February 1943 Ian McIntosh was appointed
to command HM Submarine SCEPTRE operating in Norwegian waters
and in the Bay of Biscay.
 Commander Edward Young DSO, DSC*, RNV (S) R
Edward Young joined up as a young
Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in April
1940. Four months later he entered the submarine service and
became the first RNVR officer ever to do so. After three years
of almost continuous active war patrols off Norway and Russia,
in the North Sea, the Bay of Biscay and in the Mediterranean
Theater - and after surviving a harrowing escape from a sunken
submarine, HM Submarine STORM.
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